Subsidizing Sweatshops Report Released

On July 1, 2008, SweatFree Communities, released a report, entitled Subsidizing Sweatshops:  How Our Tax Dollars Fund the Race to the Bottom, and What Cities and States Can Do.  (For the full report:  www.sweatfree.org/subsidizing)  SweatFree Communities is a national network of anti-sweatshop organizations that works to build a global economy with justice and equity.  The report states that states that:

~  U.S. states, counties, and cities are inadvertently using taxpayer dollars to purchase goods from companies engaged in serious human rights and labor violations.

~  includes in-depth case studies of 12 factories in 9 countries that produce and sell goods such as uniforms to vendors who, in turn, sell to state, county and city entities.

~  reveals abuses, such as:  child labor; illegally low poverty wages; forced and unpaid overtime; verbal, physical, and sexual abuse; pregnancy testing; excessively long work hours that cause physical ailments; disregard for freedom of speech or association; and elaborate schemes to deceive corporate auditors.

~  includes examples of abuse, such as:  women in El Salvador who sew $165 North Face jackets and $54 shifts for Eddie Bauer cannot afford milk and other basic necessities for their children as their wages fall behind soaring food costs.  The women are paid 94 cents for each $165 North Face jacket they sew-meaning that their wages amount to less than six-tenths of one percent of the jacket’s
retail price.

~  states that local vendors such as Blumenthal sell goods to the State of Washington and the City of Olympia that are produced by companies, including: Fechheimer Brothers Company, Lion Apparel, and Rocky Shoes.

Marigold is an active member of The South Sound Clean Clothes Campaign, an anti-sweatshop community campaign, was formed in 2000.  We are members of SweatFree Communities, the author of this report, and we continue to work on behalf of human and labor rights. For more info: www.sweatfree.org.

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