Posts by Judy Gearhart, International Labor Rights Forum

Fast Fashion Giant Needs to Move Faster for Worker Safety

October 6, 2015

Originally published on Huffington Post.

Fall fashion week is wrapping up in Paris today, but in the world of fast fashion consumers don't need to wait for the announcement of seasonal trends. Apparel industry leaders like H&M have hit warp speed supplying new styles almost weekly at affordable prices.

Remembering Rana Plaza

April 24, 2015

Today I revisited the Rana Plaza factory site where the eight-story building collapsed two years ago, horrifically killing 1,138 workers and seriously injuring more than 2,500 others.  The site has not changed much since I came here in 2013, a month after the collapse.  You can still find spools of thread, fabric, the occasional lost scarf or shoe, and remnants of the Joe Fresh jeans, which were being produced for JC Penney and Loblaw’s at the time.  Most of the building has been demolished, but the rubble remains.  In the center, a rain puddle has become a pond with an unnatural green hue and algae growing around the edges.  

This Thanksgiving week: act against child slavery in our food system!

November 25, 2014

It's Thanksgiving week, and we have a veritable feast of actions you can take on behalf of vulnerable workers!   

This week is both the inaugural End Child Slavery Week and 3rd annual International Food Workers Week. We promote both of these important initiatives, with their distinct but overlapping objectives, because they touch so many of our campaigns; especially the plight of children who labor on cocoa farms in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

ILRF Board Member Kailash Satyarthi Wins Nobel Peace Prize

October 10, 2014

The International Labor Rights Forum congratulates Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai for winning the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their struggle against the oppression of young people and exploitation of children for their labor, and for the right of all children to education.

Seventeen-year-old Malala is an incredibly inspiring role model for young women everywhere with her fearless advocacy against the Taliban's efforts to deny women an education.

Justice for the Earth and all its workers

September 21, 2014
Cambodian trafficking victims return home

Today, hundreds of thousands of people are marching across the globe in a historic effort to demand action on climate change. The People's Climate March is a challenge to the world's leaders to focus on developing policies that will establish a more sustainable world. At ILRF, we work closely with environmental groups to include labor rights as part of the sustainability agenda. We have found time and again that corporate practices that allow unchecked exploitation of environmental resources also lead to exploitation of communities and people.

International Women’s Day: It’s About Women’s Wages & Women’s Voices

March 8, 2014

Many versions abound about how International Women’s Day came to be, but all stories lead back to 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City protesting violence against garment workers and demanding better pay, better working conditions and voting rights.  Their slogan was Bread and Roses – signifying the need for better wages and a better quality of life.  In 1909 women workers marched again in Chicago, officially kick-starting a National Women’s Day.  The next year, European women proposed building on the US idea and agreed to make March 8th International Women’s Day.  This is one of the great manifestations of international solidarity among workers and women in particular.

Bangladesh garment factory crisis is a women's crisis

December 12, 2013

The crisis in the Bangladesh Apparel industry is really a women’s issue and something all advocates of women’s rights and equality should be deeply concerned about. To be clear, we are not talking here about individual cases of discrimination at work and the need for more equitable labor justice – although there is a need for improving that as well.

Our focus here is on systemic, society-wide discrimination and development strategies that have further entrenched that discrimination. These issues echo around the world in industry after industry built primarily on women’s labor. But they have been brought into stark relief in Bangladesh, where more than 1,200 workers – most of them women – have died during the last year due to negligence and disregard for their welfare.

ILRF Loses Leading Child Rights Advocate

November 5, 2013

All of us at ILRF were tremendously saddened to learn that U. Roberto Romano – our beloved Robin – passed away at his home last week. Robin was a tireless advocate for children’s rights, as well as an inspiring and supportive colleague. He was also an amazing cinematographer and highly acclaimed filmmaker, who dedicated his life to reporting on and exposing the exploitation of children. For ILRF, Robin’s support and guidance was essential to keeping a spotlight on this ongoing global tragedy. 

ILRF Lauds Brazil's Progress at the III Global Conference on Child Labour

October 17, 2013

Speech given at the III Global Conference on Child Labour, Brasilia, Brazil, October 9, 2013.

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on behalf of my organization, the International Labor Rights Forum and as a representative of the US Child Labor Coalition, where I chair the international committee.  Brothers and sisters in the fight against child labor, we are making progress, but the progress is not enough.  There are still 168 million child laborers; 85 million of them toiling under hazardous conditions.[1]

I want to congratulate Brazil on its progress in reducing the incidence of child labor. 

Remembering Stephen Coats / Recordando a Stephen Coats

April 3, 2013

It is with great sadness that we post this news.  Stephen Coats, Executive Director of USLEAP, passed away on April 2, 2013.  Stephen was a tremendous friend and a tireless advocate of workers’ rights.  He touched so many people around the world, serving as a leader in building worker solidarity in the Americas.  Stephen’s dedication and humility inspired so many worker rights advocates.  This is a tremendous loss for all.

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