Community Action for
Justice in the Americas

Programs

CAJA has two main program areas: Economic Justice and Popular Resistance.

Economic Justice projects:

Fair Trade & Sweatfree Montana | Boycott Coke| Jubilee Montana Network

Popular Resistance projects:

Popular Resistance | Local Solidarity

Economic Justice

Fair Trade
In response to the suffering caused by corporate globalization, grassroots organizations are joining together across borders in the struggle for social, economic, and environmental justice. In Montana, CAJA is building a coalition of union members, family farmers, environmentalists, and social justice activists to promote fair trade and oppose corporate-dominated "free trade."

The Sweatfree Montana Campaign

Endorse the Campaign for a Sweat-Free Policy for the City of Missoula!

It no longer a secret that most goods we purchase in the United States are produced under sweatshop conditions. From clothing to electronics, the items we buy are made by workers who labor long hours in inhumane conditions for wages that don’t even allow them provide for their families’ basic needs. In Montana, we too can work to combat this “global race to the bottom” by organizing a coalition of local community groups, unions, human rights and environmental organizations to implement sweatfree purchasing policies.

As large consumers, state and local governments can help level the playing field for ethical businesses and create significant demand for better working conditions. By adopting sweatshop-free procurement policies requiring vendors and contractors to abide by fair labor standards in exchange for public contracts, governments can ensure our tax dollars do not subsidize human rights abuses.

Businesses that have endorsed the campaign

Authentic Creations, 123 W Main, Missoula

Betty's Divine, 521 S Higgins Ave, Missoula

Body Basics, 525 S Higgins Ave, Missoula

Crazy Daisy Clothing Exchange, 103 E Main, Missoula

Earth Folk, 133 N Higgins Ave, Missoula

Portico Real Estate, 319 E Broadway, Missoula

The Sports Exchange, 111 S 3rd W, Missoula

What would a policy look like?
Such an initiative would ask that the City adopt a sweatfree code of conduct, or purchasing policy, asking for procurement of apparel for city staff to come from responsible manufacturers. This is a request by the City for corporate responsibility. Other such ordinances have included comprehensive definitions of non-poverty wage both within and outside of the U.S., provisions asking for compliance with labor laws and environmental laws, no forced child labor, freedom of association and termination with just cause.

Did you know?
• In the U.S. in 2000, more than half of the 22,000 sewing shops violated minimum wage and overtime laws; 75% violated health and safety laws. Over 50% of the shops could be considered “sweatshops.”

• In Bangladesh, sewers are paid just over one cent for each U.S. university cap they sew. The caps enter the U.S. with a total customs value of $1.23. The average retail price in the U.S. is $17.43.

• Eighty-five percent of sweatshop workers are young women between the ages of 15-25. Women at some Mexican and Central American plants are forced to take shots to prevent pregnancy so that companies do not have to pay maternity leave. If a woman becomes pregnant or refuses to submit to forced birth control, she may be fired.

Endorse the Campaign for a Sweat-Free Policy for the City of Missoula! Help support the campaign by signing your organization or business onto the campaign. E-mail the name of your organization, a contact name, and a phone number to verify to erinrenee@hotmail.com.

For Organizations: Download Organizational Sign-on Letter (PDF file)

We, the undersigned Missoula organizations support the Campaign for a Sweat-free Missoula.

We support the implementation of a city policy that prohibits the use of our tax dollars to purchase goods for the city made in sweatshops.

The City of Missoula can leverage its purchasing power by adopting sweat-free procurement policies requiring vendors to abide by fair labor standards in exchange for public contracts.

We, the undersigned Missoula organizations believe that:

• Workers everywhere have a right to dignity and respect
• Workers have the right to the freedom of association (i.e. the right to form a union)
• Workers worldwide should be paid living wages
• Workers should have the right to reproductive choice (i.e. are not forced to consume birth control unwillingly or are not fired for becoming pregnant)
• Forced child labor is unacceptable
• Workers should be paid for the hours they work, not for the quantity of goods they produce
• Workers should not be subjected to an unregulated, toxic work environment

In addition, we believe that:

• Sweatshop exploitation undermines local economies and the competitive ability of companies with fair labor practices
• Abuse of workers anywhere is bad for business and workers everywhere
• Sweatshops contribute to the environmental degradation by releasing toxic waste into the air and water

We, the undersigned Missoula organizations, support the implementation of a sweat-free purchasing policy for the City of Missoula. Furthermore, we support the City of Missoula joining a consortium of small cities to investigate labor conditions in common supplier factories using a non-profit monitor that is fully independent from the industry, such as the Worker Rights Consortium; and to consolidating government purchasing power – through cooperative contracting or other means – to support supplier factories where workers are treated with dignity and have a voice on the job.

Through these means, we believe that we will help raise the standard for work conditions worldwide while supporting our local economy at the same time.

Sincerely,

[Your Organization]

For Businesses: Download Business Sign-On Letter (PDF file)

We, the undersigned Missoula businesses support the Campaign for a Sweat-free Missoula.

We support the implementation of a city policy that prohibits the use of our tax dollars to purchase goods for the city made in sweatshops.

The City of Missoula can leverage its purchasing power by adopting sweat-free procurement policies requiring vendors to abide by fair labor standards in exchange for public contracts.

As Missoula business owners, we believe that:
• Workers everywhere have a right to dignity and respect
• Workers have the right to the freedom of association (i.e. the right to form a union)
• Workers worldwide should be paid living wages
• Workers should have the right to reproductive choice (i.e. are not forced to consume birth control unwillingly or are not fired for becoming pregnant)
• Forced child labor is unacceptable
• Workers should be paid for the hours they work, not for the quantity of goods they produce
• Workers should not be subjected to an unregulated, toxic work environment

We also believe that:
• Such a policy will reward employers who are working to pay employees well and provide them benefits by enabling them to compete with vendors who outsource to sweatshops and pocket the difference
• A financial incentive to improve working conditions will reduce wage inequality and the number of working poor on public assistance
• Sweatshop exploitation undermines local economies and the competitive ability of companies with fair labor practices
• Abuse of workers anywhere is bad for business and workers everywhere

We, the undersigned Missoula businesses, support the implementation of a sweat-free purchasing policy for the City of Missoula. Furthermore, we support the City of Missoula joining a consortium of small cities to investigate labor conditions in common supplier factories using a non-profit monitor that is fully independent from the industry, such as the Worker Rights Consortium; and to consolidating government purchasing power – through cooperative contracting or other means – to support supplier factories where workers are treated with dignity and have a voice on the job.

Please take a step forward for human rights in Montana while helping support local businesses in the global marketplace!

Sincerely,

[Your Business]

Additional Resources
www.sweatfree.org
www.behindthelabel.org
www.globalexchange.org

To get involved, contact CAJA at 549-9697, or e-mail erinrenee@hotmail.com

Boycott Coke

In Colombia, Coke has collaborated with the paramilitaries to kill seven union leaders in an effort to destroy the workers’ union. In solidarity with the union, CAJA is supporting an international boycott of all Coca-Cola products. The goal is to force Coca-Cola to stop the paramilitary violence and to treat its workers with dignity and respect, paying them livable wages and benefits. Learn more.

CAJA works locally with students to terminate the exclusive seven-year contract the University of Montana has with Coca-Cola.  The students are demanding that UM suspend the exclusive contract pending an independent investigation into the human rights abuses.

Jubilee Montana Network
CAJA is a member of the Jubilee Montana Network working in partnership with the Jubilee Network and our Southern partners to call for 100 percent debt cancellation. We work to bring this issue to light locally, and to demand a just policy globally. For more information, see the Jubilee Web site.

Popular Resistance

CAJA supports popular social movements within the Americas that are resisting U.S. imperialism and corporate globalization, and creating alternative social and economic models. Through education, outreach, and creative action, CAJA raises awareness about these movements and supports them in their struggle. CAJA promotes self-determination of all sovereign nations and demands a dignified life for everyone.

End U.S. Aid to Colombia

CAJA has strong sister relationships with three social organizations in Colombia and works with these organizations to demand an end to military aid in Colombia. Since 2000, the U.S. has given over $3.4 billion to the Colombian military.

CAJA provides direct support to our sister organizations in Colombia through ongoing accompaniment. By having a presence on the ground, social leaders who are targeted by violent groups simply because they organize are less likely to be attacked. CAJA supports a representative in Colombia at all times, and provides opportunities for interested people to act as live witnesses to the struggle, becoming human rights observers themselves. This immediate support is critical as we aim to achieve long-term solutions to the conflict in Colombia.

Read CAJA's human rights report from the 2005 delegation (PDF).

Local Solidarity Efforts

CAJA's mission is to work in solidarity with grassroots organizations that are working for social, economic and environmental justice. Given this, we also spend time supporting other organizations in our part of the world. Here are examples of the kind of work we do in this area.

CAJA was recently asked to help bring attention to a severe environmental justice issue in our own backyard. We learned that in Browning, Montana on the Blackfeet Reservation, housing built by HUD (Housing and Urban Development) in the late 1970s is contaminated due to molding wood foundations, arsenic-treated wood and radon. Stay tuned for updates on the situation.

CAJA is working with Raise Montana to gather enough signatures to put an increase in the minimum wage on the ballot.