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Bananas, Globalization, and Being There...

By Raechel Tiffe, who recently visited Guatemala with STITCH's Women's Leadership Delegation

The air in Morales, Guatemala is hot. More than hot, the air in Morales Guatemala would be more suitably compared to how it must feel to camp out in a 150 degree oven, wrapped up in a wet woolen blanket. But amidst this rural Central American landscape also rests a town owned by the transnational
banana corporation, Del Monte. It is here where many of the Del Monte workers live, leaving them always in the palm of Del Monte's clean, unlabored hands.

What do Shakira, the Teamsters, Uribe and the Clintons have in common?

In order to change Colombia's and his own image, Uribe has enlisted the help of several public relations firms to respond to the latest news on Colombia and distort the country's human rights record in order to assuage the serious concerns about US support for Uribe's government.  One of those firms is Burson-Marsteller and is headed by Mark Penn (former clients include the Argentine military junta, Union Carbide and Royal Dutch Shell).  Penn was an adviser to former President Clinton and is currently a top adviser to Hillary Clinton.  Clinton just received letters from the presidents of the Teamsters and UNITE-HERE unions protesting

"If you don't know where you want to go, any road will get you there"

This was certainly enough to pique my interest.


Beneath the caption was a statement declaring that the alleged threat
to African Americans comes from documented and undocumented immigrants.
He went on to suggest that any notion of legalizing undocumented
workers was a slap in the face of African Americans.
The ad is associated with a group called the "Coalition for the Future American Worker."


Fair's attack is not surprising, although the virulence and historical
nature of it is very unsettling, particularly because it is bound to
strike a chord among many African Americans.

Trade Pressure Used to Support Workers

Philips- Van Heusen plant in Guatemala

The first time Guatemala was placed under review (probation) for eligibility of GSP benefits was in 1992 after US/GLEP (before the name changed to USLEAP) and nine other U.S. human rights, trade union and religious groups filed a worker rights petition with the support of the Guatemalan trade union movement. The AFL-CIO also filed a petition.

Top 10 Reasons Why Paul Wolfowitz Was a Great World Bank President

John Cavanagh is the director of Institute for Policy Studies and co-author of 12 books on the global economy. He is also a longstanding member of the ILRF Board of Directors.

When Paul Wolfowitz's name was put forward to become president of the World Bank in 2005, I wrote a piece entitled: "Top 10 Reasons Why Paul Wolfowitz Would Make a Good World Bank President". As he gracefully steps down from that job, I believe that history has proven me right. Consider the following:

1.  He personally helped address the nagging problem of unequal pay for women by giving his "female companion" a $47,000 raise.

Trade is Not the Same as Aid: Why Robert Zoellick is a Dangerous Choice for Workers and the Poor Around the World

One
of the biggest challenges facing poor countries in terms of trade policy is the
fact that all trade negotiations virtually take place in secret. While corporations
enjoy a seat at the table, unions and non-governmental organizations—which
represent average people—are denied access to information and a voice in the
negotiations. If we truly want to fight poverty, unions and representatives of
developing countries need to have a seat at the negotiating table. Their insights

Liberians say "Firestone not beneficial"

                   

Firestone, Salala Not Beneficial to Us

Citizens
of Margibi County have indicted that Firestone rubber plantation and
the Salala rubber company  that operate in the county are insensitive
to the developmental needs of the county and its people ever since the
rubber estates begun operating in there.

They
said the two companies are particularly not beneficial to them. They
gave their impression of the rubber estates Unification Town at a
meeting aimed at brainstorming to find a sustainable development drives
for the county and its people under the Johnson-Sirleaf’s government.

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