February 2008
Newsletter #18
Contents:
1) Save the Date: SweatFree Summit
2) Wal-Mart Sweatshop Workers Speaking Tour
3) Welcoming New Midwest Regional Organizer
4) Host a Campaign Retreat, Training, or Strategy Session
5) Local Campaign Updates
6) Have a Socially Responsible Valentine's Day
Save the date: SweatFree Summit
Join
activists from across the country this summer for a weekend of
training, strategy, and action. Coinciding with the National Governors
Association Centennial Meeting, we are gathering in Philadelphia July
11-13 to call on our governors to join the State and Local Government
Sweatfree Consortium.
The
Sweatfree Summit will kick off with a Worker Rights Board hearing,
march, and rally featuring testimonies by sweatshop workers who sew
uniforms purchased with our tax dollars.
The
rest of the weekend will feature trainings - suitable for new and
seasoned sweatfree
campaign activists - as well as strategy sessions for our joint
Sweatfree Consortium campaign.
We
hope that you can join us! Our goal is to make this summit affordable
to all who are interested; we will be offering travel scholarships to
low-income participants. Mark your calendars now: July 11-13 in
Philadelphia.
Wal-Mart Sweatshop Workers
Speaking Tour
Have you heard what Wal-Mart factory workers have to
say about their working conditions?
Now is your chance.
International Labor Rights Forum and SweatFree Communities are sponsoring a speaking tour in Michigan and Ohio, April 3-12. We have invited a Bangladeshi garment worker who sews school uniforms for Wal-Mart and a farmworker from Costa Rica who picks pineapples for Del Monte.
Email trina.tocco@ilrf.org
by February 22 to inquire about hosting the tour.
Welcoming New Midwest Regional
Organizer
We are excited
to welcome on
board our new Midwest Regional Organizer, Vicki Kaplan. Vicki joins us
with a wealth of organizing experience from campaigns with Food &
Water Watch, Citizens Trade Campaign PAC, and United Students Against
Sweatshops.
Midwesterners,
we invite you to
get in touch with Vicki to introduce yourself. She would be delighted
to come to your community for a meeting or to give a workshop: vicki@sweatfree.org.
Host a Campaign Retreat,
Training, or Strategy Session
Last month,
our national
organizer, Liana Foxvog, facilitated a day-long campaign retreat in
Oregon and co-led a two-hour workshop in Seattle. Later this month
she'll lead strategy workshops in Austin and San Antonio.
Will your
community be next? A
strategy session can help launch your campaign or bring it to the next
level. To arrange one in your community, contact Liana to discuss the
possibilities: liana@sweatfree.org
/ 413-586-0974.
Local Campaign Updates
Hawaii: A
state senate committee has recommended passage of a strong sweatfree
bill. Many hurdles remain. If you live in Hawaii or know people in
Hawaii who can express their support, please let us know. To follow the
bill's progress, go here and
enter SB2409.
Maryland: The
first committee hearing on the Sweatfree Maryland bill
received enthusiastic support. If you live in Maryland, this is a great
time to send a letter of support >>
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania: During a time of harassment of
labor activists in Bangladesh, fans call on Pittsburgh Pirates to
investigate working conditions in Bangladesh garment factories >>
San
Francisco, California:
In case you've been following the recent amendments to the sweatfree
policy in San Francisco, we wanted to let you know that they are now
online. Our website has the details >>
Travis
County, Texas:
Last month the county commissioners voted to enact purchasing policies
to guide the county in buying only those products that are manufactured
in environmentally and socially responsible ways. The Travis County
Sweatfree Coalition is currently working to make sure that adequate
rules are created and to encourage the county to join the Sweatfree
Consortium >>
More
campaign updates >>
Have a Socially Responsible
Valentine's Day
While you're celebrating the love in your life and perhaps enjoying fair trade chocolate, please take a minute for three actions this Valentine's Day:
1) Let
Colombian businessmen know that U.S. consumers want justice for cut
flower workers. Send
a letter now >>
3) Want to give something special this Valentine's Day? Give to SweatFree Communities. Won't you consider making a recurring donation of $10 a month? Become a monthly contributor now >>
Thank you for taking these three actions.
