Michigan Change to Win Resolution

Resolution

WHEREAS, sweatshop labor has an inarguably harmful effect on the health and safety of workers who are directly affected by these workplace abuses, and on the wages and working conditions of all workers, who are affected indirectly by the global race to the bottom for cheap labor; and

WHEREAS, workers everywhere have a right to dignity and respect on the job, freedom of association, and living wages; and

WHEREAS, a global economy founded on sweatshop exploitation undermines global economic security and political stability; and

WHEREAS, state and local governments are large customers of apparel - such as uniforms for public sector workers - and currently have no public accountability for where this apparel is purchased from, or the conditions under which it was produced; and

WHEREAS, the purchasing power of states, local governments, and school districts should be used to reinforce International Labor Organization Standards and local laws that protect workers, not undermine them; and

WHEREAS, the State and Local Government Sweatfree Consortium will pool resources for investigating and monitoring supplier factories and coordinate the implementation and enforcement of sweatfree procurement standards;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that Michigan Change to Win supports state, local, and school board legislation for sweatfree procurement policies to end public subsidies of sweatshop abuses and protect workers' rights in the United States and throughout the world; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Michigan Change to Win educates its members about the benefits of sweatfree procurement campaigns, and encourages members to join with community allies in sweatfree procurement campaigns; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Michigan Change to Win endorses the formation of the State and Local Government Sweatfree Consortium, which will work to end public purchasing from sweatshops by:

1) Investigating labor conditions in common supplier factories using a monitor that is fully independent from the industry; and

2) Consolidating government purchasing power to support supplier factories where workers are treated with dignity and have a voice on the job.

Passed: Aug. 18, 2008