 Students massed in front of the Guess jeans store in Westfarms mall and began handing out leaflets. Some customers looked at the leaflets as if they were written in an entirely different language. They held the fliers at arm's length as they examined them. The looks on their faces seemed to say, "huh, why, what is this? I just wanted to shop in peace."
Others didn't even bother to read the leaflets. After a quick glance-long enough to realize the fliers contained no coupons--they crumbled them with one hand and tossed them into a trashcan.Others allowed the laws of gravity and apathy to do their work for them, setting the papers free to glide whimsically down to the cheap slate floor of the mall.
There were also shoppers who stopped to read the leaflets, and even better, some who wished to learn more about the issue. These shoppers placed their shopping bags down, and put off buying a new dress or sweater for a few moments to inquire "Why boycott? Why Guess?"
A story spanning six years was divulged: a major clothing manufacturer accused time and time again of degrading and exploiting factory workers; alleged interrogations and firings of union supporters; social activists led by UNITE(Union of NeedleTraders Industrial and Textile Employees) determined to bring justice; a controversy embroiled with high finance advertising schemes, media coverage, and even Rock and Roll spokesmen (Rage Against The Machine have become UNITE poster boys in support of the protest.) The story of a corporation sweating like their impoverished factory employees.
A History of Labor Problems: Guess's troubles began in 1992, when sweat-shop abolitionists first sighted them within their scopes for operating factories in violation of state and federal labor laws. In August of that year, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) cited Guess for federal wage and hour law infractions. At the time numerous clothing manufacturing companies were being investigated for sweat-shop violations.
Guess sought to resolve the situation swiftly; to usurp the negative publicity this labor scandal could cause. Guess and the DOL struck an agreement in which Guess pledged to begin monitoring its outside contractors (who are responsible for employing those who dye and sew the garments) to ensure that there would be no more labor law violations. In addition, Guess agreed to pay its workers $573,000 of back wages.
Guess contrived a monitoring plan in which all contractors signed pledges guaranteeing workers fair wages, clean and safe working conditions, and freedom from exploitation. In addition, an outside monitoring agency was hired to ensure factory compliance with the anti-sweat pledge. Guess rose from corporate thug to "industry model" according to the U.S Department of Labor. This was the first time a large manufacturer had "voluntarily" pledged to fight sweat shop labor. The fashion industry and the U.S. Department of Labor greeted the agreement with critical acclaim. "I believe that the Guess-DOL agreement is truly historic and that Guess stands as a bellwether in the fight to eliminate widespread wage and hour violations among apparel industry and assembly workers" said Marshall J. Breger, Solicitor of Labor for the U.S. Department of Labor, at the signing of the agreement. Guess not only escaped from this first sweat-shop scandal nearly unscathed, but became known as politically correct and socially in-vogue retailer.
In spite of their new "good boy" image and promises to discontinue sweatshop labor, the California Division of Labor Enforcement (DLSE) discovered in the summer of 1996 that Guess was engaged in illegal industrial homework operations, manufacturing clothing in private homes. Adding insult to injury, a class action suit was filed against Guess in August of the same year which sought renumeration of wages for thousands of workers who claimed that Guess owed them for wage and hour violations. Guess, the great "industry model," was also a great industry liar.
In the months to follow, the company's reputation quickly began to unravel. According to UNITE, the DOL cited Guess contractors for numerous wage and hour violations, the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) raided five more industrial homework operations, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) accused Guess of illegal firing, and interrogating and discriminating against pro-union workers. Clouds of scandal were beginning to form over Guess headquarters in Los Angeles.
Within weeks, Guess announced plans to move a very substantial number of their operations to Mexico, Chile, and Peru. According to Guess this move was made to stay competitive with other clothing operations which had made similar relocations. UNITE accused Guess of running away from American labor laws and media attention. The Wall Street Journal reported Maurice Marciano, Guess chairman and chief executive, as saying that UNITE's union activities and the various government accusations were "a factor [for the move] as well."
Trouble In Mexico: Tehuácan, Mexico, approximately a twenty hour drive from the U.S. border, with hundreds of clothing manufacturing plants, became the center of Guess's clothing production infrastructure. The operation in Tehuácan is very similar to the system Guess utilized in Los Angeles. Contractors are hired to produce a quota of goods. Then, the contractors sets up 'maquiladoras' or factories, and hire workers to produce goods for a set price.
Throughout the process of relocating to Mexico, Guess stood by its declaration that it was 100 percent sweat shop free. Having heard the same story before, social activists decided the trail of degradation and exploitation which Guess had left in the U.S. needed to be followed.
A delegation co-sponsored by The Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice and the Highlander Research Education Center formed and arrived in Tehuácan on a fact-finding mission in February of this year. The findings, published in a report entitled "Cross Border Blues: A Call For Justice for Maquiladora Workers in Tehuacán" are astonishing. Violation after violation were reported first hand through interviews with current and past factory workers. The document describes numerous violations of labor and humanitarian laws: forced overtime, child labor, pregnancy discrimination, unsanitary conditions, and both physical and verbal abuse. The personal accounts within the report bring the tragedy to life, giving voices and names to the exploited. A thumb-through of the report displays impoverished workers, stuck between indigence and sweatshop labor.
The Story From Guess Headquarters: In the midst of this scathing report, and the other allegations, Guess has stuck to its policy of denying all wrongdoing. The company claims in its public relations material that it is indeed sweatshop free, but has "become a high profile target of an organized campaign to undermine consumer confidence."
Furthermore, Guess posits that "as a company founded by immigrants who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, Guess understands and relates to the dreams, fears, hopes, and pride of the men and women who are today's garment workers. Guess cares about our employees, and the employees of our subcontractors, and we reject the lies and misrepresentations directed against us."
Wesleyan Students Take Action: With the release of "Cross-Border Blues," UNITE, frustrated by the manufacturer's refusal to admit wrongdoing and take action, has pushed its anti-Guess campaign into high gear with the organization of a nationwide college campus boycott of Guess. The protest's primary purpose is to raise awareness about the company's illegal practices, and to urge consumers to participate in a boycott of all Guess products. "Guess relies on college students and other young people for a large percentage of their sales. We are spreading the word about illegal and immoral practices with activities on campuses all over the United States. We hope students will boycott all Guess products until the company obeys the law and respects workers," said Nicola Searle, a sophomore at Georgetown University.
Tom Morello of the band Rage Against the Machine has been used as a front man in the campaign against Guess to generate publicity. Morello was arrested last winter when he and other protesters workers blocked the entrance to a Robinsons-May department store in Santa Monica, California.
"The people who listen to Rage are the same people that Guess is trying to sell clothes to. [Guess] is counting on the fact that people are too stupid to figure out the exploitation that goes on," Morello told Rolling Stone magazine last February.
It was as part of this boycott that Wesleyan students (Meredith Lobel '01, Katie Roberson-Young '99, Julian Adler '02, Denise Schulman '00, and Rose Cahn '01) headed to Westfarms Mall in Farmington, Connecticut. "We are vehemently opposing the exploitation of workers' human rights by any company or individual," said UNITE co-organizer Meredith Lobel '01. "Guess has had a history of both worker exploitation and public deception that must be stopped…Wesleyan as an educative and 'moral' institution needs something to show that we are responsible and that we care."
Workers at the Westfarms Guess store would not comment about the UNITE campaign or the allegations against Guess, but maintained that neither Wesleyan's protest, nor UNITE's boycott as a whole, has had any affect upon sales at their store.
After distributing leaflets outside of the Guess store, the group headed to Filene's Department Store, and urged the on-duty manager of the Junior Department (which sells Guess jeans and clothing) to question Guess about its policies.
After listening to the students, Filene's agreed to relay their concerns to Guess and later passed on some of the leaflets which the Wesleyan students had been distributing to their Guess representative. The representative accepted the flyers without comment.
I questioned a couple of girls outside the Guess store during the Wesleyan demonstration. The teens had walked to the entrance of the store, said a few words to one another, then immediately turned around and left. "Why did you leave?" I inquired, waiting for a gem of an answer about how they couldn't support Guess because of sweatshop labor.
"They didn't have any red dresses," one said.
"Huh?"
"They didn't have any red dresses, I need a red dress for a dance."
Guess has some strong allies in its battle against UNITE and the other social activists: commercialism, fashion, and apathy.
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