In the News

Public Procurement with a Conscience

Policy Innovations
03/01/2010

Although efforts to adopt decent labor standards through free trade agreements are stymied on the international level, activists in the United States are quietly making progress on the local level. At last count, 39 cities, 15 counties, and eight states have adopted policies expressed under a common banner: No taxpayer money for sweatshop goods!

Babes in Arms

Inland Empire Weekly
02/26/2010

The Safariland website is a virtual big box retailer of tactical equipment, chemical weapons and forensics for police departments, military and private security contractors. The Premium Wallbanger System is used for SWAT team entry operations and can create a shooting port through a wall. It can use an explosive charge to breach metal doors and provides OVC spray coverage. The Protech brand makes a rifle threat plate that can withstand multiple rounds from an AK-47. The DeltaNu Reporter is a handheld illicit drug identification system.

City should have picked American made uniforms

The Bay View Compass
02/01/2010

In order to solve our economic woes I have been promoting “leveling the playing field for the American worker.” That is, our economic woes are caused primarily from an uneven playing field for the American worker. In other words, because we have a value system that prides itself on family-supporting jobs, worker’s compensation, social security, providing for the safety of the workers, and protecting the environment, etc., we are being penalized by companies that want to exploit workers for economic gain by going overseas.

Committee pushing for greater purchasing transparency

The Badger Herald
01/28/2010

The city’s Committee on Sweatfree Purchases is looking to make Madison part of a larger consortium that would allow them better transparency and follow-through with regards to purchases from suppliers to the city, officials said during their meeting Wednesday.

Wednesday was only the second meeting of the committee established to address and negotiate the city’s sweatshop-free ordinance put in place nearly two and a half years ago, committee Chairperson Mary Bottari said.

Foul Play

News of the World
01/24/2010

 

Excerpt from article:

Soon you will be able to buy the official trinket - depicting the dreadlocked leopard Zakumi - for £30.

But spare a thought for the poor souls in China who must work TWO WEEKS to earn enough to buy one.

The workers, many of them just teenagers, toil for a pitiful £1.90 a day making the Zakumi figures.

Posing as potential buyers from the UK, our investigators discovered the awful conditions at the Shanghai Fashion Plastic Products factory, 30 miles from the city centre.

Milwaukee Police uniform choice criticized

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
01/06/2010

Union officials and anti-sweatshop activists joined with Milwaukee Alderman Tony Zielinski to criticize the city’s tentative selection of a vendor that will provide Chinese-made replacement uniforms for police officers.

“This is a new low,” Zielinski said at a City Hall press conference, noting that different vendors offering US-made uniforms and a lower price were passed over.

Zielinski went after Police Chief Edward Flynn, calling him “insensitive” for backing a selection that deprives US workers of jobs during a recession....

Vendor picked for Milwaukee police uniforms

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
12/28/2009

 

Hoping the third time is the charm, city purchasing officials once again have picked a vendor to supply replacement uniforms for Milwaukee police officers.

The selection process has dragged on for a year because of tussles over allegations of Chinese sweatshop labor and price concerns. The city tossed out two earlier rounds of bidding.

The apparent winner - amid continuing criticism about the process - is the incumbent vendor: Badger Uniforms, a south side Milwaukee supplier. The deal, though, is not final yet...

NY takes stand against sweatshop abuses

Legislative Gazette
12/21/2009

New York is siding with workers’ rights groups in the fight against sweatshop abuses by joining other states and cities that have become members of the nationwide Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium.

Gov. David A. Paterson announced Dec. 11 the state had joined the coalition of state and local governments that are working together to implement and enforce sweatshop-free standards for apparel suppliers...

Click here for full article>>

3BL Media Launches 3bl.me URL Shortener to Support Charities and Raise Awareness of the 'Triple Bottom Line' Approach for Business

PR Newswire
12/15/2009

NORTHAMPTON, Mass.- 3BL Media, the experts in corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability and cause marketing communications, today announced that it has launched 3bl.me, the company's cause-based URL shortener. For each URL shortened via 3bl.me, 3BL Media will make a donation to worthwhile organizations, with initial recipients including Volunteermatch, Sweatfree Communities, and World Wildlife Fund UK.

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