Below is a list of all the
workshops involving ILRF. Also, there will be six plenary dialogues
throughout the Forum, one of which will be moderated by two ILRF Board members,
Bill Fletcher and Sarita Gupta. The Workers' Rights in the Global Economy
plenary will be held on Saturday, June 30th at 8PM. Click here for more
information.
SEE YOU IN ATLANTA!
Thursday, June 28
Big Box Retailer Organizing &
International Day of Action
10:30 AM, Aracadia Room,
Marriott Downtown
This workshop will focus on the range of campaigns targeting big
box retailers from site fights to workers’ rights to environmental to food,
agriculture and supply chain campaigns. The workshop will be a place for
participants to plan for an international day of action against big box
retailers in November 2007.
In collaboration with the Big Box Collaborative, DC Jobs with Justice, Institute
for Policy Studies and many others
Radical Worker Organizing in the
Colombian Floriculture Industry
3:30 PM, NOT
Classroom at the Trinity United
Since about 85% of the flowers grown in Colombia are exported to the US, consumers
here have remarkable potential to assist workers organizing in this
sector. These workers, the majority of whom are women, are fighting
against multinational companies like Dole, despite the dangerous political
climate in Colombia. This workshop will increase participants’ knowledge on this issue and present
ideas for action.
In collaboration with US LEAP and Miami
Jobs With Justice
Friday, June 29
Global Justice: Crossing Borders, Outsourcing and Organizing
for an Asia Floor Wage
Westin Hotel, Room 1402
This session will present and discuss some of the Jobs With
Justice Global Justice strategies and introduce US activists to an exciting new
campaign that will link Asia and the US in fighting to raise the wages of
workers across Asia. The session will cover labor-faith-community efforts
to organize around fair trade, a report on call centers, new trade union
initiatives in India and groundwork for an Asia Floor Wage campaign.
In collaboration with Jobs With Justice
Sweatshops and Sweatshops in the
Fields: What Can You Do About It?
3:30 PM, Room 1408, Westin Hotel
This workshop will focus on workers’ rights in the global supply
chains for manufactured and agricultural products. This event will
include a dialogue and brainstorm about how US consumers can use their buying
power to promote companies that have respect for workers and will also examine
how some localities and states have passed policies regulating government
procurement of apparel. There will be a special focus on connections to
women’s rights and immigration organizing.
In collaboration with STITCH,
US LEAP and SweatFree Communities
Fighting for Global Economic
Justice: Liberia-US Solidarity Campaigns
4 PM,
Tent
This workshop will focus on the struggle for economic justice in
Liberia as a case study of how countries in the Global South are being
exploited and how people are fighting back. The two specific campaigns
that will be highlighted are: 1) The fight for the cancellation of Liberia’s unjust debt; and 2) A corporate
campaign calling for an end to 80 years of environmental and labor exploitation
by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company on their rubber plantation in Liberia. We
will focus on how people in the US can support these campaigns. *Please note that this is the correct time
and location of this workshop and that it will be listed incorrectly in the
USSF program*
In collaboration with the Stop
Firestone Coalition and the Jubilee USA
Network
Saturday, June 30
Fair Trade Means Another World is Here!
3:30 PM, Westin Hotel, Room 1208
Fair Trade profoundly embodies the principle of “Another World is
Possible” by redefining relationships between producers and consumers.
This workshop will focus on how farmers around the world have united to build
people’s power in the face of corporate-driven globalization. One of the
specific campaigns that will be highlighted is ILRF’s ongoing work to stop child
labor in the cocoa industry. Participants will walk away with a concrete
understanding of what they can do in their communities to support fair trade.
In collaboration with Global
Exchange, United Students for Fair Trade, Oke Bananas and Divine Chocolate USA
High School Students: Make your
School Sweatfree!
3:30 PM, Task Force for the Homeless, Conference Room
Does your school make you wear uniforms? Youth
across the US
are making our schools require companies to tell us about the real labor
conditions in their factories and source from sweatfree factories. Harnessing
the purchasing power of schools can support worker struggles around the world.
You'll come away from this fun and interactive workshop with info on how to
bring this campaign to your school.
collaboration with SweatFree Communities
and United Students Against
Sweatshops
NOTE: All dates and times subject to change.*
For
the latest information please contact Tim Newman.
