The Progressive Populist is a bi-monthly political publication that I recommend. They have a stable of regular contributors and include other writers on a fairly regular basis.
They carried the cherished Molly Ivins until she passed away. They always feature Jim Hightower, a populist who tells it like it is, with both backbone and a sense of humor. Speaking of people's financial purchasing power, he says, "We often forget that the biggest consumer in most places is the local government, which buys huge quantities of uniforms, computers, office furniture and such from various corporations. We can say to these vendors: No public dollars for sweatshop goods."
There is a growing concern about globalization that supplies us with goods made in sweatshops. Child labor laws, environmental laws, clean and safe working conditions, a reasonable number of daily work hours, and fair pay are too often ignored. And we, all of us, are guilty at some time of buying these goods. We want the best price. Sometimes the item(s) is only available from countries that employ less than desirable or even horrendous working conditions. Mexico and others from Central and South America, Africa and Asia are involved. I would bet that some of the old communist block countries in Eastern Europe are guilty as well. In other words, it's widespread. And it's morally reprehensible.
Hightower says in his native Austin, Tx., the city voted to join the other 170 American localities in the Sweat Free Network. The network hires only contractors and subcontractors that implement fair and humane rules in the work place, and the increased cost doesn't break the bank.
In Austin the annual cost was only $17,000. They also hire monitors to periodically visit the factories unannounced to check the conditions. What we consumers can't do alone, we can do in numbers. Would it work in Paradise? Would people be willing to pay a bit more for products to know their dollars were going to an employer who had a conscience? I don't know. I don't have the requisite economic facts about our town but it's happening all over the country, albeit in its nascent stage. For more information, the e-mail address is sweatfree.org and the phone number is (207) 262-7277.
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