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March 10, 2006
First International "SweatFree" Conference
First International "SweatFree" Conference to Mobilize Worker Rights Advocates, Producers, and Businesses from Four Continents -- Schools, Cities, States Unite to Fight for Historic Sweatshop Reforms
On the heels of historic new sweatshop-free purchasing laws in San Francisco, Madison, and Milwaukee, and an unprecedented agreement among nine Catholic school boards in Ontario to pool resources for monitoring and inspecting factory suppliers of school uniforms, proponents of "sweatFree" procurement will gather in a new international landmark: the first international SweatFree Communities conference, to be held April 7-9, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Presenters will include leading worker rights advocates from the United States, Canada, Europe, China, Haiti, and Central America, as well as sweatshop-free garment producers and businesses from Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and the United States.
Conference organizers expect 50 organizations represented by over 150 participants. “Concerned citizens from communities nationwide will come together to share lessons and strategize to call for their cities, school districts and other public and religious institutions to adopt procurement policies that do not subsidize sweatshop or abusive child labor at taxpayers’ expense,” says Irene Rodriguez, Executive Director of the Resource Center of the Americas, which serves as conference host.
Posted by cat at 12:29 PM