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Sweatfree Communities

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Vermont Becomes Seventh Sweatfree State 
Featured on Common Dreams 
Featured on iBrattleboro  
For immediate release: April 28, 2008 
Contact: Liana Foxvog, SweatFree Communities, 413-320-7276, liana[at]sweatfrfee[dot]org 
Tiffany Finck, Child Labor Education and Action,  buhs.clea[at]gmail[dot]com  
Governor Douglas Signs Anti-Sweatshop Law at Brattleboro 
Union High School 
Brattleboro, Vermont-- Today Vermont became the seventh â€œsweatfreeâ€ state in the United 
States when Governor Jim Douglas signed a sweatshop-free purchasing policy into law. 
The Governor's signing ceremony was held at Brattleboro Union High School. Members of the 
student organization Child Labor Education and Action (CLEA) had initiated and led the 
campaign to pass the law. 
Hannah Viens, a senior, said: â€œCLEA advocates for the human rights of child laborers and 
sweatshop workers. We've held conferences to educate students. Today, before the bill signing, 
we presented to our classmates about how the bill is a concrete way to humanize the global 
economy.â€ 
Whitney Smith, another senior, said: â€œIt's important for students and community members to 
realize that sweatshops are prevalent in the garment industry. Our research shows that Vermont 
is currently buying products made by companies that have been cited for labor violations. That's 
why we pushed for this law â€“ to urge companies to improve conditions in their factories and 
respect workers' rights.â€ 
The 'Act Relating to State Purchasing of Apparel, Footwear, or Textiles', H.338, was introduced 
by Representative Sarah Edwards and 17 other cosponsors in 2007. In 2008, it passed both the 
House and Senate with full support. The bill requires companies selling uniforms and apparel 
purchased with our tax dollars to respect workers' rights in their supply chains. Suppliers must 
follow applicable labor laws and respect workers' freedom of association. For transparency's 
sake, in order to qualify for a bid, companies must disclose the locations of the cut-and-sew 
factories. 
With the adoption of the sweatfree purchasing law, Vermont joins six other states (California, 
Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maine, New Jersey and New York). In addition, dozens of cities, counties, 
and school districts have sweatfree policies, totaling 180 in all. 
SweatFree Communities National Organizer, Liana Foxvog, said: â€œI am pleased that the law 
requires Vermont to collaborate with other public entities to 'develop an effective strategy to 
monitor vendor compliance'. I hope this means that Vermont will become a founding member of 
the State and Local Government Sweatfree Consortium.â€  
The State and Local Government Sweatfree Consortium will pool resources of public entities to 
investigate working conditions in factories that make uniforms and other products for public 
employees. Cities and states will hold vendors to the same standards, use the same independent 
monitor for enforcement, and create a market large enough to persuade companies to deal 
responsibly and ethically with their suppliers and workers. SweatFree Communities said that the 
states of Maine, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the cities of Berkeley, Los Angeles, San 
Francisco and Portland, Oregon, have expressed interest in joining the Consortium. 
### 
Child Labor Education and Action (CLEA) is a partnership between School for International 
Training and Brattleboro Union High School (BUHS). CLEA members are high school students 
who advocate for human rights for child laborers and sweatshop workers. CLEA successfully 
made BUHS the first high school in the U.S. to join the Worker Rights Consortium, which 
combats sweatshops and protects the rights of workers who make apparel and other products sold 
in the U.S. After this victory, CLEA students led the effort to pass a strong sweatfree purchasing 
law in Vermont.  
SweatFree Communities coordinates a national network of grassroots campaigns that promote 
humane working conditions in apparel and other labor-intensive global industries by working 
with public institutions to adopt sweatshop-free purchasing policies. Using institutional 
purchasing as a lever for worker justice, the sweatfree movement empowers ordinary people to 
create a just global economy through local action. 
Reporters may contact Liana Foxvog for research on apparel companies supplying the State of 
Vermont. 
More information: 
www.sweatfree.org/vermont 
www.sweatfree.org/sweatfreeconsortium 
 


Vermont becomes seventh sweatfree state SweatFree Communities & Child Labor Education and Action

https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2287&amp;context=globaldocs

Vermont becomes seventh sweatfree state SweatFree Communities & Child Labor Education and Action

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