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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Liana Foxvog
[mailto:liana@sweatfree.org] <br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>For Immediate Release<br>
Contact: Bjorn Claeson, 207-262-7277, or Liana Foxvog, 413-586-0974<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b>Tax Dollars Fund
Sweatshops, New Study Says</b><br>
<i>State and local governments pledge to end practice <br>
as momentum builds for 'sweatfree' purchasing</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br>
U.S. states, cities, and counties are inadvertently using millions of taxpayer
dollars to purchase goods from companies engaged in serious human rights and
labor violations, according to a first-of-its-kind report released today by
SweatFree Communities. The study, <i>Subsidizing Sweatshops: How Our Tax
Dollars Fund the Race to the Bottom, and What Cities and States Can Do</i>,
includes in-depth case studies of 12 factories in nine countries that produce
public employee uniforms for nine major uniform brands. <br>
<br>
Elected officials, religious leaders, human rights groups, students and labor
unions today participated in at least eight rallies, press conferences or other
events around the country. "We are calling on public entities to join the
Sweatfree Consortium, a collaborative effort of states, local governments,
labor rights experts, and human rights advocates to end tax dollar support for
sweatshops," said Bjorn Claeson, Executive Director of SweatFree
Communities and an author of the report. "We can use our collective
purchasing power to improve working conditions instead of furthering the race
to the bottom."<br>
<br>
"Governments have an obligation to conduct business in an open and ethical
way," Governor John E. Baldacci of Maine said today. "By working
cooperatively with other states and localities, we can more effectively monitor
supplier behavior and enforce standards for the way workers are treated in
other countries." Governor Baldacci is a leader in the campaign to
end public purchasing from sweatshops.<br>
<br>
The Sweatfree Consortium will help states, cities, counties, local government
agencies, and school districts to enforce their commitments to end public
purchasing from sweatshops by investigating factories and creating a market for
change. <br>
<br>
<i>Subsidizing Sweatshops</i> reveals widespread human rights and labor
violations throughout the uniform industry, including: child labor; illegally
low poverty wages; forced and unpaid overtime; verbal, physical, and sexual
abuse; pregnancy testing, excessively long work hours causing physical
ailments; disregard for freedom of speech or association; and elaborate schemes
to deceive corporate auditors. <br>
<br>
Workers at a Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co. (Dickies) supplier factory in
Karachi, Pakistan, described to researchers the excessive working hours to
which they are subjected: "12 to 13 hours a day, 30 days per month,"
according to Fazad. <br>
<br>
"If we refuse shifts, are absent, or make a mistake then our supervisors
and other mid-level management beat and slap us," said Bithi, a 22-year-old
sewing operator who has worked four years at a Bangladesh factory producing
undergarments for Bob Barker Co., a major supplier for U.S. state and county
correctional institutions. <br>
<br>
"In a globalized apparel industry where these violations are widespread,...
gathering information about problems is an important first step in our effort
to ensure full respect for the rights of the workers that our policies are
designed to help," wrote Betty Lamoreau, Director of Division of Purchases
for the State of Maine, in letters to Cintas Corp., Blauer Manufacturing Co.,
and Bob Barker Co., three of the companies named in the report.<br>
<br>
"We also expect you will take all appropriate steps to work with your
suppliers to ensure that any labor rights and human rights violations are
corrected and conditions for workers are improved," wrote Wisconsin
Secretary of Administration Michael L. Morgan in letters to Williamson-Dickie
Manufacturing Co., Fechheimer Brothers Co., Blauer, and Bob Barker. The other
companies named in the report are Lion Apparel, Propper International, Rocky
Brands, and Eagle Industries.<br>
<br>
<i>Subsidizing Sweatshops</i> recognizes the cities, states, counties, and
school districts that have pursued sweatfree purchasing policies and are
working proactively to establish the Sweatfree Consortium. <br>
<br>
"If more people were informed about what conditions are like for the
workers who make their clothes, I think that our situation would be different
and there wouldn't be as many violations in the factories," said Elisa, a
31-year-old seamstress making uniforms at the Calypso Apparel factory in
Nicaragua. "We hope that people in other countries will continue to
support us and that we can all progress together."<br>
<br>
<i>Subsidizing Sweatshops</i> is available at: <a
href="http://www.sweatfree.org/subsidizing">http://www.sweatfree.org/subsidizing</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>###<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br>
SweatFree Communities coordinates a national network of grassroots campaigns
that promote humane working conditions in apparel and other labor-intensive
global industries by working with both public and religious institutions to
adopt sweatshop-free purchasing policies. Using institutional purchasing as a
lever for worker justice, the sweatfree movement empowers ordinary people to
create a just global economy through local action. Learn more at <a
href="http://www.sweatfree.org/">http://www.sweatfree.org</a><br>
<br>
The State and Local Government Sweatfree Consortium will facilitate sweatfree
purchasing policy enforcement by pooling resources, sharing knowledge and
expertise, and coordinating standards and code compliance activities. Learn
more at <a href="http://www.sweatfree.org/sweatfreeconsortium">http://www.sweatfree.org/sweatfreeconsortium</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>TO
UNSUBSCRIBE, send an email to wmjwj@wmjwj.org with a Subject of "Unsub
Workers' Rights".<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>[Workers'
Rights] posts opportunities for you to learn about and show solidarity with
workplace and working class struggles. And these events are opportunities for
JwJ members to fulfill their pledge: <a href="http://www.jwj.org/pledge.html"><span
style='color:blue;text-decoration:none'>"</span><span style='color:blue'>I'll
be there for workers' rights at least five times a year!</span><span
style='color:blue;text-decoration:none'>"</span></a> This is the core mission
of Jobs with Justice (<a href="http://www.jwj.org/"><span style='color:blue'>www.jwj.org</span></a>),
affirming that workers' rights are human rights. To subscribe, send an email to
wmjwj@wmjwj.org with a Subject of "Subscribe Worker's Rights".<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Western
Mass Jobs with Justice<br>
640 Page Blvd #101<br>
Springfield MA 01104<br>
(413) 827-0301 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
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