Baltimore, MD, June 7, 2007 - Catholic Relief Services (CRS) announced today it has been awarded a $4.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to help improve labor law compliance in the six Central American countries and the Dominican Republic that signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).

CRS and civil organizations will create eight worker rights centers to educate some 200,000 workers about labor rights and provide them with legal guidance about the procedures and documentation needed to exercise those rights.

Targeting individual workers, labor organizations and labor unions in diverse industries, the four-year project will also create outreach campaigns about labor rights and legal assistance to reach individual and organized workers in the places where they work.

Although CAFTA-DR obligates labor law compliance in member countries, worker rights in these countries are inadequately enforced. Workers are often unaware of their rights and are ill-equipped to present labor claims.

To attack the root causes of labor violations and support a culture of compliance, workers must have the knowledge, skills and tools to exercise their rights. While there are many groups working to improve the status of workers, little coordination, especially at the local level, exists.

"Worker rights centers are truly an innovative way to address labor violations and misperceptions of labor laws," said Richard Jones, Country Representative, CRS/El Salvador. "Through them, we hope to strengthen the capacity of local organizations to inform workers about their rights and equip workers to take action on claims when necessary."

In El Salvador and regionally the project, called "Todos Trabajamos: Labor Rights for Everyone," will work with partners Human Rights Institute of the University of Central America (IDHUCA) and the Independent Monitoring Group of El Salvador (GMIES). In Nicaragua, it will partner with the Justice and Peace Commission of León/Chinandega (CJP); in Costa Rica with National Caritas (PSC); in Honduras with the Center for Research and Promotion of Human Rights (CIPRODEH); in Guatemala with the Commission for the Verification of Codes of Conduct in Guatemala (COVERCO); and in the Dominican Republic with the Jesuit Refugee Service in the Dominican Republic (JRS).

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency provides assistance to people in 98 countries and territories based on need, regardless of race, nationality or creed.