From The Progressive" Page 32 February



Editor's Note: On December 15, Congresswoman CM joined Congressman Sherrod Brown and the National Labor Committee in denoucing the Pentagon's involvement with the Chentex sweatshop in Nicaragua.

Abridged version of Press Conference:

The plight of the workers in the Chentex factory is not an isolated incident. This is happening all over the world. What kind of message is the U.S. sending to developing nations in our trade strategy?

On the one hand, Charlene Barshefsky asked Nicaragua to clean up its act and respect the rights of workers in the Chentex factory.

On the other hand, the U.S. military is one of the largest purchasers from that very same factory.

It must make the U.S. look like a hypocrite if we talk about human rights, worker rights, and then have the Army and AirForce Exchange Service (AAFES) buy millions of dollars of goods from Chentex. The message sent is that not only does the U.S. government tolerate seatshops; it supports sweatshops.

4 other paragraphs were read then omitted due to time constraints.