Monday, December 23, 2013

Do as I say

Our leaders call for improved working conditions in sweatshops in places such as Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Pakistan and Vietnam. Yet the federal government spends more than $1.5 billion a year at sweatshop factories overseas, acquiring everything from the royal blue shirts worn by airport security workers to the olive button-downs required for forest rangers and the camouflage pants sold to troops on military bases.

The primary reason for the continuation of this practice is the same as us in our roles of shoppers - price. Most of these purchases are made through contractors, rather than through the factories themselves. So, few federal agencies know where these products are actually made.

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