Union members ask Portland to take anti-sweatshop action
and Industries, was founded in 1903
to study conditions in factories.
“We must not allow public money
to go to companies that don’t comply
with basic labor laws,” Gardner said.
The Portland Sweatfree Campaign,
backed by 13 local unions and the
Northwest Oregon Labor Council, has
been meeting with staff in City Hall,
but so far no commissioners have
committed to anything but a symbolic
resolution.
“We don’t want a feel-good ordi-
nance,” said Kate Lore, social justice
coordinator for the First Unitarian
Church. “We want one with teeth.”
At a Feb. 19 rally, Portland Fire
Fighters Local 43 Vice President Ed
Hall linked current anti-sweatshop
campaigns to campaigns at the dawn
of the labor movement. A 1911 fire at
the Triangle Shirtwaist factory killed
146 New York City garment workers,
Hall said, but led to better factory
safety standards — and fire safety
codes that fire fighters enforce in Port-
land and elsewhere.
“But it is now the 21st century,”
Hall said, “and children are still work-
ing and dying in sweatshops.”
Last February, Hall noted, 54
workers, some of them children, died
in the KTS Composite Textiles factory
in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
“As a firefighter, when I go to work
and I put on my uniform, I want to
Labor bowl for
MDA scheduled
Sunday, April 22
Tickets on sale to
win motorcycle and
help sick children
Tickets are on sale to win a new
Harley-Davidson motorcycle and
raise funds for Doernbecher Chil-
dren’s Hospital in Portland.
The fifth annual Motorcycle
Poker Run and Chili Cook-Off will
be held Saturday, June 9 in North-
east Portland. The event is spon-
sored by “Unions for Kids,” a non-
profit organization comprised of
members of various unions in Port-
land and Southwest Washington.
Tickets to win the motorcycle —
a 2007 suede blue and black Dyna
Low-Rider FXDL — are $10 each.
Only 3,500 tickets will be sold. The
motorcycle is on display at the
IBEW United Workers Federal
Credit Union, 9955 SE Washington
St., Portland.
For more information, go to
www.unionsforkids.org or call Lee
Duncan at 503-260-5905.
Portland firefighter Ed Hall addresses a crowd at City Hall Feb. 19 calling on the City of Portland to pass a resolution
that ensures it is not purchasing goods made under sweatshop conditions that violate labor laws. Hall is a vice
president of Fire Fighters Local 43.
know that the company that makes
that shirt and pants supports the same
values we do … having a safe and fair
workplace.”
Hall and other activists are calling
on the City of Portland to ensure it is
not purchasing goods made under
conditions that violate labor laws.
About 110 people attended the
noon-hour rally, held outside Portland
City Hall on Presidents Day. A former
sweatshop worker from Bangalore,
India, told of managers abusing the
mostly young, female workforce, and
said he was arrested for trying to
unionize factory workers at a shop
that produces goods for Wal-Mart.
And a Colombian woman who
worked 10 years at a flower plantation
that sells to Albertsons and Wal-Mart
described allergies and skin problems
from excessive fungicides and pesti-
cides.
Oregon Labor Commissioner Dan
Gardner also said he favors passage of
a local anti-sweatshop ordinance, say-
ing his agency, the Bureau of Labor
The 18th annual Labor Bowl Chal-
lenge to benefit the Muscular Dystro-
phy Association (MDA) will be held
Sunday, April 22, from 1 to 4 p.m. at
Cascade Lanes, 2700 NE 82nd Ave.,
Portland.
Portland area labor unions have
collected $276,041 for the charity.
Money raised from pledges and a
silent auction helps provide wheel-
chairs and braces for youngsters,
medical care, research and summer
camps.
Pledge packets are available at the
Northwest Oregon Labor Council or
by calling Tor at MDA at 503-223-
3177.
Oregon Governor’s Occupational
Safety & Health Conference
MARCH 12-15, 2007
Oregon Convention Center Portland
For registration and exhibit information:
contact the Conference Section at (503) 378-3272
or e-mail: oregon.gosh@state.or.us
Also, visit the following Web sites:
assecwc.org or orosha.org/conferences
A joint effort of ASSE, Columbia-Willamette Chapter, and Oregon OSHA
MARCH 2, 2007
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PAGE 7