It looks like the Milwaukee Police Department will get the new uniform style it wants, but it could come at a significant price.

The only supplier that made City Hall's first cut, Goldfish Uniforms, submitted the highest-cost bid by $340,000, a 33% premium compared with one of its main competitors, city records show.

Goldfish, for example, would charge the city $72 for each pair of navy-blue uniform pants, compared with the $53 or $59 bid by two competitors. The contract calls for 9,000 pairs over several years...

The International Trade Union Confederation is again obliged to note that the murders, attempted murders, attacks and death threats to which Colombian trade unionists have continuously been exposed are not ending. The ITUC denounces and categorically condemns the murder of another trade unionist, which took place this December.

PLAIN DEALING
A weekly column about consumer affairs

Q: I found a rug at a local chain that looks to be very poor quality, and I'm afraid it was made in a sweatshop. The only label I can find is a piece of tape that says it was made in India.

ADJUNTAS, P.R. — At a squat green factory here in the mountains of central Puerto Rico, workers stitch together camouflage uniforms for American troops. They arrive around sunrise, and the first thing they see is a banner that reads, “Say no to the union!”

It is the most visible sign of an intensifying conflict over sick days that has set mostly rural Puerto Rican workers against one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of military clothing. And in a sign of what may be to come in other depressed areas, both sides seem determined to use the faltering economy to gain leverage.