Entries by Reid Maki

CLC press release: Tobacco Companies Should Prevent Child Labor in US Tobacco Farming—Letter to tobacco CEOs from 54 leading health, children’s, and labor organizations

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For immediate release: June 26, 2014 Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org (Washington, DC) Over 50 US-based organizations called on leading tobacco companies to address hazardous child labor in US tobacco farming in a letter released today. The groups expressed alarm that children are risking acute nicotine poisoning and other health and safety hazards in US tobacco fields. “Children in the US can’t legally buy cigarettes, but children working in tobacco fields are suffering acute nicotine poisoning,” said Sally Greenberg, co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) and executive director of the National Consumers League. “Tobacco companies need to ensure that their products are not made with child labor.” The organizations, representing millions of teachers, healthcare professionals, workers, farmworkers, and advocates concerned about the safety, education, and welfare of children, called on the chief executive officers of the top ten global tobacco companies and tobacco leaf merchants to adopt and implement policies that prohibit children under age 18 from hazardous work in tobacco farming, including direct contact with tobacco. A recent report, “Tobacco’s Hidden Children: Hazardous Child Labor in United States Tobacco Farming,” by Human Rights Watch found that of 141 child tobacco workers interviewed in North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, three-quarters reported getting sick while working on US tobacco farms. Many of their symptoms—nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headaches, […]

CLC-NGO Sign-on Letter to Big Tobacco: 54 Groups Urge Companies to Act Now to Protect Children Who Work in US Tobacco Fields

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On June 24th, 2014, the following letter was sent by the CLC on behalf of over 50 NGOs  to the CEOs of Altria Group, Inc., British American Tobacco PLC, China National Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, Japan Tobacco Inc., Lorillard, Inc., Philip Morris International Inc., Alliance One International, Inc., and Universal Corporation. We write to you as organizations representing millions of Americans, including teachers, healthcare professionals, workers, farmworkers, and advocates concerned about the safety, education, and welfare of children.  We are alarmed at recent reports that children are risking acute nicotine poisoning and other health and safety hazards in US tobacco fields. We urge you to take action to ensure that your company’s products are not made with child labor, and specifically, to adopt and implement policies that prohibit children under age 18 from hazardous work in tobacco, including direct contact with tobacco. Public health studies have shown that adult non-smoking tobacco workers have similar amounts of nicotine in their bodies as active smokers. Because their bodies and brains are still developing, children working in tobacco fields are even more vulnerable to the effects of nicotine exposure. As you know, symptoms of nicotine poisoning (also known as Green Tobacco Sickness) include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, headaches, and dizziness. In addition to nicotine poisoning, research has found that children working […]

CHILD LABOR COALITION PRESS RELEASE: After Saudi Arabia Ratifies Child Labor Convention 138, the Child Labor Coalition Urges Immediate US Ratification

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For immediate release: February 28, 2013 Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org On February 23, Saudi Arabia became the 167th country to ratify ILO Convention 138, setting the minimum age at which children in the country can work. The US must join the world community and ratify the convention. (Washington) –The 31-member Child Labor Coalition (CLC) welcomes news that Saudi Arabia has become the 167th country to ratify Convention 138, setting a minimum age for work at 15, and it urges the US to ratify the convention as well. Drafted by the members of the International Labour Organization in 1973, Convention 138 asks nations to work to eliminate exploitive child labor and establish minimum ages at which children are allowed to work. Most countries have set those minimums at 15 or 16, with about one-third of nations adopting 14 as the age limit on a temporary basis. Convention 138 allows light work that is not harmful for children who are 13-15. In the US, however, children are allowed to perform strenuous labor for wages in agriculture beginning at the age of 12. “The United States is dedicated to eliminating exploitive child labor around the world,” noted Sally Greenberg, co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition and executive director of the National Consumers League, which played a crucial role in eliminating many forms […]

We Remember Robin Romano–Filmmaker, Photographer, Activist and Friend

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Robin Romano rarely entered a room unnoticed. As a friend said recently, he was a “whirling dervish of a man.” He exuded energy, passion, and humor—all three bubbled out of him. He was rarely quiet. And he had a lot to talk about. He made it his life’s work to document child labor in its worst forms. He traveled the world looking for injustice, focusing public attention on the exploitation of children. At a eulogy in New York, Pharis Harvey, the founder of the International Labor Rights Fund and a pioneer in modern child labor advocacy, called him “a loose cannon for justice.” “The heat of his moral imperative was more than he could contain,” said Sam Morris, who worked with Robin on multiple films. We lost Robin in early November, when he passed away unexpectedly. It seemed impossible that this firebrand could be gone. As I attended his memorial service in New York, I don’t think I was alone in expecting him to walk in the door and say, “The joke’s on you…the rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” Robin was only 57, but everyone thought he was younger. He had piercing blue eyes that were constantly smiling or glowering. Robin was often outraged. How could you not be? A quarter of a billion children were toiling […]

What Will 2014 Hold for Those Trying to Reduce Child Labor and Forced Labor in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Harvest?

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For several years, the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), which the National Consumers League co-chairs with the American Federation of Teachers, has worked closely with the Cotton Campaign to reduce child labor and forced child labor in Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest. Uzbekistan, run by totalitarian dictator Islam Karimov is the only country in the world where the central government has recently played a major role in causing large-scale forced child labor.  For many years, Uzbekistan’s leaders emptied schools and literally forced school children—sometimes very small children—to harvest cotton, a grueling, painful, sometimes dangerous job. The country is one of the largest cotton producers in the world, and Uzbek cotton sometimes finds its way into the U.S. apparel industry, despite a pledge by more than 130 apparel companies that they will not knowingly use Uzbek cotton in their garments. For years, Uzbek children worked beside similarly conscripted college students and older adults for four to eight weeks at a time, missing much-needed school in the process. The workers were paid so little that their forced labors should be considered a form of temporary slavery. Those who refused were expelled from school, fired from their jobs, denied public benefits, or worse. Some harvesters have reported being beaten because they did not meet their cotton quota.  The forced labor of children and adults did not […]

A Very Disturbing Phenomenon: The Rapid Increase of Unaccompanied Minors Entering the US

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By Reid Maki, Director of Child Labor Advocacy and Coordinator, Child Labor Coalition Imagine you are a child. Girl or Boy. You are 13, 14 or 15, and gang members in your school are threatening to beat you, kidnap you, or kill you. They want money, but you are poor. They threaten to harm you and members of your family if you don’t pay them large sums and there seems to be no way for you to obtain those sums. This is the situation faced by increasing numbers of teens living in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador as gangs spread increasingly throughout their countries. The kids are scared to death and clinging to a desperate hope: Escape their tormentors, get to the US, find work, and send money back to protect their families. Unfortunately, the numbers of these “unaccompanied minors” is exploding. According to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which is alerting the public about this new trend, the numbers of children expected to cross into the US without adult supervision is expected to be 60,000 this year. This represents nearly a tenfold increase in the number of unaccompanied minors in just three years. According to a fact-finding delegation led by the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services, there is a “perfect storm” of contributing factors pushing teens […]

Recent News Through Our @ChildLaborCLC Twitter Feed

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  ChildLaborCLC Jan 07, 9:30pm via HootSuite MT”@Refugees: #CARcrisis: 510,000 people have fled their home & r sheltering in #Bangui. 60% of these are children rfg.ee/sgSdn”   ChildLaborCLC Jan 07, 8:02pm via HootSuite Civil war has resulted in tragedy for Syrian children. #Photo reveals the hardship of refugee life ow.ly/nvZhZ @UNICEFiraq   ChildLaborCLC Jan 07, 6:05pm via HootSuite MT @ILONEWS: Actor @diegoluna_ teams up with @ILONEWS and holds up the #RedCard to #ChildLabour. What can YOU do? bit.ly/13YCoAN   ChildLaborCLC Jan 07, 4:55pm via HootSuite MT @solowawa: #Philippines – National survey shows rising incidence of #ChildLabor since 2011 ow.ly/smurG #ChildLabour   ChildLaborCLC Jan 07, 2:04pm via HootSuite Check out #Joao Silva’s PHOTO series on child servitude in #Ghana‘s fishing industry: joaosilva.co.za/index_ghana.ht… #ChildLabor #Slavery   ChildLaborCLC Jan 07, 12:52pm via HootSuite MT @ArchaoAgresion: Ahmed an 8-yr old son of a Syrian rebel #savesyria #stopthekilling #worldpeace #childsoldiers instagram.com/p/i2Az7lAsYY/   ChildLaborCLC Jan 07, 11:33am via HootSuite Shopping for a #NewCarpet ? Check out the great work CLC member @GoodWeave is doing to ensure #ChildLabor-free rugs ow.ly/slI2v

CLC Press Release: Ban Child Labor in US Tobacco Fields

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For immediate release: November 22, 2013 Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org Washington, DC—In the wake of child labor exposés by The Nation magazine last week, the Child Labor Coalition is calling on the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to immediately ban child labor in tobacco fields—something the department had proposed to do in 2011. In “Why Are Children Working in American Tobacco Fields?,” Gabriel Thompson’s reporting describes the alarming health risks young tobacco workers face. He tells the story of three young sisters age 12, 13, and 14 whose tobacco harvesting made them ill from “green tobacco sickness” or nicotine poisoning. Despite their health problems, the girls went on to work four summers of 60-hour weeks in the tobacco fields, absorbing the nicotine from the equivalent of 36 cigarettes each day, according to a study cited by The Nation. “We don’t let 12-year-olds buy and smoke cigarettes,” noted Sally Greenberg, co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition and the executive director of the National Consumers League. “Why would we let them perform dangerous work in tobacco fields beginning at the age of 12? It simply isn’t right.” “Children should not be allowed to perform dangerous work, especially in the tobacco fields,” said Norma Flores López, Chair of the Domestic Issues Committee for the Child Labor Coalition and the Director of […]

PRESS RELEASE: Child Labor Coalition Welcomes Falling Estimates of Child Labor But Warns that Far Too Many Children Suffer the Worst Forms of Child Labor

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For immediate release: September 24, 2013 Contact: Reid Maki, (202) 207-2820, reidm@nclnet.org Washington, DC—The Child Labor Coalition (CLC) welcomes new estimates from the International Labour Organization that suggest a one third drop in the number of children trapped in child labor since 2000—from 248 million children to 168 million children. Over the last four years, the number of child laborers has fallen by 47 million—a 22 percent decrease. “These ILO estimates are very encouraging,” said Sally Greenberg, co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), and the executive director of the National Consumers League. “We know what works now and the tremendous efforts of groups around the world must continue to shine a spotlight on the awful use of child labor. Governments, NGOs, corporations, and media have all helped to drive down the numbers of children toiling in appalling conditions around the world. We must continue to work until all children are removed from exploitative labor and the worst forms of child labor—labor that exploits them or endangers their health or development. ” “Despite progress, 85 million children remain trapped in hazardous work,” added Greenberg. “News last week that a 6-year-old boy perished in Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest is a glaring example of the danger children experience at work.” “The number of children still engaged in child labor is staggering,” said Jo Becker, […]