September 2009

In this issue:

1) Are we your human rights hero? Vote now!
2) Register for the National SweatFree Summit
3) Not making the trip? Here's how you can help
4) New Resource: Globalization we can grasp
5) Campaign Corner: This month's featured campaigns
6) New sewing factory opens in Massachusetts

heroAre we your human rights hero? Vote now!

Help SweatFree Communities win $1000! Vote for us as your Human Rights Hero by October 5th -- click here to vote now. After you vote, spread the word to your friends by posting this note on your facebook profile or messaging your friends:

" I voted for SweatFree Communities as my Human Rights Hero. Want to help stop sweatshops? Vote by October 5th: http://economy.myhumanrightsheroes.org/entries#7333 "

registerRegister for the National SweatFree Summit

Join activists from across the country in Washington D.C., November 6-8, for the 6th Annual SweatFree Communities Gathering. Click here for more info and to register.

Thanks to our sponsors, we have several travel scholarships available for low-income participants who are committed to sweatfree organizing in their communities. Contact summit@sweatfree.org or 413-586-0974 to apply.  

sponsorNot making the trip? Here's how you can help 

If you won't make it to the Summit this year, please help out so that others can attend. A donation of $300 will provide a travel scholarship. $50 will off-set the registration fee and meals for a low-income participant. Even $10 will help! Click here to donate online (make sure to designate your contribution as "Summit donation").

Also, if you're affiliated with a non-profit, place of worship, union, or socially responsible business, please ask the organization to sponsor the Summit. Here's the form with all the details.

curriculumNew Resource: Globalization we can grasp

The North American Working Group for Covenanting for Justice/Accra Confession has published a new curriculum, which SweatFree Communities Board Member Andrew Kang Bartlett helped prepare. The five workshop modules make real the challenges of globalization and the witness of the prophetic church. The modules in the curriculum contain video examples of social and environmental tragedy, and some triumphs of solidarity. It also includes a section on sweatshops, highlighting the work of SweatFree Communities in the workshop and in a short video. 

campaignsCampaign Corner: This month's featured campaigns

This summer a new sweatfree campaign kicked off in Louisville, Kentucky, thanks to volunteers who are pitching in their time and talent. Around town, fliers in windows, pamphlets in coffee shops, and stickers on cars are spreading the sweatfree message. The volunteer-driven campaign is working hard to keep the city council members' inboxes full with expressions of support for a SweatFree Louisville. As of now, the campaign has gained the support of at least three city council members and the interest of a few more.  For more information, contact SweatFreeLouisville@gmail.com.

Combining art and activism, SweatFree Northwest is partnering with the Portland mayor's office to exhibit a series of garment worker paintings by artist Janet Essley at City Hall and City Bureaus. The exhibit will open on December 18th with a reception including uniformed public employees, union leaders, and city officials. The featured speaker will be Gloria Gonzalez, a former maquila worker organizer in El Salvador who later worked as a garment worker in Los Angeles, before joining AFSCME as a union organizer. The event will educate public employees on how they can be a part of stopping sweatshops through Portland's sweatfree procurement policy. If you are interested to host an exhibit of the paintings in your community, please contact Liana.  

nbtgNew sewing factory opens in Massachusetts

We are happy to report that a new sewing factory has opened in Massachusetts. When Alliant Techsystems closed the New Bedford Eagle Industries plant despite workers' protests, a unionized company from New Jersey came to the workers' aid. New Jersey Headwear, which contract manufactures as Unionwear, opened the new New Bedford factory last month and has started hiring former Eagle workers. Most Eagle workers still remain without jobs, but as the new factory gets more contracts, more of these workers will find employment.

Photo: New Bedford Tactical Gear workers visit the NJ Headwear factory.