For Immediate Release
October 31, 2007
Contact: Kenneth Miller 412-241-1339
Download files at www.iww.org

Thursday, November 1 10:30 AM - David L. Lawrence Convention Center, 3rd Floor

The Thursday Sports and Exhibition Authority meeting has been rescheduled twice already. If you plan to attend, please call the SEA (412-393-0200) on Thursday morning to confirm the meeting time. You can ask to be included you on a list of people who are notified about meeting time changes.
 
The Pirates have refused to accept the most basic responsibility for factories sewing apparel with the Pirates logo and, with Major League Baseball, made bogus assertions about their own social responsibility.   The SEA Executive Director Mary Conturo clearly understands this but has failed to adequately explain to the Board.  John Chalovich said at the last meeting that he "does not think the Pirates are using sweatshops" and that he "wishes" all Pirates merchandise was made in the United States. The actionable item for the SEA is to invite the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC)to Pittsburgh and accept its testimony about factories sewing Pirates apparel.  The WRC is the Human Rights organization founded with the help of United Students Against Sweatshops that conducts factory monitoring without financial support of the apparel industry.  
 
Since the Pittsburgh Pirates have failed to engage in a forthright dialogue, The Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance (PASCA) asked the City Controller to investigate ways that the team can be held accountable to Pittsburghers.   Deputy Controller Pokora released an audit on October 21 that answered some of our questions.  The most important aspect of the Controller's audit is that the City has NO checks and balances to ensure that the team is accountable to our shared concerns/values, like honesty and Human Rights.   All SEA members should be reconsidering what they have done with this wholesale give away and work with groups like PASCA to demonstrate what can be done in the absence of accountability mechanisms built into the PNC Park lease arrangement.   PASCA asks that the Controller's office follow up on the totality of our request.  PGH_Controller_July_3_Sweatshops_Bucco.pdf
 
The Black Political Empowerment Project (B-PEP) requested the assistance of Board Chairperson John Chalovich in addressing the lack of minority participation/retention in the Building Trades.   It is deplorable that the head an important City/County Board has failed to respond.  PASCA co-founder Kenneth Miller wrote an information request to the State and Federal Departments of Labor aimed at getting the information needed for a meaningful discussion of equity of minorities and fair share of the state and federal construction subsidies to our region.   PA_dol_oct21.pdf 

October 2, 2007 Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Kenneth Miller of the Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance, Sarah Campbell and Rick Adams of the Black Political Empowerment Project, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato at the Racial Equity and Empowerment Summit.  The news release below was sent out in anticipation of the October 20 SEA meeting.  The SEA disappointed us by taking NO ACTION.  The Mayor and Chief Executive appoint SEA Board Members.  On October 2 they assured PASCA members that they did not intervene.  Why did the SEA fail us at the last minute?   

September 18, 2007

Contact: Kenneth Miller, 412-241-1339 or
Celeste Taylor 412-670-0937
www.iww.org ¨ www.sweatfree.org/baseball

This story is on the Nation's website - by Dave Zirin

Finally something newsworthy is happening at Camden Yards in September. No, it's not the Baltimore Orioles limping toward another lackluster finish at their ornate ballpark, famous for selling old-time baseball nostalgia at high-end prices. It's the scrappy members of the United Workers Association, fighting both the resistance of the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) and the apathy of Orioles owner Peter Angelos for a living wage.

The UWA, a human rights group founded by homeless day laborers in Baltimore, represents 800 low-wage workers who make up the pool of the 100-120 people who keep Camden Yards clean. Stadium workers--the people who clean out the bathroom stalls, sweep up the small mountains of cigarette butts and make the Camden Yards experience as pristine as promised--make poverty wages, just $7 an hour.

Read the complete Pittsburgh Sweatshop Audit HERE including the response from the city law department.

July 11, 2007 marks one year since the Pirates Baseball Club hosted  the All Star Game and promised the people of Pittsburgh that they  would investigate working conditions in the factories sewing Pirates’  apparel. As the Pittsburgh General Membership Branch of the IWW  reminds the Pirates at their July 8 game at PNC Park against the  Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh has high standards for workers’ rights. The  City’s Sports and Exhibition Authority has recommended the  investigatory protocols of the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC),  disclosure of wages and factory locations, truly independent  investigations, and a commitment to the factories where investigations  take place.