"Sweatshop Workers Speak Out" Speaking Tour

 

ILRF and SweatFree Communities are hosting the "Sweatshop Workers Speak Out" speaking tour from April 16-30 in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and DC.  

• Tentative City Tour Schedule
• Bios of Speakers
• Typical Event Itinerary
• Photo Gallery [1]
• Main Events Schedule

 

 Would you be interested in hosting the speaking tour in your city?  If so, email trina.tocco@ilrf.org [2] to express interest.

Featuring a Bangladeshi garment worker who sews uniforms and a representative of home based workers in Pakistan who stitch soccer balls for government entities in the United States, the tour aims to build solidarity between U.S. communities and workers that produce for our government. Each tour event will focus on action steps that are relevant for local sweatfree organizing, whether to help ignite a new campaign or bring an active campaign to the next level. 

 

Tentative speaking tour locations & dates:

April 16: Twin Cities, MN
April 17: Eau Claire, WI
April 19: Milwaukee, WI
April 20: Chicago, IL
April 21: Cleveland, OH
April 22: Lansing, MI
April 24: Detroit, MI
April 25: Delaware, OH
April 26: Columbus, OH
April 27: Pittsburgh, PA
April 28: Philadelphia, PA
April 29: Baltimore, MD
April 30, May 3: Washington, DC
May 4: Bangor, ME

The featured speakers will include:

Kalpona Akter, a former child factory worker, from Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity which was established in 2000 by garment workers and other workers struggling for their rights. The Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) is a non-profit, non-political women’s organization that works for the empowerment of working women, the rights of children, and the security of working families and communities. BCWS promotes workers’ negotiating power, gender equity, and social justice for the working class.

Zehra Bano is the General Secretary of the Home-Based Women Workers Federation of Pakistan. Zehra has been an outspoken leader in the fight for recognition of workers’ rights for women in Pakistan. She is in her mid-30s and has developed various training modules. Zehra has intimate knowledge of the plight of soccer ball workers especially related to home-based and stitching center workers.

A typical event agenda will include:

• Party arrives, local contact will meet with guests to go over the schedule for that city
• Classroom visit or small informal local event/activity or meeting with government officials generally in late morning and early afternoon (this is optional)
• Informal dinner often with those that have helped plan the event and/or local campaign volunteers so they are able to get to know the workers a bit more
• Evening speaking event open to the public, generally running about 1.5 hours including Q & A
  • Intro by local hosts – 5 minutes
  • Intro of ILRF & SFC and intro of the featured speakers, by tour organizers – 10 minutes
  • Kalpona Akter testimony  – 15 minutes
  • Zehra Bano, Pakistani Speaker – 15 minutes
  • What you can do in your community to end taxpayer support for sweatshops, by tour organizers – 5 minutes
  • More info about a campaign in the community, by local hosts – 5 minutes
  • Question and answer – 30 minutes
• Accommodations either in a hotel or local home

Main Events Scheduled

April 16: St. Paul, MN
Weyerhauser Chapel, Macalester College at 4:30pm
1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105
Sponsored by:Macalester College Religious Studies, IWW, Macalester Departments (Asian Languages and Cultures, Anthropology, Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, Geography, History, Human Rights and Humanitarianism, International Studies, Philosophy, and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), The Resource Center of the Americas, & UAW 879 (Ford Plant). With additional support from the Asian Student Alliance.

April 17: Eau Claire, WI
University of WI - Eau Claire, Hibbard Room 101 at 4pm
Contact: Erin Kasik, KASIKE@uwec.edu [3]
Sponsored by: Progressive Student Association, Human Rights Coalition, Human Trafficking Abolitionists, Amnesty International, College Feminists, Unitarian Universalists

April 19: Milwaukee
Milwaukee Area Technical College, Rm S120 at 1pm
700 West State Street, Milwaukee, WI
Contact: Steve Watrous, watrous@uwm.edu [4]
Sponsored by: Milwaukee Clean Clothes Campaign and MATC

April 20: Chicago
Lake Forest College, Lilly Reid Holt Chapel at 7pm
555 N Sheridan Road, Lake Forest Il. 60045
Contact: Jacqueline Starr, starrjt@lakeforest.edu [5]
Sponsored by: Amnesty International, LFC Student Government, LFC Office of Intercultural Relations, LFC Ethics Center, LFC Mojekwa Fund

April 21: Cleveland
John Carroll University, DJ Lombardo Student Center, Campus Ministry Conference Room at 5pm
Contact: Chris Kerr, ckerr@jcu.edu [6], 216-397-4777
Sponsored by: JCU Campus Ministry

April 22: Lansing, MI
Michigan State University, South Kedzie Hall, Rm 107 at 7pm
Contact: John Beck, beckj@msu.edu [7], 517-432-3982
Sponsored by: Labor Education Program of Michigan State University’s School of Labor and Industrial Relations, Asian Studies Center; Center for Advanced Study of International Development: Center for Gender in Global Context; Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies; Chicano/Latino Studies; Department of Political Science; Department of Sociology; James Madison College; The Julian Samora Research Institute; MSU Students for Fair Trade; Peace and Justice Studies; and The Residential College for Arts and Humanities.

April 24: Detroit
Labor Notes Conference

April 25: Delaware, OH
Ohio Wesleyan University Hamilton-Williams-Benes Room at 1pm
40 Rowland Ave, Delaware, OH  43015
Contact: Lynn Cook,info@globalvillagecollection.org [8]
Sponsored by: Global Village Collection, OWU Peace & Justice, Amnesty International, Student Initiative for Global Development, and WSCA

April 26: Columbus
Bridge of Learning Hall at Capital University at 6:30pm
Contact: Karen Hansen, klh.ohio@gmail.com [9]
Sponsored by: Ohio Conference on Fair Trade, Columbus Jobs with Justice

April 27: Pittsburgh
August Wilson Center at 7pm
980 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
Contact: Kenneth Miller, nosweatshopsbucco@yahoo.com [10]
Sponsored by: Pittsburgh IWW, Black Political Empowerment Project, State Senator Jim Ferlo, William Robinson Consulting, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, National Labor Committee, Western PA Jobs with Justice, Freedom Unlimited, Steel Valley Printers/USW Local 3403, Pittsburgh Anti-Sweatshop Community Alliance

April 28: Philadelphia
Studio 34 at 7pm
4522 Baltimore Ave, Philadelphia, PA
Contact: Nathaniel Miller, nathanielpmiller@gmail.com [11]
Sponsored by: Philadelphia IWW

April 29: Baltimore
University of Maryland Baltimore County Library Gallery at 6pm
1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore MD 21250
Contact: Sarah Solomon, bsarahsolomon@gmail.com [12] or Mike Pesa, mike.pesa@gmail.com [13]
Sponsored by: UMBC Solidarity, Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Red Emma's Coffeehouse and Bookstore

April 30: Washington, DC
American Federation of Teachers Headquarters at 1pm
555 New Jersey Ave NW, Washington, DC, 4th Floor
Contact: Trina Tocco, trina.tocco@ilrf.org [14]
Sponsored by: International Labor Rights Forum and Coalition of Labor Union Women

May 3: Washington, DC
This event will also include Cesar Estacio, a former cut flower worker from Ecuador
Maguire 101, First Floor Healy Hall, Georgetown University at 6pm
Contact: Alexandra Scott, als233@gmail.com [15]
Sponsored by: International Labor Rights Forum, SweatFree Communities, Georgetown University's Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, Georgetown Solidarity Committee and the GU Women's Studies Department