Get Involved with Stopping Sweatshops!

If President Obama wants to "pivot" to Asia, labor, human rights and anti-sweatshop activists should insist that he condemn the virtual slavery in which workers survive in China, India and smaller nations in that region. Apple, Nike, Wal-Mart, Gap and other multinationals profit from sweatshop labor to manufacture everything from cell phones to pom-poms to students and consumers here.

A US foreign policy based on aircraft carriers and drones protecting cheap labor zones cannot be sustained. Demands for "democracy promotion" that avoid workers' rights are hollow. Secretive "free trade" proposals mock democracy by a corporate race to the bottom.

The purchasing power of our federal and state governments can be a powerful tool for lessening inequality and bargaining for defenseless workers.

Here are some suggestions from Bob Ross, longtime author, professor and expert on international labor policies:

Children's Place petition and store action materials.
Wal-Mart petition and store action materials 
Benetton petition
Sign UP to Bangladesh Accord: http://action.laborrights.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6280
Tell them to vote NO on TPP:http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/4-29-2014/Stop-Fast-Track,-stop-a-bad-trade-agreement/
JOIN up: Cities, states other public agencies joining up topurchase more transparently, and with regard to human rights: http://buysweatfree.org/