Child Labor? Starvation Wages? Union Busting? GUESS? Who? USLAC and UNITE Take a Stand Against Sweatshops by Tamar Wilner and Emily Weissman Almost all of Nike's shoes are made in sweatshops in Indonesia, Vietnam, China and other countries where forming an independent trade union is illegal and human rights records are miserable. In Nike factories in Indonesia, workers use flammable glues near open flames of welders, are only given one bathroom break a day, and are forced to deduct money from their paychecks for lunch, insurance and color-coded Nike t-shirts. Their wage is often one dollar a day. The Indonesian minimum wage is $1.25. Nike is only one of many companies that employ sweatshop labor. Sweatshops have returned and their conditions are unacceptable. We as consumers hold the power to effect valuable change; it's time to learn the facts and take action. Sweatshops mostly disappeared from the United States in the post-industrial era. In recent years, though, sweatshops have reemerged. This is the result of an expanding global economy that pressures firms to cut costs. Some of the worst human rights abusers are Nike, Guess?, Champion, and Disney. There are sweatshops in Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh, El Salvador, and other countries. Yet they can also be found in major American cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami, New Orleans, El Paso, San Antonio, and Portland. In 1994 it was estimated that 2000 out of 6000 garment shops in New York City were sweatshops. In Los Angeles the estimate was 4500 out of 5000. And these were only the reported sweatshops. What is a sweatshop? A sweatshop is characterized by the systematic violation of one or more fundamental workers' rights that have been codified in international and U.S. law. These rights include: the prohibition of child labor, forced or compulsory labor, and discrimination in employment; the right to a safe and healthy work environment; and freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively. A sweatshop is also characterized by wages that do not permit workers to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves and their families, and hours of work so long that education and a decent family life are impossible. Why don't large apparel companies take responsibility for the sweatshop conditions of their international subsidiaries? Companies like Nike and Guess? often claim that they either don't know of the conditions under which their clothing was manufactured, or that they are not responsible for monitoring those conditions. Apparel companies are often organized in a segmented way. Corporations hire managers, who in turn hire contractors, who in turn hire subcontractors, who hire the workers. Each level is distanced from the others. Thus, company executives can claim immunity, being ignorant of conditions at the bottom of the hierarchy. When the horrible working conditions of Kmart labor were uncovered, for example, Kathie Lee Gifford claimed that she hadn't known and therefore wasn't responsible. What is the bottom line on the responsibility of these companies? All companies should know the dealings of their subsidiaries, and they must take responsibility for the condition of their workers. More and more the apparel industry has come to be dominated by five large retail companies. These are multi-billion dollar companies. They have the money and the power to take responsibility for the conditions of their subsidiaries. Yet while Nike workers in Indonesia often make as little as one dollar a day, chairman Phil Knight owns stock worth $4.5 billion. Should Nike decide to double each worker's pay in Indonesia, Nike's top officials would still receive huge salaries. What can we do as consumers? We hold enormous economic power to encourage or discourage the use of sweatshops. Our choice to buy one product or another can become a political weapon. When we buy a manufactured good, we support both the company that produced the good and the conditions of its production. One way that we can tell a company that we do not support their activities is not to buy their products. This strategy is more powerful if we second it by writing a letter to the manufacturer explaining why we have not bought their product. Yet boycotting a product is not the only way to protest sweatshop labor. We can also employ selective purchasing. That is, we can threaten to choose some other product whose production conditions are more desirable. We can make political demands on the company because the company does not want to lose our patronage. There is a national boycott on products of Guess?, Inc. We ask therefore that you exercise your choice not to buy Guess? products. There is no national boycott on such corporations as Nike, Champion, and Disney. Yet we still ask that you use your selective purchasing options wisely; that is, if you do buy these companies' products, then you should tell them what you want as a customer. We are not asking you to feel guilty for wearing these products; it is the companies that should feel guilty for their treatment of their workers. However, the next time that you buy a pair of Nike sneakers, we ask that you consider the fact that out of every $100 you pay, $95 go to the corporate executives of Nike, and $1 goes to a Nike factory worker. Remember, your dollars speak volumes. United Needle Industry and Textile Employees (UNITE) and USLAC are involved in a national campaign to involve students in the anti-sweatshop movement. We meet on Tuesdays at 9:00 in the campus center. Please get involved: -Call Guess? and tell them that they should not be using sweatshop labor: 1-800-39-GUESS -There are national boycotts on these products: Guess?. Deckers, Sensi and Teva brand sandals, Acme, Diamond brand canned and bagged walnut pieces, Farmland Dairy brand milk, Mohawk label gin, rum, peppermint schnapps and cordials, Tyson/Holly Farms chicken, Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile cellular systems, and R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Co.