Attention Holiday Shoppers!

[kasia]

Attention Holiday Shoppers!!

6 ways to fight sweatshops this holiday season – support these 6 retailer campaigns by garment workers!

Sweatshop-Free Alternatives – some tips for shopping with a conscience this holiday season.

This holiday season, while media messages urge you to buy, buy, buy...remember the faces behind the labels. Take action to fight sweatshops and put an end to abusive, unfair working conditions for garment workers. Support these six campaigns against some of the biggest grinches in the retail industry. To find out how to support sweatshop-free alternatives, see our list below.

You can also download this flyer from our web site www.sweatshopwatch.org/do/shoppers.pdf.

6 Ways to Fight Sweatshops This Holiday Season

1. bebe—Support Los Angeles garment workers who sewed bebe clothing under sweatshop conditions. For information, go to: www.sweatshopwatch.org/bebe. Call or write:
Manny Mashouf, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
bebe
400 Valley Drive
Brisbane, CA 94005
1-877-bebe-777 (1-877-232-3777)
askus@bebe.com

2. Forever 21—Support Los Angeles garment workers and BOYCOTT Forever 21! For information, go to: www.garmentworkercenter.org. Call, write, or organize a picket at a local store.
Do Won Chang, President
Forever 21
2001 S. Alameda St.
Los Angeles, CA 90058
213-747-2121

3. Levi-Strauss—Hold Levi’s accountable for sweatshop conditions on Saipan. Tell Levi’s that slavery is un-American and to settle the Saipan lawsuit. For information, go to: www.sweatshopwatch.org/marianas. Call or write:
Robert Haas, Chairman of the Board
Levi-Strauss & Co.
1155 Battery Street, San Francisco, CA 94111
415-501-6000

4. Gap—Tell Your Friends and Family: “Don’t Buy Gap This Holiday Season!” For information, go to: www.behindthelabel.org.

5. Disney—Tell Disney to take responsibility for workers’ rights in Bangladesh! They should return orders to factories where they cut and run. For information, go to: www.nlcnet.org. Call or write:
Michael Eisner, CEO
Walt Disney Company
South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521
818-560-1000

6. DKNY—Support New York garment workers in the DKNY Girlcott!
For information, go to: www.nmass.org/nmass/aiw/aiw.html. Call or write:
Donna Karan
Donna Karan International
550 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10018
212-789-1500 ext. 8


Sweatshop-Free Alternatives

Sweatshop Watch t-shirts are here. Be among the first to sport Sweatshop Watch’s hip, new t-shirt and support our work to end sweatshops. The tee's are union made. $20 each, plus shipping. See www.sweatshopwatch.org for ordering details.

No Sweat Apparel is a brand-new, 100% union made sweatshop alternative attempting to change the garment industry and influence sweatshop abusers by providing competitive products to Western consumers while also paying union shops and coops around the world a living wage. Find Ts, fashion athletic wear, sweats, hoodies, denim jackets, scarves and boucle caps. www.nosweatapparel.com

Ethical Threads is a brand of clothing and merchandise sourced from workplaces that meet international conventions on workers rights and which are verified by free trade unions. www.ethicalthreads.co.uk

Global Exchange offers Fair Trade alternatives such as gift baskets, artwork, crafts, coffee, tea and clothing from Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Educational books and videos are also available. www.globalexchange.org/store 800-497-1994

Fair Trade Federation has dozens of links to online fair trade catalogs for products such as jewelry, gifts, clothing and food. www.fairtradefederation.com 660-665-8962

American Apparel in Los Angeles makes "Sweatshop Free" t-shirts. They are committed to leveraging art, design, and technology to produce garments of the highest quality while pioneering industry standards of social responsibility in the workplace. www.americanapparel.net

SweatX, Los Angeles’ first union cut and sew shop, opened this year. They make t-shirts, shorts & headwear. www.sweatx.net

Fuerza Unida—the former Levi’s workers in San Antonio, Texas—have formed a sewing co-op that makes and silk-screens t-shirts, canvas bags, and flags. Orders can be made by calling 210-927-2294.

Diamond Cut Jeans may be the last union made jeans in America. Top quality denim jeans for men, women and children. www.diamondcutjeans.com

At Leather Coats Etc, you'll find beautiful, sturdy and stylish leather coats, jackets, vests and pants, reasonably priced and union made. www.leathercoatsetc.com

Powell’s Books is a legendary independent book store with an all union work force. www.powells.com

Thanks to Santa's little (union) helpers, Local 2004, IBEG(International Brotherhood of Elves & Gnomes) for letting us know about some of these union shops.

Happy Holidays! from Sweatshop Watch

www.sweatshopwatch.org • sweatinfo@sweatshopwatch.org

[Hanuman]

I know I'm gonna get slammed for this, but I've always been a little unclear about this issue. I'm just trying to understand both sides. I see on one side the 'fat cat' faceless corporation making a ton of money and none of it trickling down to its workers, and yes that does seem a little unfair.

On the other hand, these countries that provide the labor for these products typically have a much lower rate of income then first world nations. So even though they aren't being paid what a factory worker here is making, is their rate of pay unreasonable by that country's standards?

Another point is. what happens if goverment steps in and decides that they will impose a higher minimum wage. What's to stop the company from closing shop and simply moving to an unregulated country?

If the company decides to pay the higher scale, won't they simply pass the extra expense to us the consumers? When that happens, won't we, in effort to save money, start buying from their competitors (who have cheaper prices, since they don't regulate). Again, these companies will have to close some shops in effort to save money. The workers in these shops instead of being paid poorly will be paid nothing.

I'm obviously not in favor of sweatshops, but are my points valid? I'm hoping for someone to refute what I think, cause I really want to believe that this is wrong and I want to be able to back it in good confidance.

[angel nympho]

My thing with sweatshops isn't that they simply don't get paid enough. THere are worse problems in sweatshops than wages.
Kids as young as like 6 years old work their fingers to the fricken bone to make your Levi's. They work like 12+ hour shifts, they are treated inhumanely, and they don't have any choice but to do it because without those 2 quarters a day they're bringing home, they'd starve. I don't care if they get paid a lot for their work. The worst job in America is by far MUCH better than that.

[SunWuKong]

the only problem i have with sweatshops is that these companies can obviously afford to pay the workers better than they're being paid, even if the pay rate is average by that country's standards. but instead the money is becoming profit for the fat cats that sit on top and hang out at their country clubs and eat their caviar or whatever.

but hey that's capitalism for you. i AM glad that they create jobs for people though.

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Dec 22 2002, 09:23 AM
but hey that's capitalism for you. i AM glad that they create jobs for people though.
At what cost...?

[Hanuman]

Yeah, that's a good point. I'm definately not for child labor.

I'm still not convinced on the higher wages part. If they are being paid a fare wage compared to other jobs in their region, should they be paid more, just because the company can afford it? That doesn't make much sense to me. The point is to make a profit, not to be fair. Lets say I owned a resturant, I wouldn't give a raise just because we can now afford it. If it was merit based, then yes. Just like I wouldn't offer to pay the distributor more money for his vegetables just because the resturant is doing better....

[ren28]

I've never understood this whole thing about sweatshops. If the worker has no choice but to work there as slave labor or are underaged, something should be done about it. Those companies should be held accoutable or fined, etc by the government. If workers are free to come and go, they should get another job and not work under those terrible conditions. Otherwise, some sweatshops are providing some food on the table where there would be none.

[LA superzero1]

Originally posted by ren28@Dec 22 2002, 04:14 AM
I've never understood this whole thing about sweatshops. If the worker has no choice but to work there as slave labor or are underaged, something should be done about it. Those companies should be held accoutable or fined, etc by the government. If workers are free to come and go, they should get another job and not work under those terrible conditions. Otherwise, some sweatshops are providing some food on the table where there would be none.
ummm ... Even if workers are free to come and go, they would have a better job. If you are bound by barriers such as language and money, threat of deportation; then often there really aren't any other options. Too often the government is more likely to deport undocumenteds before they think of busting the shop. the factories are barely paying them enough to get by, if even that, and keeping them dependent on them. But as jacked up as the factories are, the manufacturers (the brand companies... gap, levi's forever 21, etc) are just as responsible if not more...

so are they really providing food? would there even be a table to provide it on?

[ren28]

If they have the option, they should not work there. For the workers that are not forced... they are idiots to stay when the conditions are that bad. If they are being forced to work, the factories should be punished. If the clothing stores condone illegal those illegal acts, they should be punished too. However, whole companies should not be punished if people are stupid enough to work at known sweatshops. If the government deports people before busting up a shop, why isn't the government in question held liable? Their own governments are not doing a thing when these illegal things are happening but the blame goes 100% to the American companies. I wonder why that is. Anyway... I think the stupid people should find different jobs or be jobless and the American companies should pay the workers a decent wage (and make sure the money goes to workers). Leave the illegal stuff up to the respective governments to handle and stop blaming the American companies for 100% of the bad things the factory bosses do.

[Commando_turned_MD]

I like purchasing clothes at super reduce price..............but I don't like how the employers are treating their employees...............


Dilemma.................Dilemma.............

[Faithless]

But DeLay has gone down, and there is hope that Congress, such as it is, might finally manage to act (that is, go on record as legislating reforms that Bush and Cheney will ignore). There are three bills in the House and Senate right now that would apply the U.S. minimum wage to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Ms. recommends contacting the chair and ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education and Workforce and the Senate Committee on Finance. They are:

Rep. McKeon www.house.gov/writerep
Rep. Miller george.miller@mail.house.gov
Sen. Grassley http://grassley.senate.gov/webform.htm
Sen. Baucus http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue

J. Jill, Ann Taylor, Liz Claiborne: Made By Slaves, Backed by Congress (http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/3386/1/167/)

By David Swanson | 05-08-06,10:00am

The Spring 2006 issue of Ms. Magazine contains an article by Rebecca Clarren about some beautiful tropical islands described by disgraced House Majority Leader Tom Delay as "a perfect petri dish of capitalism." What's so perfect about Saipan and the other 13 Northern Mariana Islands? Primarily this: items produced there can carry the label "Made in USA" and be sold in the U.S. without tariffs or quotas, but the scandalously low U.S. minimum wage does not apply, and the pathetically minimal rights of immigrants and workers in the U.S. do not apply. There are no labor unions. Any worker can be terminated and deported at any time for no cause.

The workers, mostly Chinese women, some of whose stories are told in the Ms. Magazine article, sew clothing for J. Jill, Elie Tahari, Ann Taylor, Liz Claiborne, The Gap, and Ralph Lauren, among others. They pay so much money to obtain work and for shelter and food, that they can labor for a decade and still not pay it back. They serve, therefore, as indentured servants, sharing rooms and beds, lacking health care, and working extra unpaid hours for the reward of being permitted to also work paid overtime. Pregnancy is unacceptable, costs of it not covered, and amateur abortion encouraged.

The island of Saipan does great business in prostitution for Asian businessmen and American soldiers. Approximately 90 percent of the prostitutes, according to Ms., are former Chinese garment workers. Others had been recruited for jobs like waitressing but were forced into prostitution instead.

Over the past decade, 29 bills in Congress have sought to apply a minimum wage standard and/or immigration law to the Mariana Islands or to deny use of "Made in USA" to items produced there. Every one of these bills has failed. Some have won support in the Senate but been blocked by the House Resources Committee. Others have won the support of a majority of House Members but still been killed in that same committee.

Guess who earned $11 million in fees from the Marianas government and garment manufacturers? A fellow by the name of Jack Abramoff. The Ms. Magazine article details his extensive lobbying of the Republican leadership in the House, and in particular of Tom Delay.

But DeLay has gone down, and there is hope that Congress, such as it is, might finally manage to act (that is, go on record as legislating reforms that Bush and Cheney will ignore). There are three bills in the House and Senate right now that would apply the U.S. minimum wage to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Ms. recommends contacting the chair and ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Education and Workforce and the Senate Committee on Finance. They are:

Rep. McKeon www.house.gov/writerep
Rep. Miller george.miller@mail.house.gov
Sen. Grassley http://grassley.senate.gov/webform.htm
Sen. Baucus http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue

Congressman Miller has asked the chair of the House Resources Committee, Rep. Richard Pombo (himself the subject of a report on ethics violations released yesterday http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/14507254.htm ) to investigate Abramoff's lobbying on behalf of the Ann Slave Taylor Islands, the Ralph Lauren Petri Dish for Plutocratic Plundering and Prostitution.

If every American who has purchased an item of clothing made by what is essentially American slave labor were to ask Pombo to hold hearings by writing to him at rpombo@mail.house.govand by sending a letter to the editor of the Stockton Record at editor@recordnet.comit might provide some hope to the women whose stories Ms. Magazine tells.