LL Bean vows to exclude Uzbek cotton

Posted on December 9, 2009 by admin | No Comments

Of all the companies named by the International Labor Rights Forum on this year’s Sweatshop Hall of Shame for the use of Uzbek cotton, LL Bean was the fastest to respond, and vowed to (eventually) exclude it from their supply chain.  Let’s hope their follow through is as exhaustive as their initial response was rapid.
Read [...]

LL Bean, Hanes, Gymboree: child exploiters

Posted on December 8, 2009 by admin | No Comments

The International Labor Rights Forum released its list of Sweatshop Hall of Shame inductees for 2009.  They include some of the best-known American retailers of children’s clothing…who refuse to stop profiting from the exploitation of children in Uzbekistan.  ILRF writes:

While over 25 companies have committed to boycotting the use of Uzbek
cotton until the government ends [...]

Dubai defaults…on human rights

Posted on December 8, 2009 by admin | No Comments

It wasn’t too much of a surprise to read that the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre bonds were placed on credit watch negative recently, after being downgraded to junk status in June.  Is a business model built on willful, knowing exploitation of forced child labor really sustainable in any sense?
Maybe five years ago, traders could claim [...]

Independent World Report calls out European brands: join the boycott!

Posted on October 4, 2009 by admin | No Comments

Editor Tasneem Khalil put together an amazing piece of work on the issue, asking why political entities (the EU) and the intergovernmental set (UNICEF) are lagging behind corporations in taking action on forced child labor in Uzbek cotton. They clearly need to do more–much more—to catch up with corporate actors who have taken the [...]