Sweatshops - or factories in which workers are paid below minimum wage and work overtime without compensation - have directly caused thousands of deaths around the world in the last 3 years, and yet, the apparel companies whose products are made there continue to distance themselves from the tragedies. The Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, a coalition made up of labor, faith, family farm, environmen
tal and other non-profit organizations who believe that trade and globalization should protect human rights and living standards here in Minnesota and in the rest of the world, has just begun an initiative to work to put pressure on those companies to change their practices. By working with local governments throughout Minnesota, we are hoping to pass legislation which will severely limit cities' ability to purchase from companies who employ sweatshops to make their apparel. This, in turn, will compel them to change the deadly conditions that exist for workers around the world. Ideally, these cities would also join the Sweatfree Consortium, a central organization which serves as both a watchdog and a database for cities that have passed policies like the one we are proposing and also for ones that are considering it. To accomplish these goals, the Coalition is reaching out to community, religious, and labor organizations to build partnerships and create a broad network pushing local governments to put an end to sweatshop labor. It is only through widespread support of this initiative that we can hope to stand up to the power of the companies who use unethical labor conditions to bolster their bottom line.
