Whitney Smith, another senior, said: “It's important for students and community
members to realize that sweatshops are prevalent in the garment industry. Our
research shows that Vermont is currently buying products made by companies that
have been cited for labor violations. That's why we pushed for this law – to
urge companies to improve conditions in their factories and respect workers'
rights.”

The 'Act Relating to State Purchasing of Apparel, Footwear, or
Textiles', H.338, was introduced by Representative Sarah Edwards and 17 other
cosponsors in 2007. In 2008, it passed both the House and Senate with full
support. The bill requires companies selling uniforms and apparel purchased with
our tax dollars to respect workers' rights in their supply chains. Suppliers
must follow applicable labor laws and respect workers' freedom of association.
For transparency's sake, in order to qualify for a bid, companies must disclose
the locations of the cut-and-sew factories.

With the adoption of the
sweatfree purchasing law, Vermont joins six other states (California, Illinois,
Pennsylvania, Maine, New Jersey and New York). In addition, dozens of cities,
counties, and school districts have sweatfree policies, totaling 180 in
all.

SweatFree Communities National Organizer, Liana Foxvog, said: “I am
pleased that the law requires Vermont to collaborate with other public entities
to 'develop an effective strategy to monitor vendor compliance'. I hope this
means that Vermont will become a founding member of the State and Local
Government Sweatfree Consortium.”

The State and Local Government
Sweatfree Consortium will pool resources of public entities to investigate
working conditions in factories that make uniforms and other products for public
employees.
Cities and states will hold vendors to the same standards, use the
same independent monitor for enforcement, and create a market large enough to
persuade companies to deal responsibly and ethically with their suppliers and
workers. SweatFree Communities said that the states of Maine, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey, and the cities of Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland,
Oregon, have expressed interest in joining the Consortium.

Child Labor Education and Action (CLEA) is a partnership between School for
International Training and Brattleboro Union High School (BUHS). CLEA members
are high school students who advocate for human rights for child laborers and
sweatshop workers. CLEA successfully made BUHS the first high school in the U.S.
to join the Worker Rights Consortium, which combats sweatshops and protects the
rights of workers who make apparel and other products sold in the U.S. After
this victory, CLEA students led the effort to pass a strong sweatfree purchasing
law in Vermont.

SweatFree Communities coordinates a national network of
grassroots campaigns that promote humane working conditions in apparel and other
labor-intensive global industries by working with public institutions to adopt
sweatshop-free purchasing policies. Using institutional purchasing as a lever
for worker justice, the sweatfree movement empowers ordinary people to create a
just global economy through local action.

Reporters may contact Liana
Foxvog (413-586-0974, liana[at]sweatfrfee[dot]org) for research on apparel
companies supplying the State of Vermont.

More information:
www.sweatfree.org/vermont
www.sweatfree.org/sweatfreeconsortium