Date of publication: March 4, 2006
Source: Hartford Courant
Author: MATTHEW KAUFFMAN, And LISA CHEDEKEL Courant Staff Writers
The companies that make apparel for the University of Connecticut and other state schools would have to meet some of the toughest anti-sweatshop standards in the nation under a bill that will be aired next week in the General Assembly.
The proposed legislation, which would also cover all suppliers of uniforms and other apparel to state agencies, would mandate that companies pay a "non-poverty wage," permit employees to form unions and limit workweeks to 48 hours over six days. Suppliers also would have to guarantee that workers
throughout the supply chain were protected from discrimination, harassment, abuse, forced contraception and pregnancy testing, and forced overtime.
If the bill becomes law, Connecticut would become the sixth state to require its apparel suppliers to meet minimum labor standards. California, Maine, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have adopted similar "sweat-free" purchasing policies, as have several dozen school districts and
municipalities.
Connecticut's proposed policy would impose stricter disclosure rules on apparel companies than those of other states. In addition to providing the names and addresses of all facilities involved in the production of apparel, companies doing more than $5,000 worth of business with the state, or
bidding for such contracts, would be required to provide information on employees' hourly wages, benefits and working hours.
"This is critically important for the state," said state Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, co-chairwoman of the legislature's committee on labor and public employees, where the bill was raised. "If we're going to spend state taxpayers' dollars, we absolutely should not be sending those dollars overseas where people work in sweatshops at sweatshop wages."
The committee has scheduled a public hearing on the bill Tuesday.
The bill was drafted by a coalition of student and labor groups, including UNITE HERE, which represents textile union workers, and SweatFree Communities, a national anti-sweatshop organization. The group came together after a Courant story in December reported that apparel bearing the logos of UConn and other major universities was still being made under sweatshop conditions, said Antony Dugdale, senior research analyst for UNITE HERE.
Liana Foxvog, national organizer for SweatFree Communities, said students at UConn, Central Connecticut State University and Yale University are lobbying for the bill. She said there has been a resurgence in anti-sweatshop activism at UConn, where students are pushing administrators to more closely monitor the university's apparel suppliers. UConn already is a member of the Worker Rights Consortium, a group set up to help schools fight sweatshops. But some say the consortium has had limited impact on working conditions.
Licensed university merchandise is a $3 billion-a-year industry, and last year UConn collected more than $1 million in royalties from logo T-shirts, sweat shirts, and other merchandise. In the late 1990s, student activists began raising questions about the dismal conditions under which much of that
merchandise is made. In several countries, for example, apparel workers earn less than 25 cents an hour. In China, independent unions are forbidden by law.
Connecticut's proposed law would extend to companies that provide laundry service to colleges and state agencies. Preference in apparel and laundry contracts would be given first to Connecticut companies, and then to other U.S. companies.
Katherine Golub, a member of the Progressive Students Alliance at CCSU, was among the students who worked on the bill, and she said she feels a special responsibility to sweatshop employees.
"Most sweatshop workers are young women my age," said Golub, 22, of Middlefield. "And therefore I feel like it's my responsibility to do what I can to make sure that their standard of living is raised."