Pirates Fest Announcement of Union Solidarity Night at PNC Park - SweatFree Home Opener 2007

PITTSBURGH IWW TO HOLD FIRST UNION SOLIDARITY NIGHT AT PNC PARK

PITTSBURGH, PA—The Pittsburgh Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is pleased to be the first organization in Pittsburgh to announce Solidarity Night @ PNC Park for the 2007 baseball season. The Pittsburgh IWW and friends of labor will be celebrating baseball and workers’ rights on April 14, 2007 when the Pirates play the San Francisco Giants. 

Members of the IWW will be at Pirates Fest at noon on Sunday, January 28 to discuss the terms of group organized visits to PNC Park. Also at Pirates Fest, the IWW will be offering fans the opportunity to connect with the workers who sew their favorite Pirates’ caps, sweatshirts, jackets, and other popular apparel.

BACKGROUND

Members of the Pittsburgh IWW and Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance have been talking about sweatshops at PNC Park for years. "Fans tell us that they expect their team to be accountable for the factories sewing our home town apparel, but they want to know more,” said Kenneth Miller, IWW member and co-founder of the Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance. â€œIt’s about time that labor unions combined a night out at PNC Park with some education about Major League Baseball’s relationship with apparel sweatshops. We are confident that local manufacturing workers will understand the need to create solidarity relationships with workers in other parts of the world. We cannot be competitive with people whose Human Rights are systematically violated at work." 

The timing for Union Solidarity Night is important. Celeste Taylor, board member of SweatFree Communities, points out that San Francisco is the first city in the United States to contract with an independent monitor to investigate factory conditions where apparel is purchased with tax dollars. But too few people know that the City of Pittsburgh has had similar anti-sweatshop legislation since 1997. Currently, councilperson Doug Shields is requesting that the City Controller look into this ground breaking legislation and why it is being ignored. 

 
Pirates’ attorney Larry Silverman recently asserted that the information about sweatshops provided by activist groups does not adequately demonstrate that Pirates’ apparel is made in sweatshops. IWW organizer and United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) activist, Clark Clagett, is astounded by the remark. â€œWe can cross reference Pirates apparel with known factory disclosure lists,” said Clagett. â€œThe data used to demonstrate the Pirates’ complicity in sweatshop labor is the same data accepted by over 160 colleges and universities belonging to the Workers Rights Consortium—one of the few legitimate watchdog organizations that identifies sweatshop workplaces in the global apparel industry.” Clagett goes on to say that for the Pirates to claim that that these are not sweatshops is an embarrassment to Pittsburgh fans, organized labor, and many others concerned about the city’s reputation. 

Clagett, Miller, and Taylor would rather not condemn the Pirates, but to work with them to uphold workers’ rights and humane working conditions in the factories that produce Pirates gear. In particular, the Pittsburgh IWW and the National Garments Workers Federation of Bangladesh (NGWF) are prepared to work with the Pirates to investigate factories sewing Pirates/Haddad apparel in Bangladesh. Sweatshop abuses in factories sewing Haddad/Pirates apparel in Bangladesh include forced overtime, numerous women's rights violations, firings and physical violence against workers for cooperating with investigations and organizing labor unions. 

CONTACT: 

Brett Grote, IWW

Phone: 412-401-2069

Email:  PghIWWsweatshop@yahoo.com

Web:  www.IWW.org or www.Sweatfree.org/Baseball

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Members of the Pittsburgh IWW and anti sweatshop activists will gather at the Steel City Diner on Liberty Avenue (punctually) at 11 AM on Sunday January 28th for some Major League Sweatshop Education before heading over to Pirates Fest 2007 at the David L Lawrence Convention Center.

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Major League Sweatshop Actions at Pirates Fest will begin at the 10:30 AM meeting of the Sports and Exhibition Authority on Thursday, January 25 in the David L Lawrence Convention Center... and continue strait thu Pirates Fest.  Read about Pirates Fest here...
http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/pit/community/piratefest.jsp?partnerId=2006hp_clubpromo_pit_fest&affiliateID=2006hp_clubpromo_pit_fest

No Better place to talk talk talk to Pirates Fans about Sweatshops

The weekend’s activities will wrap up on Sunday when members of the Pittsburgh IWW meet with Pirates ticket sales staff to arrange for Major League Sweatshop Education on the Jumbotron during the April 14 game against the SF Giants.  Recent claims by Pirates lawyer Larry Silverman deny the Pirates have learned anything about the global apparel industry, much less have they launch an appropriate inquiry into Haddad Apparel in Bangladesh. Members of the National Garment Workers of Bangladesh have an active organizing drive in the factories sewing Haddad/Pirates apparel and are prepared to work with representatives of the Pittsburgh Pirates in their investigation. 

Sweatshop abuses in factories sewing Haddad/Pirates apparel in Bangladesh include exorbitant forced overtime, numerous women's rights violations, firings and physical violence against workers for cooperating with investigations/organizing labor unions. 

No Pirates Fan expects anything less than thoughtful consideration of these rights violations by the Pittsburgh Pirates and the team’s cooperation with local anti sweatshop activists, international investigators, and the NGWF.  Major League Baseball continues to be negligent in its promise to monitor workers rights in factories sewing Major League Baseball apparel.

The Pittsburgh General Membership Branch of the Pittsburgh IWW is pleased to be the first group in 2007 to take advantage of group ticket pricing and the traditional recognition of groups attending ball games... announcements on the Jumbotron.  The Pittsburgh IWW will be selling Pirates tickets for $15 - 9 of which will go directly to the cost of our tickets and $6 as a donation to the NGFW of Bangladesh to support union organizing in the factories sewing Pirates apparel.