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| 06.17.2008
Anti-Sweatshop Activists will hold a press conference on July 1st, 10:30am at Governor Rendell's Southeast Regional Office at 200 South Broad Street, Philadelphia to demand the state of Pennsylvania to join the State and Local Government Consortium.  Press Conference: Tuesday, July 1st, 10:30am, Governor Rendell's Southeast Regional Office, 200 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA On July 1st, the first National Report will be released on 9 major brands from the uniform industry, with research based in 3 different continents and 14 sweatshop factories across the world. Studies have shown that Pennsylvania is dealing with companies that are using sweatshops with major abuses of workers rights, and utilizing child labor. Anti-Sweatshop activists will hold a press conference, and hand deliver petitions and the uniform report release on July 1st, 10:30am at Governor Rendell's Southeast Regional Office at 200 South Broad Street, Philadelphia to demand the state of Pennsylvania to join the State and Local Government Consortium. The five uniform brands that are manufactured under sweatshop-conditioned factories, which have contracted products with Pennsylvania state employees, include Blauer, Dickies, Lion Apparel and Rocky Shoes. Workers who make Blauer uniforms in China wore hidden cameras, and took pictures of 20 fourteen year old girls working at night in a garment factory. The girls were falling asleep as they were working. Furthermore, child labor is in violation under Chinese Labor Law. Research has shown that Blauer produces Pennsylvania State Police Uniforms. Therefore it is important that Governor Rendell joins the State and Local Government Consortium, to stop tax dollar in support of child labor conditions. Rocky Shoes, which also sell apparel gear to government departments for municipal employees, postal service workers, and the military, now manufactures the majority of its products in China and the Dominican Republic. Newspaper reports from Chinese newspapers indicate that as many as 4000 workers at the Quan Tak factory in Guangzhou went on strike to recover unpaid overtime wages going as far back as 2002. Employees often work 15 hours a day, seven days a week, for as little as $5 a day. Workers also said that they are trained to deceive monitors that Quan Tak corporate clients send to inspect workplace conditions and those workers who led efforts to improve conditions were fired. In March 2004, Governor Rendell took a leadership role in the national anti-sweatshop movement by signing an Anti-Sweatshop Procurement Policy, Executive Order 2004-4. However, the Uniform Industry Report shows that the Anti-Sweatshop Procurement Policy Governor Rendell adopted in the past does not ensure state employees uniform are made in ethical conditions. This shows the need for Pennsylvania to sign on to the State and Local Government Consortium. Comprised of states, cities, counties, local government agencies, and school districts, as well as human rights advocates and labor rights experts, the State and Local Government Consortium will pool resources of public entities to investigate working conditions in factories that make uniforms and other products for public employees. Anti-Sweatshop Procurement Policy, Executive Order 2004-4 http://www.sweatfree.org/policies/PApolicy.pdf Reply |
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