International Labor Rights Fund

International Labor Rights Fund

"In the 1980's, strong voices in human rights, labor, policy making, academic, and religious communities formed a coalition to fight for the rights of workers in international trade. In 1984, the coalition fought for legislation linking the granting of U.S. trade and investment benefits to a country's respect for basic human rights.  In 1986, they launched the International Labor Rights Education & Research Fund (its name was later shortened to the International Labor Rights Fund, (ILRF)) to monitor enforcement of these laws and to develop other means to protect workers' rights." 

International Labor Rights Fund is a member of the Business Ethics Network and profiled in the WiserEarth database at:


 * Bama Athreya - Executive Director

Companies Targeted in Campaigns
In a May 1, 2008 email to John Stauber the ILRF said: "we are running corporate campaigns at some level targeted at the following companies: cut flowers - Dole; food and manufactured goods supply chain - Wal-Mart; and, rubber plantation in Liberia - Firestone.

Directors
Source
 * Bill Fletcher (President) - Consultant
 * John Cavanagh (Vice President) - Director, Institute for Policy Studies
 * Christopher Townsend (Secretary-Treasurer) - Washington Staff, United Electrical Workers
 * Bama Athreya (Executive Director) - International Labor Rights Fund
 * Arturo Alcalde Justiniani - International Affairs Director, National Association of Democratic Lawyers of Mexico
 * May Chen - Vice President, UNITE-HERE
 * Terry Collingsworth - Labor Rights Advocates
 * Lance Compa - School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University
 * Sarita Gupta - Interim Executive Director, Jobs with Justice
 * Sandra Polaski - Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for Peace
 * Katie Quan - Labor Specialist, Center for Labor Research and Education, University of Califronia at Berkeley
 * Jeff Rechenbach - Vice President, Communications Workers of America
 * Carol Rosenblatt - Executive Director, Coalition of Labor Union Women
 * Omar Salazar - ASEPROLA in Costa Rica
 * Kailash Satyarthi - President, South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude, New Dehli, India

International Advisory Council
Source
 * Bishop Jesse De Witt (President Emeritus) - United Methodist Church
 * Ray Marshall (President Emeritus) - U.S. Secretary of Labor (1977-81), Professor, University of Texas at Austin
 * Peggy Billings - United Methodist Church
 * Jack Blum - Attorney, Lovel, Novings, Lamont and Flug
 * Robin Broad - Professor, The American University
 * Anita Chan - Senior Researcher, Australian Research Council, Australian National University
 * Audrey Chapman - Director, Human Rights Program, American Assn. for the Advancement of Science
 * Steve Charnovitz - Attorney, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering
 * Sarah Cleveland - University of Texas at Austin School of Law
 * Representative Lane Evans - U.S. House of Representatives (D-IL)
 * Keith Geiger - President, National Education Association
 * Mark Harrison - Program Director, United Methodist Board of Church and Society
 * Jim Hightower - Commentator
 * John H. Hovis - President, United Electrical Workers
 * Kjeld Jakobsen - International Secretary, City Government of Sao Paulo, Brazil
 * Somsak Kosaisook - General Secretary, State Enterprise Worker Relations Confederation, Thailand
 * Virginia Leary - Fromm Professor Emerita of International and Comparative Law, University of California (Hastings)
 * Atherton Martin - Director, The Development Institute, Dominica, West Indies
 * Muchtar Pakpahan - President, Indonesian Prosperity Workers' Union (SBSI), Indonesia
 * Representative Bernie Sanders - U.S. House of Representatives (I-VT)
 * Peter Weiss - Center for Constitutional Rights
 * Robert White - President, Center for International Policy

Contact
2001 S St., NW #420 Washington, DC 20009 Phone: (202) 347-4100 Fax: (202) 347-4885 Email: laborrights (at) ilrf.org Web: http://www.laborrights.org