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Manitoba implements no-sweat policy

Manitoba implements no-sweat policy

By Catholic Register Staff

December 18, 2006

WINNIPEG - The first province to impose minimum labour standards for the clothes its government buys is Manitoba.

The Manitoba legislature adopted a no-sweat purchasing policy Nov. 22 for everything from prison uniforms to game warden Stetson hats to ensure workers producing clothing for provincial departments and agencies are paid at least a legal minimum wage and are afforded the basic rights laid out by the International Labour Organization of the United Nations.

The provincial government joins 15 Canadian universities, 11 Ontario school boards and the cities of Toronto and Vancouver in adopting an anti-sweatshop policy.

The church- and labour-sponsored Ethical Trading Action Group is pushing for more governments — school boards, municipalities, provinces and the federal government — to join the movement against clothes produced in substandard factories.