Pittsburgh Bangladesh Civil Rights Bridge - more concrete as All Star 2007 appoaches
Submitted on Sat, 06/02/2007 - 5:26am
Photo by Kenneth Miller - April 29, 2007 NYC, Columbia Law School/SweatFree Communities Conference. Bret Grote of the Pittsburgh Anti Sweatshop Community Alliance and Pittsburgh IWW, Carl Johnson from the United Workers Association of Maryland, Dale Wen of the International Forum On Globalization, Kalpona Aktar is the Secretary General of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, Peter van Schaick is a NYC Employment Lawyer and friend of the IWW Starbucks Workers Union.
Arena jobs promised for minorities
http://www.pittsbur ghlive.com/ x/pittsburghtrib /search/s_ 510086.html
By Jeremy BorenTRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
The city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority on Tuesday promised to hire minorities to help build Pittsburgh's planned $290 million hockey arena and sided with a human rights group that wants the Pirates not to sell sports merchandise made in sweatshops.
Tim Stevens, executive director of the Black Political Empowerment Project, told SEA board members that he believes minorities historically have been left out of union construction jobs -- including the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, where the authority has met since it opened in 2003.
"This must cease," Stevens said. "We need to take a serious, honest look at minority and women participation in construction jobs and in providing goods and services."
SEA Executive Director Mary Conturo agreed.
"That's an issue we continue to focus on," she said, adding that the SEA employs a "diversity coordinator" to ensure minorities and minority-owned companies are included in contracts. "We will continue to make it a priority."
Another concern for the authority was voiced by Chairman John Chalovich, who asked Conturo on April 19 to send a letter to the Pirates recommending that the team uphold foreign workers' rights and avoid selling team jerseys and other apparel made through sweatshop labor.
Kenneth Miller, head of the Pittsburgh Anti-Sweatshop Community Alliance, applauded the SEA's recommendation yesterday, saying it draws a "connection between people who wear Pirates apparel and the people who sew it."
At the urging of the alliance, Chalovich asked the Pirates if employees of The Haddad Apparel Group in Bangladesh worked in sweatshops. He requested copies of the workers' pay stubs to prove they were being paid a fair wage.
Pirates officials did not return messages seeking comment yesterday.
But the team said there's little it can do to fight the use of sweatshop labor, which it doesn't view as a problem, according to a Feb. 26 letter to Chalovich from Larry Silverman, the Pirates' vice president and general counsel.
Silverman wrote that Haddad is a licensee of Major League Baseball. He noted there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the company. "We are satisfied that based on the detailed investigation MLB has previously performed on this sweatshop issue ... if such conduct were occurring, MLB would use its best efforts to bring such conduct to a halt," Silverman wrote.
A message left at New York City-based Haddad was not returned.
At least one of Pittsburgh's other major league teams ensures that manufacturers don't use sweatshops to produce merchandise.
The National Hockey League handles the manufacturing and sale of most Penguins jerseys and other apparel -- as it does for all 31 league teams.
But the Penguins control who makes game-day giveaways such as bobblehead dolls, said Tom McMillan, a team spokesman.
The Penguins have a contract with private company Pro Image Sports, which follows industry standards and performs on-site inspections to make sure manufacturers aren't using sweatshop labor, McMillan said.
Jeremy Boren can be reached at jboren@tribweb. com or (412) 765-2312.
SEA urged to hire women, minorities for new hockey arena
http://www.post- gazette.com/ pg/07150/ 790028-53. stmWednesday, May 30, 2007
By Ervin Dyer, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteAs the city-Allegheny County Sports & Exhibition Authority approved up to $170,000 in change orders yesterday for work related to the new Penguins arena, activists urged the agency to provide jobs and contracts to women and minorities.
"There must be racial justice," said Ken Miller, a member of the Black Political Empowerment Project, because "there is a problem in the building trades. When public dollars are funneled into the city, they should benefit entire community."
In recent weeks, B-PEP has asked for a meeting with authority chair John Chalovich to discuss social inequalities and historic lack of minorities represented in the building trades. Mr. Chalovich was not present at yesterday's meeting.
Tim Stevens, head of B-PEP, said the authority must realize it is at "a key moment" to significantly enhance construction and goods and services contracts to women and minorities.
"You can have a leadership role," he told the authority. "Minorities have historically been excluded, but this must cease."
Mr. Stevens said for a nine-month period during the convention center construction, he monitored the progress, and found that there was 8 percent minority participation and 1 percent female. That is not acceptable, he said.
The largest change orders approved yesterday were for $70,500 to Civil &Environmental Consultants for engineering services and $48,419 to Abmech for asbestos abatement at the former St. Francis Medical Center.
(Ervin Dyer can be reached at edyer@post-gazette. com or 412-263-1410. )