American Federation of Government Employees Local 1916

From: National Labor Committee
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 4:41 PM
To: Hill, Janet
Subject: Bush Visit/Harvest of Shame in Guatemala
 
Children in Guatemala harvest and process vegetables and fruits exported
to school children in the U.S.
 
Today, President George Bush will visit the rural province of
Chimaltenango, where he will laud Guatemala's booming agro-industrial
exports to the U.S. as a victory of free trade and CAFTA.
 
But less than a ten-minute drive from where President Bush is speaking,
there are 13-year-old children and minors working under deplorable
conditions at the Legumex factory, which produces frozen vegetables and
fruits for the U.S.  These children and teenagers are are forced to work
11 to 14 hours a day, six and seven days a week.  They are paid below
the legal minimum wage and cheated of their overtime.  In fact, at
Legumex every single labor law in Guatemala is being violated.
 
The NLC and CEADEL, the Center for Studies and Support for Local
Development, the organization in Chimaltenango that assists the young
workers, are releasing a new report on child labor and violations at
Legumex and Guatemala's agro-export processing industry.
 
Today's New York Times ran a story covering the issue.
 
See: NLC/CEADEL Report-Harvest of Shame in Guatemala
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=300452942&url_num=1&
 
http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=208
 

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Last modified: Wednesday February 25, 2009.