December, 01 2016, 07:45am EDT
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350.org Japan and Green Peace Japan Hold Joint #NoDAPL Action Encouraging Japanese Banks' to Divest from the Dakota Access Pipeline
Today,350.org Japan and Green Peace Japan held a "#NoDAPL Japan" photo action to highlight the massive financing that Japanese banks are pouring into the Dakota Access Pipeline project in the U.S., a project that has endangered water access rights among minority populations in the country. This action was conducted in solidarity with a number of actions planned around the world to express opposition to the pipeline project [1].
TOKYO
Today,350.org Japan and Green Peace Japan held a "#NoDAPL Japan" photo action to highlight the massive financing that Japanese banks are pouring into the Dakota Access Pipeline project in the U.S., a project that has endangered water access rights among minority populations in the country. This action was conducted in solidarity with a number of actions planned around the world to express opposition to the pipeline project [1].
Peaceful demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline started this April when the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe expressed concerns that the proposed project poses threats to their sacred native lands and could contaminate the water supply on their reservation, which runs along the pipeline's route. In the months since, over 300 indigenous peoples from all over North America have come together at Standing Rock to oppose the pipeline and protests have been held nation wide, including in Washington, D.C.
Research conducted by the U.S. NGO Food & Water Watch found that there are 38 financial institutions involved in the DAPL project. The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. are the Japanese financial institutions in the list. Furthermore, Japanese banks Mizuho Bank (appx USD 590 million) and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (appx USD 550 million) lead the list of top financiers as first and second among 38 financial institutions, respectively.
All Japanese banks involved in financing DAPL are signatories to the Equator Principles, a risk management framework adopted by financial institutions for determining, assessing, and managing environmental and social risk in project finance. Ignoring the threat posed to the health and livelihoods of the Sioux Tribe, in addition to the violent police activity that has been imposed upon the protestors, is clearly a violation of the Equator Principles. The DNB Bank of Norway has already divested from companies connected to DAPL, citing the egregious violations of human rights resulting from the project [2].
Given this grave situation, on November 30,350.org Japan along with Green Peace Japan sent a letter to those Japanese financial institutions demanding that they stop all financing into the DAPL project and requesting a meeting to speak about how they are planning to incorporate climate-related risks into their investment policies [3]. The Dutch NGO Bank Track has also distributed an opposition letter to the 38 financial institutions involved in DAPL today, co-signed by more than 420 international groups [4].
Projects such as DAPL also ignore warnings from the scientific community, who state that meeting the long-term goal as codified in the Paris Agreement of keeping global warming under 1.5-2 degrees Celsius can only be met by not developing any new fossil fuel projects. 350.org Japan and Green Peace Japan will continue to call upon the Japanese banks involved in this project to adopt investment policies in line with the Equator Principles and the Paris Agreement.
Photos from the "#NoDAPL Japan" photo action can be downloaded here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0Bz9sPs2DRJkkb3pQM2Q5eXU2VFU?usp=sharing
[1] https://www.facebook.com/events/596431493877391/
[2] https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/largest-bank-norway-sells-assets-dakota-access-pipeline/
[3] Dakota Access Pipeline Japan Bank Letter
[4] Open letter to all banks involved in the project loan for the Dakota Access Pipeline
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House Dems Unveil Sweeping Bill to Protect Worker Rights and Safety
"This bill will help level the playing field and, once again, restore the balance of power between workers and their employers," said Rep. Bobby Scott.
Jul 26, 2024
A group of Democratic U.S. House members on Friday unveiled legislation "aimed at bolstering protections for America's workers and ensuring accountability for employers who flout labor and employment laws."
The Labor Enforcement to Securely (LET'S) Protect Workers Act was introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.)—the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce—and House Labor Caucus Co-Chairs Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), and Steven Horsford (D-Nev.).
The bill's sponsors said their legislation is based on the premise that "employment laws are a promise to our nation's workers" meant to "secure the most basic rights of work."
"That promise is broken," they contended. "Recent shocking revelations about massive increases in the number of children illegally overworked and trafficked into dangerous jobs—just over 85 years since the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which was enacted to eliminate that very problem—is the latest example of the ways that this promise to America's workers is broken."
Across the U.S., Republican state lawmakers have been advancing legislation to remove restrictions on child labor, despite several high-profile workplace deaths of minors. At the federal level, Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) and Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) last year introduced a bill that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to work in the logging industry.
The LET'S Protect Workers Act sponsors highlighted rampant wage theft and overtime violations, workplace injuries, and union-busting by employers who "know that even if a resource-starved Department of Labor catches a violation, the penalties are a mere slap on the wrist."
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According to House Education and Workforce Committee Democrats, if passed, the LET'S Protect Workers Act would:
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"Every American should be fairly compensated and be able to return home safely at the end of the day," Scott said in a statement Friday. "Unfortunately, shortcomings in our labor laws enable unethical employers to exploit workers, endanger children, and suppress the right to organize—with little accountability."
"That's why I'm proud to introduce the LET'S Protect Workers Act, which will hold bad actors accountable and strengthen penalties for labor law violations," he added. "This bill will help level the playing field and, once again, restore the balance of power between workers and their employers."
In a joint statement, Dingell, Horsford, Norcross, and Pocan said that "the lack of meaningful enforcement makes it all too easy for bad faith actors to get away with illegally violating workers' rights—from firing workers for organizing a union, to allowing children to work overnight shifts, or jeopardizing workers' safety by ignoring workplace regulations."
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Earlier this month, nearly 50 labor organizations led by the AFL-CIO and representing a wide range of U.S. workers urged congressional Democrats to resist Republican efforts to roll back rules enacted by the Biden administration to protect worker rights amid relentless attacks by abusive employers.
Specifically, the labor groups warned that Republicans are trying to use the Congressional Review Act—which was enacted to strengthen oversight of federal rulemaking—to overturn pro-worker rules enacted by the Department of Labor and other government bodies.
Meanwhile, Republicans including former President Donald Trump—the 2024 GOP nominee—have been trying to woo U.S. workers with proposals including a tax exemption for tipped employees panned as a "
hollow promise" by experts and by inviting Teamsters president Sean O'Brien to speak at the Republican National Convention last week.
In response to Republicans' dubious courting of U.S. labor, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas)—who is a co-sponsor of the LET'S Protect Workers Act—recently called for holding what would be a largely symbolic vote on the PRO Act. The bill was revived last year by Scott and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and, if passed, would expand labor protections including the right to organize and collectively bargain.
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Amnesty International on Friday demanded a "prompt, thorough, independent, and impartial investigation" into the use of antipersonnel landmines, "which litter territories in Ukraine formerly and currently occupied by Russian forces."
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Patrick Thompson, a Ukraine researcher at Amnesty, said Friday that "in every region in Ukraine that was formerly occupied by Russia, we have seen evidence of civilians killed and injured by antipersonnel mines left behind by Russian forces."
"They are a daily, deadly threat to civilians. Some have been deliberately placed in civilian homes where they maim and kill," Thompson highlighted. "There must be an effective investigation into all such incidents as possible war crimes."
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Despite pushback from the United States delegation, finance ministers at a meeting of the G20 countries in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday agreed on the need to develop a global taxation system in which the richest in the world are taxed at a higher rate—potentially unlocking hundreds of billions of dollars annually to help close the international wealth gap.
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Zucman expressed hope that the agreement between the G20 finance ministers marked a "historic" moment, and called it "an important step in the right direction."
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The findings released this week by Oxfam highlighted polling that "consistently" found people across the world support raising taxes on the richest individuals.
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The Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) applauded the agreement and called on the G20 to "go further in [the] fight to tax the rich."
"To take this forward, G20 should support work on this at the Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation currently being negotiated at the United Nations," said Jayati Ghosh, co-chair of the ICRICT.
A U.N. committee is scheduled to submit "terms of reference" regarding a tax convention framework in August, and a final vote on the framework is expected by the end of 2025.
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