OPPOSING SWEATSHOPS

WHEREAS, the AFT believes that all workers should be provided with livable wages, good benefits and safe working conditions; and

WHEREAS, the General Accounting Office has estimated that there are over 7,000 sweatshops in U.S. cities such as New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Chicago, Philadelphia and El Paso; and

WHEREAS, sweatshop owners here and abroad exploit workers through illegal substandard wages, the lack of health and other benefits, unsafe working conditions, and by taking retaliatory actions against those seeking to organize or enforce their rights; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Labor has found numerous labor violations in these establishments but has been hampered in its enforcement efforts because of budget cutbacks; and

WHEREAS, 78 percent of Americans would avoid knowingly buying products made in sweatshops and 66 percent would be more likely to patronize retail stores that cooperate in the effort to eliminate sweatshops by refusing to sell the goods they make:

RESOLVED, that the AFT join with consumer, labor, religious, business and other organizations in the Partnership for Responsibility, a coalition designed to end sweatshops and protect workers' rights in the U.S. and throughout the world through a program of public education and other activities.