SweatFree Consortium

1
SweatFree Consortium

• Witherspoon Society Conference
• September 2007

2
Worker Justice

• Deuteronomy 2414-25
• You shall not abuse a needy and destitute
  laborer, whether a fellow countryman or a
  stranger You must pay him his wages on the same
  day, before the sun sets else he will cry to God
  against you and you will incur guilt. 

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Worker Justice

• James 54-5
• Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your
  fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out,
  and the cries of the harvesters have reached the
  ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the
  earth in luxury and in pleasure you have
  fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

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Sweat-Free T

• Enables individuals and congregations to purchase
  sweat-free T-shirts
• Opens the door to educate people about the
  conditions in sweatshops, where most of our
  clothes are produced
• Prepares congregations for other steps in
  justice-making

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Story and success

• Fair Trade Zone womens cooperative garment
  factory emerged after Hurricane Mitch in
  Nicaragua, support from PHP, and creativity,
  determination and courage of a group of women in
  Nueva Vida
• www.pcusa.org/sweatfree  

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Powerful example

• Grace and unknown impacts
• Shorter-term tangible impact is limited
• Global sweatshop economy
•   

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Global Sweatshop Economy

• Growth in five years
• 1997 22.5 million
• 2002 43 million

8
Health Impacts on Communities Around Export
Processing Zones (EPZs)

• Many EPZ factories illegally dump hazardous waste
  and spew contaminants into the air, water and
  soil.

• Studies have documented high rates of certain
  illnesses on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border
  compared to non-border regions of both countries.

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The Cost of Cheap Goods

• High incidences of lupus, cervical cancer, lead
  poisoning, brain and liver cancers, tuberculosis,
  asthma, Hepatitis A and other diseases from mix
  of poverty, environmental contamination, and
  inadequate health care.

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Dangerous conditions

Warning Danger! Contains cadmium. Fumes are
poisonous and can kill.
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Children

• Children are exposed to toxins from parents
  and contamination in communities more likely to
  suffer from
• developmental health problems
• including learning disabilities
• cancers
• birth defects
• Child Labor

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Workers pay more than half their 60 monthly
salary to share a crowded dorm room. Many girls
sleep on thin straw mats covering the wood bunks.
Factory dorms in Shenzhen City, Shenzhen,
CHINA
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16-year-old girls assemble Keds sneakers and
apply toxic glue with their bare hands and
without respirators. Kunshan Sun Hwa Footwear
Co., CHINA
14

Workers who jumped out of windows to escape the
flames fell to their deaths on the spiked fence
at the Chowbury Knitwear Factory in Shibpur,
Bangladesh
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Women Bear the Brunt

• Women are subject to additional gender-based
  social hazards sexual harassment, forced
  pregnancy tests, forced contraception.
• Sometimes fired if they become pregnant.
• Dangers of work in EPZ plants compound the double
  burden of domestic and factory work women bear.

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Presbyterian Hunger Program Sweatfree
Communities

• First contact in late 2001
• SFC support with code of conduct
• PHP service on Board since 2002
• PHP annual grants from 2003
• 2007 joint conference with Alliance/CIW

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State and Local Government Sweatfree Consortium

• We have a moral obligation to ensure the
  sweatshop practice is not rewarded through state
  contracts and taxpayer dollars. That's why, along
  with Governors Baldacci and Corzine, we're
  encouraging other states to join us and send a
  clear message that the U.S. values hard-working
  employees, and expects workers to be treated and
  compensated fairly. By using our combined state
  procurement power, we can impart real change.
• -- Governor Edward G. Rendell (Pennsylvania)

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Public procurement

• State and city procurement
• 400 billion/year
• Democratic decision making
• Public policy tool
• Green procurement
• Local economic development
• Women and minority-owned businesses
• Living wages and decent working conditions

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Apparel procurement

• States 400 million/year
• Local governments 12 billion/year
• States and cities gathered in Harrisburg
  earlier this
  year
  represent 65
  million/year

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Public procurement from sweatshops?

• military contractor
• Talking prohibited
• Two minutes max in the bathroom
• Illegal wage deductions

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Sweatfree cities and counties

• Albany, NY
• Alleghany, PA
• Boston, MA
• Cuyahoga, OH
• Durham, NC
• Los Angeles, CA
• Madison, WI
• Milwaukee, WI
• Olympia, WA
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Providence, RI
• San Francisco, CA
• Toledo, OH
• and more

22
Sweatfree states

• California
• Illinois
• Maine

• New Jersey
• New York
• Pennsylvania

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Sweatfree schools

• Over 100 school districts in New York
• Nine Catholic School Boards in Ontario
• Newark and Buffalo Archdioceses

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How many altogether?

• 6 states
• 11 counties
• 36 cities
• 117 public school districts
• 3 high schools
• 166 universities
• Total 339

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Coming soon to a town near you

• Berkeley
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Missoula
• New York City
• Ohio
• Portland
• Vermont
• Washington

Sweatfree Portland Campaign, February, 2007
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Towards high road competition

• Code of Conduct
• Local labor law and regulations
• ILO standards
• Non-poverty wage
• Disclosure of factory locations and conditions
• Affidavit of compliance
• Cooperation with independent investigations
• Corrective action

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Good theory, but

• How do we know?
• How do we investigate?
• How does a single city or state have an impact?

28
Calling for a Sweatfree Consortium

• Governors Coalition for Sweatfree Procurement
  and Worker Rights
• Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania

There's power in numbers. If we team up with
other states we'll have even more influence in
the global marketplace. Workers around the
world deserve any influence or leverage we can
bring to the table. -- Governor John E.
Baldacci, Maine
29
Calling for a Sweatfree Consortium

• Mayor Gavin Newsom, San Francisco
• By consolidating our purchasing power and
  coordinating enforcement, our cities can better
  assure that anti-sweatshop policies achieve their
  intent. our city is interested in organizing a
  consortium of public jurisdictions to advance
  sweatfree policies.
• City of Los Angeles
• Explore the possibility of developing a
  consortium of governmental entities to allow for
  cost sharing of monitoring and enforcement
  activities by an independent monitor.
• City of Providence
• The City shall also exploredeveloping a
  sweatfree consortium with other states, cities,
  school boards, or other public entities that
  allow for cost sharing of monitoring, and
  enforcement activities by a nonprofit independent
  monitor.

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Three key principles

• Public disclosure
• Independent investigations
• Fair purchasing

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Benefits to business

• Even playing field
• Uniform standards
• Stable markets

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Benefits to governments

• Economy of scale
• High quality products
• Happy tax payers

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Benefits to workers everywhere

• Better working conditions
• Job security
• Higher wages

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Towards a sweatfree world
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Steps to a sweatfree world
1) Get our own house in order PC(USA) policies?
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Steps to a sweatfree world
2) Encourage governors in key states New York,
Kentucky (15th), Illinois, Ohio, NJ, MA, MD-Balt.
Pres.
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Steps to a sweatfree world
3) Encourage governors in all states Sign sheet
if you are willing to help
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Steps to a sweatfree world
4) Endorse the SweatFree Consortium Witherspoon
Society, Congregations, Presbyteries,
Institutions, Companies (sweatfree.org)
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Build the Beloved Community

• Together we can do this. Together we should do
  this.
• - Gov. John Baldacci