Monday, August 3, 2009

Tell It To Us Straight

Four years ago, Congress told the Department of Labor to come up with "a list of goods produced by forced labor or child labor and the countries where they were made." Such a list would help consumers like you and me identify products made using modern-day slaves. After all, knowledge is power.
But, guess what? It's 2009, and that list is still MIA.
Here's what http://www.change.org/ says about the situation:
The list is designed to identify problem products (seafood, steel, textiles, etc.) and the countries where they are produced. Its release would provide consumers and shareholders with leverage to fight slavery worldwide. Empowered with this information, individuals could use their buying power to hold companies accountable and pressure them to rid their supply chains of slave labor.
In December...the William Wilberforce Reauthorization Act gave the department until the end of this year to comply with the mandate. However, due to the foot-dragging of the last adminstration's Secretary of Labor, the list is already long overdue. We must hold this administration to its promise of transparency, and demand the release of this list to the public now.

There is something we can do. Sign this petition to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, and ask her to make the completion of this list a top priority.

3 comments:

drjohn@reciprocity.com.au said...

Love this post!!

As of now, none of us know if in some way or another we are supporting forced or child labor thought our purchases!!

Have posted this to twitter!

Nathan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Beth said...

Thanks so much for your support! It is encouraging to see others come on board in support of projects like this. When we work together, we truly can make a difference.