From sweat-free-pdx at enabled.com Wed Jun 13 15:56:38 2007 From: sweat-free-pdx at enabled.com (sweat-free-pdx at enabled.com) Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:56:38 -0700 Subject: [Sweat-Free] Raids, City Hall Sweatfree Update, Action Alerts and Upcoming Events Message-ID: <46707626.7060707@gmail.com> *Sweatfree Update* * * Make PDX Sweatfree Now! * /1. Legislative Update and Action Alert/*/* *//*2. Movies, movies, and movies galore! 3. National Sweatfree Movement Action Alerts and Updates */ -------------------------- *1. Legislative Update and Action Alert* Wonder what's up with the Portland Sweatfree Campaign? Well, a lot! Thanks to the consistent community advocacy for a enforceable sweatfree ordinance from people like you, we are in negotiations with the office of Commissioner Sam Adams and the Director of the Bureau of Purchases create the strongest sweatfree ordinance possible. Click here to view the latest draft of the ordinance. However, the Director of the Bureau of Purchases wants to weaken enforcement mechanisms to create a feel good resolution instead of a policy with teeth. It is necessary that the City joins with cities and states nationwide to investigate sweatshop conditions, effectively implement policy AND establish an advisory group composed mostly of worker rights advocates oversee contracts locally. Yesterday, we had a sad reminder about the exploitation of sweatshop workers and the need for immigration reform that protects workers and families. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided Del Monte fruit processing plant in North Portland and detained over 160 immigrant workers. The processing plant was a documented sweatshop that had numerous documented labor and human rights abuses. We denounce the raids and and sweatshop conditions in our own Rose City. We support the calls for just immigration reform that protects worker rights and local legislation to end to sweatshop exploitation everywhere. More information can be found from PCASC, an endorser of the Sweatfree Campaign here. *TAKE ACTION* Make a call today! Tell Commissioner Sam Adams and Mayor Tom Potter who oversees the Bureau of Purchases that the City must take meaningful action to end sweatshop labor exploitation. Commissioner Sam Adams: 503-823-3008 Mayor Tom Potter: 503-823-4120 Sample Script: "I am calling to express my support of a sweatfree ordinance to protect workers rights locally and globally and rid the sweatshops from our supply chain. Yesterday's Del Monte raid in Portland underscores the prevalence of sweatshop labor conditions in our own city. We commend Mayor Potter for denouncing the raids and advocating for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers. We also call on all members of City Council to support worker rights and */pass a meaningful sweatfree ordinance with independent monitoring and an advisory group to make sure that good intentions become good results./* The city should award contracts to businesses that respect workers, not exploit them." *2. Movie Night* /Push Back in the Factories and Fields: Salvadoran Workers and South Korean Farmers Reclaim their Means of Production / When: June 19th Where: Mississippi Pizza Pub, 3552 N. Mississippi Ave. Time: 6pm-8pm FREE Sponsored by the Portland Sweatfree Campaign and PCASC's Bolivarian Media Exchange / "Producing Just Garments":/ A unionized, workers' cooperative in El Salvador wards off financial crisis and anti-union repression to reclaim the production of a garment factory. Hear the post-script about a "sweatshop scandal" that recently erupted at the plant and the latest on anti-sweatshop organizing in Portland. Q & A with a representative of the Portland Sweatfree Campaign / "Pyeongtaek: Struggles of South Korean Farmers for Land,"/ When the expansion of a U.S. military base threatens small South Korean farm villages, the residents fight back. Q & A with Director Miae Kim /and/... *June Public Access Television Film Series Presents: "Maquilopolis: City of Factories"* If you missed the Portland Sweatfree Campaign Oregon premiere of the movie "Maquilapolis," no worries, you can now catch it on TV! A riveting personal account of women workers from Tijuana who film their struggle against multinational corporations that set up sweatshops in their community. Friday 6/15/2007, 11:00 PM, Channel 23 Saturday 6/16/2007, 10:00 PM, Channel 22 Monday 6/18/2007, 5:00 PM, Channel 23 3. National Sweatfree Movement Updates and Action Alerts * San Francisco: *The San Francisco purchasing department is ready to award what would be the first contract covered by the sweatfree purchasing law enacted a year and a half ago. Because no bid is fully compliant, the department intends to grant a special waiver exempting the contractor from the requirements of the law. This blanket exemption would undermine the spirit and intent of the law by effectively gutting the sweatfree ordinance and setting a bad precedent for future contracts. *Please call Mayor Gavin Newsom today* at 415-554-6141 to urge San Francisco to not allow companies that profit from sweatshop labor to undermine the sweatfree law. Learn more. Take action online now. * Maine:* In May, Maine became the first state in the nation to commit to funding its affiliation with the Sweatfree Consortium. The funding will come from a 1% vendor's fee on all contracts covered by the sweatfree purchasing policy. Even though vendors will pay a small fee for independent monitoring of their supplier factories, the State does not expect the cost of products to increase. Go here to read the bill. * Ottawa:* On May 23rd, the City of Ottawa unanimously adopted a No Sweat purchasing policy . Ottawa joins Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto as Canada's fourth major city to adopt a No Sweat purchasing policy. *Schenectady: *Just last week, the city of Schenectady, New York, adopted a sweatfree procurement policy, thanks to the great advocacy work of the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition. The policy requires contractors and subcontractors to permit independent monitoring of supplier factories. For more information, contact: Portland Sweatfree Campaign www.sweatfree.org/portland 503-320-2166 311 N. Ivy St. Portland, OR 97227 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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