There will also be a broader focus on public procurement which is the purchasing of goods by a government to be used in the public sector. This can include everything from fire fighter uniforms to school lunches. Governments in the US, whether it is a local, state or federal branch, can be some of the largest purchasers of manufactured goods. They need to buy uniforms and equipment for their offices, employees and schools. These purchases are usually very large and therefore the purchases are an opportunity to encourage the use of strong labor standards as a prerequisite for any business that wants to sell products to the government.

Over the last few years I have been able to help workers receive a little justice for their injuries. The sad part of this is that not only do they get hurt, but some workers are fired not long after sustaining an injury. There was a time or two I attempted get workers their jobs back, but had no success.

I began to understand that the workers in this industry were merely seen as production tools by these companies. It’s not taken into account that they are humans who are working at high speed, doing the same repetitious work over and over again for eight to ten hours a day. The workers describe this as, “humans competing against machines.”

It’s not uncommon to get riled up when you realize that what you’re talking about isn’t some piece of meat but rather an actual person; someone’s daughter, mother or neighbor. This was all too obvious inside the Rayburn Home Office Building room that I found myself in. One extra hot topic: Vietnam. Tempers flared as the pressure was directed towards the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to move Vietnam’s 2009 tier ranking from Tier 2 to Tier 3 in the soon to be released 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report (Can’t wait? See the 2009 report here). U.S.

Human Trafficking is defined as “the recruitment and transportation of persons within or across boundaries by force, fraud or deception for the purpose of exploiting them economically.”  (For a more in depth definition of the issue, check out Understanding Slavery and Trafficking).  As the definition implies, modern slavery knows no geographical or social boundaries.  It affects citizens of every country and people of every race and religion.  For many trafficking victims, it is the promise of a good job and education that induces them to leave their homes and families only to end up half way around the world trapped in someone’s basement to be farmed out as a domestic servant during the day or forced to work in