August 2005
Newsletter #3
Contents:
1) NE Anti-Sweatshop Conference for High School Students
2) Save the date! SweatFree Communities Third Annual Conference
3) Wal-Mart Worker Tour
4) Sweatfree Organizing in the Age of CAFTA
5) Local Campaign Updates
6) Get a Web Page for Your Campaign
Register now! Northeast Anti-Sweatshop Conference for High School Students
Calling high school students across the Northeast U.S.! Join us at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, Sept. 30 - Oct. 2, 2005. During the weekend, we will learn about the sweatshop economy and how student power can make a difference. We'll learn skills in media, fundraising, leadership development, coalition building, and more. Join us in building and strengthening a network of high school anti-sweatshop leaders! REGISTER online now!
Save the date! SweatFree Communities Third Annual Conference
Announcing our next National Conference (with participants from Canada, Latin America, and Europe expected as well): April 7-9, 2006, at the Resource Center of the Americas in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Save the date now and stay tuned for more details!
Wal-Mart Worker Tour
The International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) is coordinating a Wal-Mart supplier factory worker tour to expose Wal-Mart worker abuses and lack of corporate accountability. The tour will highlight gross injustices such as sexual harassment and forced overtime taking place in Wal-Mart factories and farms around the world.
Dates are currently being reserved for events in the fall of 2005 and spring of 2006. If you are interested to host the worker tour, contact SweatFree Communities for more information: 413-586-0974. We are helping coordinate tour stops to sweatfree campaign locales.
Sweatfree Organizing in the Age of CAFTA
The House of Representatives narrowly passed the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) late last month. CAFTA should not have passed. The American public is firmly against NAFTA expansion, and representatives who were “flat-out” opposed to CAFTA just a day before the vote changed their minds at the last moment, bought off by the Bush Administration. However, as sweatfree activists we can demand that our state and local governments stand for justice and worker dignity when our federal government only does the bidding of the large corporations. Community by community, state by state, we can build an edifice of worker justice on a foundation of sweatfree policies that uphold labor standards that should have been in CAFTA. Read SweatFree Communities’ analysis of CAFTA and assessment of organizing opportunities.
Local Campaign Updates
San Francisco: The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously last week to pass the historic Sweatfree San Francisco Ordinance, which will ensure that the hundreds of millions of city tax dollars spent on purchasing annually will be used to support fair and just labor practices. The Ordinance will face a final reading and vote on September 6. Read on...
Maine: The State of Maine’s Division of Purchases has drafted a new set of rules for implementing the sweatfree purchasing law which was enacted in June 2001. According to the Maine Clean Clothes Alliance (MECCA), the rules will significantly weaken the law by giving seemingly total control over evaluations of code of conduct challenges to the purchasing agent. MECCA will propose a different set of rules that calls for monitoring of factories and enforcement of the law by a non-profit independent monitor at a public hearing on August 25. Read full analysis and next steps...
Madison, Wisconsin: On August 29, the City Board of Estimates will debate the proposed sweatfree policy. Organizers expect the City to adopt the policy in September. The policy has some of the strongest provisions yet, including nonpoverty wage, independent monitoring, and freedom of association. For more information contact Liana Dalton.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Milwaukee Clean Clothes Campaign is going strong. Having earlier campaigned and won ground-breaking sweatfree ordinances for their City and School District, they are now targeting County purchasing. The County ordinance will include funding for an independent monitor to help enforce the sweatfree policy. For more information contact Matt Schumwinger.
Many more campaigns are out there doing amazing work. These are just a few featured highlights. Stay tuned for news from more campaigns.
[Insert your campaign here! Please be in touch with us with the latest news from your campaign.]
Get a Web Page for Your Campaign
Do you want a website to feature information about your sweatfree campaign? We are now offering pages on www.sweatfree.org to local campaigns. You send us the content, we'll put it up! Contact us if you're interested.
