Call to ensure Chicago tax dollars are not used to procure city worker uniforms made in sweatshop or by child labor
CHICAGO—(ENEWSPF)—May 27, 2014. On the heels of the one-year anniversary of the deadliest garment industry disaster in history at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, Chicago Aldermen and community supporters, led by Chicago Fair Trade, will call for an ordinance ensuring that Chicago workers’ uniforms are not manufactured using sweatshop or child labor.
One thousand one hundred and twenty nine garment workers died, and over 2500 were injured in the Rana Plaza collapse. The New York Times reported that military and other national institution garments have been produced at sweatshops in Bangladesh, Thailand, and Cambodia, some of which employ children, and where workers earn only dollars a day, face verbal and physical abuse. At factories with U.S. federal contracts, workers have reported wage theft, being beaten for failing to meet quotas, and soiling themselves because of restricted bathroom breaks.
Chicago Fair Trade and city Aldermen are taking action following the example of over 40 other cities, including L.A., St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Boston, passing Sweatfree ordinances, a response to both the resent factory tragedies, and the failure to prevent procurement of sweatshop apparel by federal legislation. The ordinance would ensure transparency in the procurement of uniforms for city workers, including for police and firefighters.
Press conference and sweatfree campaign is organized by Chicago Fair Trade, which represents over 70 local businesses, organizations, religious congregations, and educational institutions. www.chicagofairtrade.org
Source: www.chicagofairtrade.org
