What You Can Do

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What You Can Do

Tell Congress: Hold off on the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

Colombia is the most dangerous place in the world to organize a union. Colombian flower growers already benefit from this free trade model yet workers have seen worsened working conditions and lower wages. Read more about the Andean Trade Preferences Act here. Use our sample letter to tell members of Congress why the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is bad for Colombian workers, including flower workers. Click here to learn more about the Colombia FTA.

» colombiaftaletter
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What You Can Do

Shop with a Conscience Consumer Guide

Look for something special? The 2007-08 Shop with a Conscience Consumer Guide is filled with excellent products made in good working conditions

The Shop with a Conscience Consumer Guide is brought to you by SweatFree Communities, Sweatshop Watch, and International Labor Rights Forum.

We believe that one of the most important criteria for meaningful and dignified work is that workers themselves have an effective, collective voice in determining their wages and working conditions. Therefore all the products in this shopping guide are made by workers organized into democratic unions or worker-owned cooperatives.

All retailers and wholesalers listed below have undergone a rigorous application process to give us and you the confidence that their products truly meet our sweatfree criteria.

» Start Shopping!
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What You Can Do

End Wal-Mart Sweatshops!

Workers abroad who labor in Wal-Mart’s suppliers’ factories routinely experience:   

• Forced Labor  

• Minimum Wage Violations   

• Maternity Leave Violations   

• Overtime Pay Violations   

• Health Care Violations   

• Right to Form Independent Unions Denied   

• Bathroom Breaks Violations

In order for Wal-Mart to improve conditions in its supplier factories it must first fundamentally alter its business practice of demanding a continuously lower price from supplier factories – a price which renders those factories unable to pay workers a living wage. Further, Wal-Mart must commit to supplying from those factories in which workers have democratic representation and the right to bargain collectively with their employer. Additionally, Wal-Mart must open its supply chain to independent monitoring so that independent, unannounced, factory assessments may take place.