Sweatshop cops?

Springfield: Group says $80,000 in State Police and DNR uniforms was supplied by firms using overseas factories with poor conditions

The state of Illinois ordered about $80,000 of its uniforms from three companies linked to overseas factories with poor working conditions, according to findings to be announced today by an anti-sweatshop coalition.

"The state of Illinois does business with companies that are linked to sweatshops,'' said Victoria Kaplan of SweatFree Communities.

Records show the state ordered about $61,300 in uniforms and other apparel from Fechheimer, a Cincinnati firm; about $15,500 from Blauer of Boston, and about $2,200 from Dickies of Fort Worth. The clothing was for State Police and the Department of Natural Resources.

Fechheimer and Blauer have been linked to a Chinese factory with child-labor violations, Kaplan said. Fechheimer has received products from a substandard factory in Honduras, and Dickies has been linked to poor working conditions in Pakistan, Kaplan said.

The group based its allegations on interviews with overseas factory workers. Officials at the three firms did not return calls for comment.

A state official said the companies are in compliance with multiple anti-sweatshop efforts.

The companies followed purchasing requirements, including the Executive Order on a Sweatshop Free Procurement Policy, the Domestic Products Act, the Prohibition of Goods from Forced Labor Act, and the Prohibition of Goods from Child Labor Act, said Susan Hofer of Central Management Services.

Fechheimer "has told us, in writing, that all uniforms provided under our contract are made at their union shops in Kentucky and Maryland."