sweatynotsweetshops

http://www.coopamerica.org/
Co-op America’s
Guide to Ending
Sweatshops
In June of 07, Kohl’s was
forced to pull clothing from
its stores and Web site after
serious sweatshop allegations became public
regarding its “Daisy Fuentes” line of women’s
wear. In a widely reported letter addressed to
Ms. Fuentes, the celebrity face of the clothing
line, workers at one of Kohl’s Guatemalan
source factories told of 12-hour days, denial
of medical care after on-the-job
injuries, contaminated drinking
water, and impossible production
goals. “The supervisors
tell us we are useless, animals
and that we have garbage for
brains,” the workers wrote.
“We thank you for giving us
work, but the law should be
respected.We demand that
they treat us like persons,
respecting our human rights.”
The incident wasn’t a fi rst for
Kohl’s. Since 2000, the company
has been linked to similar sweatshop
abuses at factories in El Salvador, Nicaragua,
American Samoa, and Bangladesh.
In October 2007, Indian
authorities raided a garment
factory in New Dehli that produced clothing
for Gap Kids, acting on a tip from an undercover
London Observer reporter. The reporter, posing as a
textiles buyer, had discovered children as young as
10, who had been sold to the factory by their families,
working 19 hour days, and suffering beatings
for failing to keep up performance. Though the
Gap says it employs monitors for its factories, they
have only 90 monitors to cover more than 2,000
factories, and the Observer reported that sweatshop
subcontractors have taken to hiding children in
sacks or under the fl oors to evade detection. The
Gap has said that the clothing made by these children
will not be sold in US stores, and has cut ties
with the offending factories.
Meanwhile, at a different Gap supplier factories
Kohl’s
CEO salary:
$5,461,585
The Gap
Which popular
retailer of apparel
and toys got busted for the
ninth time by Students and
Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior
(SACOM), which uncovered
sweatshop abuses (unpaid wages,
illegal working hours, unsafe
working conditions) at a producer
factory in China in
October 2007?
Do you know?
Answer
on p. 12.
m designates member of Co-op America’s Green Business Network™ Co-op America’s GUIDE TO ENDING SWEATSHOPS 13
in Bangalore, the London Guardian reported that a
worker lost her baby in March of 2007 after being
refused immediate leave when she went into labor
at work. Her baby died when she gave birth alone
at the factory gates. Three other deaths have been
recorded at the same factory since 2006, including
other workers denied leave after suffering a health
emergency within the facility.
Since 2000, the Gap has also been cited by union
leaders as sourcing from factories with sweatshop
conditions in Cambodia, Indonesia, Bangladesh,
Lesotho, El Salvador and Mexico.
In February 2007,
Sheikh Nazma, a
Bangladeshi labor leader, testifi ed before the US
Congress that J.C. Penney was sourcing from
a factory in Bangladesh that employs children
as young as 11, working 14 hour days or longer.
Nazma told the story of Halima, one of the
11-year old workers. “It was not uncommon
for Halima and the other children to be at the
factory 95 hours a week,” she said. “The wages
are so low that Halima and many of the other
children brush their teeth with their fi ngers and
ashes from the fi re because they cannot afford a
toothbrush or toothpaste.”
In 2003, JC Penney paid into a $20 million
settlement to a lawsuit fi led by more than 13,000
workers in the Commonwealth of Northern
Marianas Islands (CNMI), a US territory
notorious for sweatshop abuses in its garment
factories. Along with 25 other retailers, including
other companies on this list (Sears, Limited
Brands, and Wal-Mart), J.C. Penney agreed to
pay back wages to unpaid workers, and to create
a system for monitoring factories for labor
abuses. Through the terms of the settlement, the
companies admitted no wrongdoing, but documented
abuses from the CNMI have included
such atrocities as beatings and forced abortions
for workers who become pregnant. (For more on
the CNMI, see p. 19.)
When Kmart
merged with Sears
Roebuck in 2005, the resulting partnership was
better positioned to compete with its primary
rival, Wal-Mart. If only these companies were
competing for the highest standards of corporate
responsibility!
Prior to the merger, both Sears and Kmart
had been implicated in sourcing from three San
Francisco factories (WINS Facilities), where
mostly Chinese immigrant workers faced
numerous labor violations, including
almost $1 million in unpaid wages.
(The US Department fi ned WINS the
maximum penalty allowed under
the US Fair Labor Standards Act.)
Since 2005, Sears Holding (the
parent company) has been implicated
in sweatshop-labor abuses
in Jordan and the Philippines, according
to NLC and Behindthelabel.
org. Alleged abuses at these factories
have included: human traffi cking and CEO salary:
$8,894,751
J.C. Penney
CEO salary:
$10,383,614
Sears/Kmart
Which highend
department store
faced an in-store demonstration
by anti-sweatshop
protesters in Seattle in October
2007, due to the illegal closing
of a factory in Guatemala,
after workers began to
organize?
Do you know?
14 Co-op America’s GUIDE TO ENDING SWEATSHOPS www.coopamerica.org
involuntary servitude, confi scation of
workers’ passports, unsanitary working
conditions, and workers being
subject to pay reductions, threats,
and violence, if production goals
were not met.
“Always low prices,” equals always
low standards of corporate responsibility
for this big-box retailer that has
done as much as (or more than) any other
company to help sweatshops proliferate around
the globe. Wal-Mart drives down the prices in
its stores at the cost of driving down the quality
of life of millions of workers, earning the giant
retailer the number one spot on our list.
Wal-Mart is so huge, and sources so widely
across the globe, that we could fi ll this whole
magazine with the company’s alleged and
documented sweatshop abuses. We’ll confi ne
ourselves to a few recent lowlights:
• In January 2006, China Labor Watch found
workers making products for Wal-Mart in the
Donguan Hongyuan shoe factory who were
working mandatory shifts of nearly 16 hours at
41 cents per hour. Workers were not paid overtime
wages, food at the factory was contaminated,
and the lack of private showers meant that
female workers had to bathe in front of men.
• In May of 2006, the National Labor Committee
(NLC) reported on a range of factories producing
garments for Wal-Mart in Jordan where
abuses included: human traffi cking, confi scation
of workers’ passports, shifts up to 19 hours, no
sick days, unsanitary conditions, and reports of
sexual abuse and rape.
• In October of 2006, the NLC reported on
child labor employed by a Wal-Mart supplier
factory in Bangladesh. The children were beaten,
suffered from exhaustion, worked 14-hour shifts,
and received as little as 6.5 cents an hour.
• In December of 2007, the NLC reported on
the plight of workers making Christmas ornaments
for Wal-Mart in China. Workers toiling as
much as 95 hours a week (well over China’s legal
limit) were also not equipped with proper safety
equipment to protect themselves from the toxic
paints, glitters, thinners, and solvents they were
using on the ornaments. Workers developed
rashes and sores, but received no medical care
or sick time from the factory.
Not limiting its abuses to overseas, Wal-Mart
has been sued in the United States for forcing
employees to work unpaid overtime, sometimes
by allegedly locking them inside the store after
they had already clocked out, or by forcing them
to work through breaks and meals, even though
such actions violate Wal-Mart’s own policy. In
2005, Wal-Mart paid more than $100,000 for violating
child labor laws in three states. The company
has also repeatedly squashed union activity
by maintaining a Labor Relations Team with an
arsenal of propaganda convincing workers of the
“dangers” and consequences of unionizing.
—Andrew Korfhage and Vickie Kreha
CEO salary:
$29,672,533
(plus $4.5 million in stock options)
Which popular
catalog company was
the subject of a 2006 NLC
report documenting abuses at its
Saidan factory in Jordan including:
human traffi cking of guest workers,
confi scation of passports, 118-hour
work weeks, wages below the
legal minimum, no sick days,
and unsanitary working
conditions?
Do you know?
UNDERWEAR: LEADERS AND LAGGARDS
Cottonfi eldm — Offers underwear for men and
women in organic cotton and made in the USA.
Grade: A+
Decent Exposuresm — A small Seattlebased
sewing shop, Decent Exposures has expanded
from its original signature product of made-to-order bras, and now also
carries men’s and boys’ briefs, swimsuits, and nursing bras. Grade: A+
Justice Clothingm — Offers bras made in a unionized factory in New
York, and men’s underwear made in a unionized factory in Pennsylvania.
(Worker pay and benefi t information is available on the Justice Clothing
Web site.) Grade: A+
Maggie’s Organicsm— In 2007, Maggie’s added tights for women, girls
and babies to its line of organic socks, produced in a Nicaraguan Fair Trade
Zone. Grade: A+
Liz Claiborne — According to a 2006 NLC report, Liz Claiborne’s factory
in Jordan allowed no sick days or paid vacations, paid wages 12 percent
below the legal minimum, and provided unsanitary working conditions.
Grade: C
Calvin Klein — Calvin Klein’s parent company, Phillips Van Heusen has
been cited for labor violations in Saipan and Guatemala, and in October
2006, migrant workers at a Calvin Klein supplier factory in Jordan staged
protests alleging phyiscal and verbal abuse. Grade: D
Victoria’s Secret — The NLC reported in Nov. 2007 that workers making
Victoria’s Secret bikinis at the DK Garment factory in Jordan are allowed 3.3
minutes to sew each $14 bikini, for which they are paid four cents. This, after
a 2006 report alleged deportation of pregnant workers, beaitings “almost
every day,” and 93-hour work weeks including all-night shifts two to three
times a week. Grade: F
Hanes — According to NLC reports, in 2006, 200 to 300 children were
found working in sweatshop conditions at a Bangladeshi factory that supplied
Hanes. Paid as little as 6.5 cents an hour, the children worked 12- to
14-hour days. Currently, Hanes is under fi re for union-busting activities at a
Guatemalan supplier factory (see story, facing page, and our take our action
online at www.coopamerica.org/go/haneswalmart). Grade: F
Learn more at ResponsibleShopper.org and fi nd green choices at GreenPages.org.
Find contact information for A+ companies on page 20.
Wal-Mart
CEO salary:
$4,811,738
Do you know? answers:
Page 6: Disney, Page 7: Macy’s, Page 8: L.L. Bean.
To learn more visit www.responsibleshopper.org.
Justice Clothing
Answer
below.
m designates member of Co-op America’s Green Business Network™ Co-op America’s GUIDE TO ENDING SWEATSHOPS 15
In 1909, 20,000 New York
garment workers waged a14-
week strike, known as “The
Uprising,” to gain union representation
in their factories
and improve their sweatshop
working conditions of long
hours at low pay, lock-ins, and
other abuses. With this courageous
act, the International
Ladies’ Garment Workers’
(ILGW) Union asserted itself
as a voice for the rights of
working class women around
the country.
Two years later, the ILGW
would be instrumental in responding
to the infamous Triangle
Shirtwaist Fire, in which more than 100 trapped garment
workers lost their lives because factory doors were locked to
keep them at their sewing machines.
Over the following decades, the ILGW and other unions
won many improvements for their workers in North America.
Lock-ins were declared illegal, the national minimum wage was
established in the 1930s, laws for regular working hours and
overtime pay were established, and health care is now provided
by many workplaces.
Unfortunately, many of these same sweatshop working conditions
that mobilized the ILGW at the beginning of the 20th
century in America still exist globally for workers in garment
factories at the beginning of the 21st century. Deadly fires still
happen, such as the 2006 fire at a locked Bangladeshi garment factory
that cost 84 lives, and the 2006 fire at a locked garment factory
in Buenos Aires that killed 6 women and girls. Here in the
US, workers at Wal-Mart (which has a history of closing stores
where workers attempt to unionize) have filed lawsuits over lockins
here in America in recent years as well.
No less today than in 1909, unions remain key to ending such
abuses, and often companies that condone sweatshop working
conditions will work aggressively to prevent workers from
organizing to protect their rights.
One such facility is the TOS Dominicana facility owned by
Hanesbrands, Inc., maker of Hanes undergarments and socks. In
late 2006, more than 1,000 garment workers at TOS Dominicana
(whose main customer is none other than the notoriously
anti-union Wal-Mart), were forced to sign a contract which
decreased their salary by 13.5 percent, removed regular salary
increases, stripped healthcare and life insurance benefits, and
altered their workday to include mandatory, unpaid overtime
in12-hour shifts.
According to a report by the Workers Rights Consortium,
a labor rights monitoring organization, workers were told by
the factory’s management, “If you don’t want to sign this [new
contract], there is not a place for you in this company.”
In response to these egregious new contracts, which violated
several provisions of Dominican Labor Law, workers began calling
a “resource [telephone]
line” made available by
Hanes to report complaints
about factory management.
Receiving no response to
their calls, and seeing no
change in the factory’s
implementation of the new
contract, several of the
garment workers, including
Manuel Pujols and Julio
Castillo contacted the Dominican
Federation of Free
Trade Zone Workers with
the intention of establishing
their own union.
Because of their efforts
to organize the workers,
Pujols and Castillo were verbally abused and put under surveillance
inside and outside of the workplace. As tensions built,
factory management began spying on union meetings, and even
disrupted a meeting taking place at a restaurant across town
from the factory. (The incident was recorded on cellphone
video.) The Hanes-owned factory then fired 29 union supporters
the week before the union was scheduled to hold its first
public general assembly.
The union Pujols and Castillo eventually started, Sindicato de
Trabajadores de la Empresa Dos Rios/Hanesbrands, TOS Domicana,
now lists more than half of the factory’s workforce as members.
The union’s activities resulted in the publication of a report on
their struggle in spring 2007, at which point factory management
increased workers’ wages to their originally contracted
level. The increase did not include back pay, and despite the
workers’ struggle to organize, the factory continues to require
12-hour shifts, withholds nighttime and overtime wages, and
allows no paid sick leave.
“I affiliated with the union so that we can move forward. We
are fighting for better treatment with fair wages and hours.”
says Elvys Abreu, a worker at the factory, who was injured on
the job, but had to continue working, since he cannot afford
unpaid sick leave. “I want Hanes to know what is happening
here ... they should come here to find out for themselves what
is really going on.”
You can join Co-op America’s campaign to persuade Wal-
Mart and Hanes to recognize the TOS Dominicana union and
enforce a wide-reaching policy to end illegal union-busting practices
and pay a living wage to workers in their factories.
Go to www.coopamerica.org/go/haneswalmart to let Hanes
and Wal-Mart know you support workers’ freedom of association
and the right to organize a union, and that you expect
them to follow the laws of any country in which they operate.
—Yochanan Zakai
To learn more about Wal-Mart’s labor record, you can download Beyond
the Wal-Mart Economy, a special issue of our Co-op America Quarterly at:
www.coopamerica.org/pubs/caq/articles/
Unions: A Key to Ending Sweatshops
in the Global Supply Chain
One of TOS Dominicana ’s main customers is the notoriously anti-union
Wal-Mart. The TOS Dominicanana factory is under fi re for alleged
union-busting activity and unfair wages.
Take our action
to support unions:
www.coopamerica/go/
haneswalmart.
16 Co-op America’s GUIDE TO ENDING SWEATSHOPS www.coopamerica.org
Yeumei: Cottonfi eld produces organic cotton apparel
and home goods, almost all of which (92 percent) is made in
the United States. We wholesale to stores nationwide and
overseas, and we sell retail through our Web site. Our most
popular products tend to be our casual, organic cotton basics
and undergarments.
Before I opened this business I worked for 34 years in the
textile and apparel industries in Taiwan and the US. In 1999,
I attended a conference on organic agriculture, which motivated
me to learn how to produce an eco-friendly clothing
line with a supply chain free from the dangerous working
conditions caused by pesticides. I quit my job and opened
up a cottage industry, designing and selling simple organic
cotton items from my living room, and my business has been
growing ever since. I believe that we Americans can make
quality clothing locally.
Almost all of our manufacturing is done in the US, including
an eco-dye house in New Hampshire, a knit house and cotton
farm in California, and four factories in the Boston area.
We personally visit and work with all of the factories and
farms that supply us with fabric and do our sewing, and the
workers are paid a fair hourly wage. We use local suppliers
as often as possible, and when we do business overseas, we
personally visit to make sure that they maintain fair labor
practices and safe working conditions.
Investigate any company’s literature and check out their
Web site. Check to see that they provide suffi cient information
about their practices, and that they are transparent
about what they do – and don’t be afraid to call up and ask
questions. If anyone ever wants more information about the
farms and factories with which Cottonfi eld does business,
we are always happy to speak with them.
Yeumei Shon visiting one of the Texas cotton farms that supplies
her garment business with its raw materials.
The green business leaders of our National Green Pages™ use
a range of strategies to ensure that their products come from
sweatshop-free supply chains. Some, like Yeumei Shon of
Cottonfi eld, focus on responsible production here in the US. Others,
like Tamara Stenn of Kusikuy are members of the Fair Trade Federation,
and engage in responsible overseas sourcing designed to support
the producer communities. Still others, like Adam Neiman of No
Sweat Apparel source both domestically and overseas and commit to
a pro-union strategy for protecting the workers in their supply chains.
We asked these three green business leaders to tell us more about
how they are able to bring you sweatshop-free clothing you can feel
good about purchasing. (For expanded conversations with Yeumei,
Tamara, and Adam, visit our online green business interview column
at www.coopamerica.org/greenbusiness/interviews.)
Three
Sweat-free
Superstars
What does your business
do, and what are some of
your popular products?
How did you become
interested in the garment
business, and in producing
sweatshop-free?
What can you tell us
about your strategies for
keeping sweatshops out of
your supply chain?
What advice can you give
our readers for making
sure their purchases
support sweatshop-free
supply chains?
m designates member of Co-op America’s Green Business Network™ Co-op America’s GUIDE TO ENDING SWEATSHOPS 17
Tamara: Kusikuy works with self-managed knitting groups
in the Andes mountains that enable participants to work
within their indigenous culture. We travel to remote villages
to provide work in these rural settings, creating an important
source of income in some of the Andes’ poorest regions. Our
most popular products are our kids hoodies – a product co-designed
by me and our wonderfully talented knitters.
I was living in Bolivia as a rural journalist and business developer
with the US Peace Corps. I met many rural knitting
groups and was impressed by their talent and the alpaca fi ber,
and surprised at their lack of market access. When I returned
to the US to attend school in Vermont, I started Kusikuy,
strategizing that Vermont is cold and people would like alpaca
sweaters. My knitters were excited to have regular work and
have benefi tted tremendously over the years.
Kusikuy has been a member of the Fair Trade Federation
since 2001. We personally know and regularly visit the our
producer groups, forming strong friendships with these
wonderfully talented people. We support them in their development
both professionally and personally and proudly
comply with all Fair Trade criteria. Kusikuy hand knitters
are paid triple the minimum wage for their area and hand
loomers are paid double minimum wage.
It’s important to ask a company probing questions about
their fi ber sourcing, production, and all aspects of their
supply chain. Find out if the company has ever visited the
production facilities they work with, the relationships they
have with producers, and so on. You can ask for photographs
or stories, and companies that are already doing
the right thing will be happy to share. Kusikuy takes full
responsibility for all aspects of production from the sourcing
and development of raw material to the fi nished product.
Adam: No Sweat Apparel produces union-made clothing
and sneakers in the US, Canada, and the developing world.
We believe that worker empowerment is the only historically
proven solution to sweatshops. Our chuck-style canvas/
hemp sneaker was our fi rst big product, back in 2004. The
big product right now is our new line of organic T-shirts
from a Palestinian-owned, unionized factory in Bethlehem.
I was a slate roofi ng contractor before I opened No Sweat,
and I discovered that if I treated my customers and
my workers the way I wanted to be treated, everybody
wanted to come back and do business again the next day.
I suspected this simple ethical proposition could have
broader applications, and I started No Sweat to prove it.
When workers have the power to resist exploitation, they
usually do. That’s why the fi rst thing we look for is a collective
bargaining agreement and a grievance process. Then
we look at the factory, meet with the union and the workers,
occasionally in their own homes to get a real sense of
what kind of a living the living wage provides. No Sweat’s
union seamstresses typically earn 50-100 percent above the
local minimum wage. All have health care and at least 14
paid holidays.
Look for the union label! If workers have no grievance
process that protects them, there’s really no telling what’s
going on in their factory. Even when all other conditions
are very good, young seamstresses from rural areas are
often subjected to sexual coercion and abuse that is nearly
impossible to resist. Also, look at the company Web site. If
the sources aren’t listed, that’s not a good indicator.
Adam Neiman receives a shipment of organic cotton T-shirts, produced
at a Palestinian-owned sweat-free factory in Bethlehem, West Bank.
Tamara Stenn in Peru with the knitters (and alpacas) who make
Kusikuy sweaters.
18 Co-op America’s GUIDE TO ENDING SWEATSHOPS www.coopamerica.org
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is a sweatshop and how bad is the problem?
A. The US Department of Labor defi nes a sweatshop
as any factory that violates two or more labor laws,
such as those pertaining to wages and benefi ts, working
hours, and child labor. Anti-sweatshop advocates
go further to say that beyond following the letter of the
law (which can be very weak in many countries that
attract sweatshops), a factory pay a living wage in safe
working conditions, enforce reasonable work hours,
provide for sick leave and maternity leave, and allow
workers to organize to avoid being labeled a sweatshop.
Because no single defi nition exists (and because
sweatshops don’t want to be uncovered), it’s diffi cult
to assess the worldwide scope of the problem. Compounding
this diffi culty is the “race to the bottom,”
which means that companies don’t always let their
sweatshop factories stay in one place, if they can shift
their manufacturing to ever-cheaper and less-regulated
locations. For example, the number of sweatshops in
Mexico soared in the 1990s after NAFTA enticed companies
to close their US operations and move south. As
global manufacturing costs continued to shift, many
companies then moved their operations from Mexico
to even more attractive Asian countries. And more
recently still, after the US-Jordan Free Trade agreement
went into effect in 2000, the number of sweatshops in
that country exploded as well. Between 2000 and 2005,
apparel exports from Jordan to the US soared 2000
percent, often due to the round-the-clock labor of guest
workers from poor Asian countries who were following
the jobs as they moved. (Read about sweatshop abuses
perpetrated in Jordan by Wal-Mart-producing factories
and others on page 14.)
Q: But if companies have to cut costs to stay
competitive, aren’t sweatshops inevitable?
A: No. Low prices are only one of many factors consumers
take into account when they shop, and most consumers
don’t willingly purchase goods made in sweatshops.
Reporting for Dollars and Sense magazine in 2006,
sweatshop expert John Miller (who teaches a class on
sweatshops at Wheaton College) explained how paying
decent wages to workers at the beginning of the supply
chain has little effect on a company’s competiveness. “In
Mexico’s apparel industry, economists from the Political
Economy Research Institute found that doubling the
pay of nonsupervisory workers would add just $1.80 to
the cost of a $100 men’s sports jacket,” explained Miller.
“And a recent survey by the National Bureau of Economic
Research Found that US consumers would be willing
to pay $115 for the same jacket if they knew it had not
been made under sweatshop conditions.”
Living wages and reasonable working hours would not
threaten companies’ overall profi tability. Noone should
have to work 17-hour days just so Americans can save a
few dollars on clothes.
Q: Doesn’t low-wage sweatshop employment
help alleviate poverty; aren’t sweatshops a necessary
step on the road to economic development?
A: No. Sweatshop workers are trapped in a cycle of exploitation
that rarely improves their economic situation.
“In many cases, countries’ minimum wages are insuffi
cient to climb out of poverty,” says Todd Larsen, Co-op
America’s Corporate Social Responsibility Program Director.
“What’s more, sweatshop watchdog groups continually
fi nd factories that pay illegal wages, lower even than
the minimum.”
Consider the example cited in a 2003 National Labor
Committee report on a Honduran worker sewing clothing
for Wal-Mart at a rate of 43 cents an hour. After spending
money on daily meals and transportation to work, the average
worker is left with around 80 cents per day for rent,
bills, child care, school costs, medicines, emergencies, and
other expenses.
If sweatshops were a necessary step toward economic
development, they would not exist in the world’s most
delevoped economies, yet sweatshops continue to be
Why are there sweatshops?
SWEATSHOPS ARE NOT INVETIVABLE. THEY ARE A SYMPTOM OF A GLOBAL
ECONOMY THAT ALLOWS SOME PEOPLE AND CORPORATIONS TO EXPLOIT
OTHERS IN THE PURSUIT OF PROFITS. SWEATSHOPS EXIST BECAUSE OF:
Corporate greed and competition for the lowest price...
In a globalized economy, it’s more cost-effective for corporations
to subcontract their manufacturing to suppliers who produce goods
cheaply. By minimizing worker salaries and benefi ts, skimping on
factory and dormitory standards, and demanding high levels of productivity
(long hours and big quotas) from their workers, subcontractors
can attract business with an attractive low price that masks
the human cost to the workers on the factory fl oor. By focusing on
its bottom line and outsourcing responsibility, the corporation can
turn a blind eye to problems at the beginning of its supply chain.
...aided by trade policies that favor corporations...
World governments and international trade agencies like the World
Trade Organization and the World Bank have elevated the rights
and liberty of corporations above those of individuals and nations.
International trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA do not
have enough built-in protections for workers and the environment.
These agreements facilitate the “race to the bottom” by giving
corporations greater freedom to shop for the weakest labor and
environmental laws they can fi nd.
...and consumers who can’t see the problem.
Ultimately, sweatshops exist because the human links of the supply
chain are hidden from us when we shop. If working conditions at
producer factories were visible to consumers at the point of
purchase, it would be harder to convince shoppers that cheaper
goods are worth the price of worker abuse.
m designates member of Co-op America’s Green Business Network™ Co-op America’s GUIDE TO ENDING SWEATSHOPS 19
uncovered even in the United States. For example, PBS
premiered the fi lm “Made in LA” in the fall of 2007, documenting
recent sweatshop abuses in Southern California.
Q: Isn’t it time-consuming and expensive for
corporations to track their goods’ origins?
A: No, actually most corporations already track their
goods to the subcontractor or factory level in order to
monitor the quality of their products.
“In competitive industries like the apparel industry, all
companies have quality control,” says Nikki Bas, executive
director of Sweatshop Watch. “If companies are able to
send representatives to inspect the quality of a garment,
they can inspect the quality of their factories as well.”
Q: Do some companies track their goods to
keep sweatshop labor out of their supply chains,
and mark their products with a special label?
A: Unfortunately, no overarching “sweatshop-free” label
exists, though a union label is a good indicator that at a
minimum workers are free to organize and have a voice.
In addition, since the mid-1990s, a number of “social
auditing” organizations have emerged, and companies
may now coordinate with one to inspect their factories for
sweatshop abuses, to greater or lesser degrees of success.
These organizations operate under a number of different
structures. For example, Veritém (www.verite.org),
operates as a nonprofi t organization, inspecting factories
on behalf of their client companies, which pay Verité a
fee to perform audits and help facilitate follow-up correction
programs for violations. (Verité does not make its
fi ndings public because conditions can change so quickly
in faraway factories.)
Another example, Worldwide Responsible Apparel
Production (WRAP, www.wrapapparel.org), operates as
a 501(c)6 corporation, and makes its list of inspected and
certifi ed factories available on its Web site, searchable by
country, as a resource for companies in search of factories.
Established by the American Apparel and Footwear
Association, WRAP has come under fi re from anti-sweatshop
organizations as having weak codes of conduct and
operating too closely with the apparel industry.
Similarly, the Fair Labor Association (www.fairlabor.
org), which contracts with specifi c companies to perform
inspections, has fallen out of favor with many activists over
concerns about poor enforcement and corporate infl uence.
Whichever monitoring organization a company might
use (and there are many more), the bottom-line concern
among anti-sweatshop activists lies in the lack of transparency
to the consumer of the fi ndings, as well as the
inability of inspectors to stay aware of factory conditions
at all times. Instances of factories improving their conditions
specifi cally for inspections are well-documented,
and critics further charge that monitoring organizations
lengthen the supply chain, relieving companies of their
responsibility to vouch personally for the conditions of
their factories.
(For stories about companies that keep a short supply
chain and stay in constant personal contact with their
producers, read our interviews with members of Co-op
America’s Green Business Network™ on p. 16)
Q. If something is made in the USA does that
automatically mean it is sweatshop-free?
A: No. In general, countries with strong labor laws (not
just the US, but several European countries, Cambodia,
and others) may produce fewer sweatshop abuses than
countries with weaker or non-existent laws, but no one
country is automatically sweatshop-free. Not only have
grievous sweatshop abuses been uncovered in mainland
US factories, but also factories operating in US territories
(where sweatshop abuses have been well-documented
for many years) may also use the “made in the USA”
label, despite being exempt from certain US labor laws.
For example, for many years garment workers in Saipan,
in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands
(CNMI) have been exploited under the islands’ exemption
to US labor laws. Efforts to bring CNMI under US
law have long been stymied by lobbyists and lawmakers
sympathetic with exploitative garment businessess,
though concerned legislators are currently working to in
Congress to strengthen CNMI labor law.
To learn more, you can read a blog maintained by
CNMI garment workers themselves at unheardnomore.
blogspot.com. Co-op America’s own publications director
became deeply interested in the CNMI situation
while working on a previous edition of this sweatshop
guide; you can get excellent background on CNMI from
his personal blog at dengre.dailykos.com.
What can we do about sweatshops?
EACH CONTRIBUTOR TO THE SWEATSHOP PROBLEM HAS A ROLE TO PLAY IN
THE SOLUTION. WORKING TOGETHER, RESPONSIBLE BUSINESSES, PROGRESSIVE
GOVERNMENT POLICIES, WORKERS, AND CONSUMERS CAN TRANSFORM
SWEATSHOPS INTO HEALTHY WORKPLACES.
Businesses must be responsible for their supply chains...
The greenest businesses already do a good job of tracking their
supply chain, and of keeping it short, manageable, and transparent.
Other businesses need a push. Consumers and shareholders can
demand better by writing letters and supporting anti-sweatshop
shareholder resolutions. When companies see consumers choosing
to shop where they know workers aren’t exploited, it catalyzes the
whole system to improve.
...while our laws must protect worker rights...
International trade agreements must protect basic worker rights to
fair wages, reasonable working hours, and the ability to organize.
As a concerned citizen, you can raise your voice to oppose unfair
trade governmental trade policies, you can work to pass sweat-free
legislation in your own community, and you can contact your congressional
representative in support of anti-sweatshop legislation
pending at the press time of this guide.
...and consumers must be responsible for their choices.
If the CEO of a corporation won’t take a stand for fair working
conditions, and the subcontractor won’t, and the factory boss won’t
(in short, if all the links of the supply chain abdicate responsibility for
worker rights), then it’s up to the last link in the chain -- the consumer
-- to take a stand. You can vote with your dollars to reward the best
companies, avoid the worst, and send a clear message about what you
expect from the supply chain.
20 Co-op America’s GUIDE TO ENDING SWEATSHOPS www.coopamerica.org
Acknowledgements
Co-op America wishes to thank the many responsible
members of our Green Business Network™ who helped
us with this guide. You’ve seen the businesses listed
below mentioned in these pages, and you can fi nd many, many
more responsible companies inside our National Green Pages™
(free with Co-op America membership), or online at
www.greenpages.org.
A Greater Gift
800/423-0071• www.agreatergift.org
Fairly traded home decor, jewelry, and more
from artisans and farmers around the world.
Bamboosa
800/673-8461• www.bamboosa.com
Makes bamboo fi ber clothing and baby products
that are sweatshop-free and American-made.
BaaBaa Zuzu
231/256-7176 • www.baabaazuzu.com
Jackets, mittens, hats, scarves and bags: one-of-a-kind
and made in the USA from reclaimed woolens.
BTC Elements
(888)395-2135 • wwwbtcelements.com
Offers earth-friendly and socially conscious
apparel, accessories, beauty, and baby clothes.
Chapter One Organics
773/513-9203 • www.chapteroneorganics.com
Uses organic fabrics sewn in the US to make
stylish, fun, and practical baby and toddler clothing.
Certifi ed Jean Co.
206/286-9685 • www.certifi edjean.com
Jeans for men and women, made from organic
cotton: grown, milled, and made in the USA.
Cottonfi eld
888/954-1551• www.cottonfi eldusa.com
Organic cotton and hemp clothing including
sweaters and underwear for men and women.
Decent Exposures
800/505-4949 • www.decentexposures.com
Shirts, leggings, skirts, bathing suits, and over 200
sizes of organic cotton bras made in the USA.
Dreams on Looms
408/716-5182 • www.dreamsonlooms.com
Collection of apparel and accessories handwoven
by tribal women from northeast India.
Earth Creations
800/792-9868 • www.earthcreations.net
Clothing in organic cotton, hemp, tencel, and
bamboo blends; dyed with natural clay dyes.
Ecolution
800/973-4367 • www.ecolution.com
Direct Romanian sweat-free manufacturer of
hemp products: hats, bags, apparel, fabric, more.
Ecoganik
626/443-3500 • www.ecoganik.com
Private label sweat-free organic fashion for men,
women, and kids: career and casual wear and more.
Esperanza Threads
800/397-0045 • www.esperanzathreads.com
Organic fi ber clothing made under fair
conditions in Cleveland, Ohio.
Equita
412/353-0109 • www.shopequita.com
Fair Trade, organic and green essentials including:
apparel, jewelry, handbags, and baby clothing.
Fair Industry
609/240-7015 • www.fairindustry.com
Fairly traded women’s clothing and jewelry;
modern design combined with traditional skills.
Global Exchange
800/505-4410 • store.gxonlinestore.org
Not-for-profi t, non-exploitative online store
supporting artisan cooperatives in 40 countries.
Global Mamas
800/338-3032 • www.globalmamas.org
Clothing and jewelry handmade by women’s
cooperatives in Africa.
Greater Goods
800/535-8039 • www.greatergoodsonline.com
Fair Trade hats, natural fi ber clothing, jewelry,
gifts and more.
Justice Clothing
207/941-9912 • www.justiceclothing.com
Men’s and women’s union-made-in-the-USA
clothing, coats, underwear, socks, ties, and more.
Kusikuy
866/KUSIKUY • www.kusikuy.com
Fair Trade llama and alpaca blend knits. Ponchos,
sweaters, hats, mittens, and scarves.
Maggie’s Organics
800/609-8593 • www.organicclothes.com
Sweat-free clothing including T-shirts, camisoles,
tops, and tights made with organic cotton.
Marigold Fair Trade • 888/205-1697
www.marigoldfairtradeclothing.com
Fair Trade clothing and household items from a
women’s cooperative in India.
Natural Beginnings
877/363-7552 • www.naturalbeginnings.biz
Organic and natural sweat-free products for
babies and their moms.
No Sweat Apparel
877/992-7827 • www.nosweatapparel.com
Union-made, sweatshopo-free sneakers and
clothing for men, women, and children.
North Star Toys
800/737-0112 • www.northstartoys.com
Creative, nontoxic, nonviolent wooden toys
made by a family business.
Rugmark
866/RUGMARK • www.rugmark.org
Working to end child labor in the rug industry,
and offer education to former child weavers.
Splaff
619/221-9199 • www.splaff.com
Sandals, bags, and belts handcrafted from used
tires, hemp, and recycled materials.
Ten Thousand Villages
407/644-8464 • www.tenthousandvillages.com
Provides vital, fair income to third world artisans
by marketing their handicrafts in North America.
Traditions Fair Trade
360/705-2819 • www.traditionsfairtrade.com
Promotes Fair Trade relationships with artisans
around the world; offers sweat-free sneakers.
T.S. Designs
336/229-6426 • www.tsdesigns.com
Full-service apparel domestic manufacturing and
screenprinting company based in North Carolina.
Under the Nile
800/710-1264 • www.underthenile.com
Children’s apparel, diapers, bedding, blankets,
and more, made fairly in Egypt.
World of Good
510/528-8400 • www.worldogood.com
Fair Trade apparel, scarves, jewelry, housewares,
and gifts from around the world.
m designates member of Co-op America’s Green Business Network™ Co-op America’s GUIDE TO ENDING SWEATSHOPS 21
Resources for Stopping Sweatshops
Co-op America — Co-op America harnesses the economic power of consumers, investors,
and businesses working together to build a more just and sustainable world. Our sweatshop
program educates consumers about the problem of labor exploitation in the global supply
chain, our ResponsibleShopper.org Web site tracks the social and environmental records of
major corporations, and our Green Busienss Network™ supports socially and evnironmentally
responsible businesses. (Find sweat-free clothing from our business network members at www.greenpages.org)
To join Co-op America and receive our publications by mail (including our National Green Pages™, quarterly magazine,
and bi-monthly newsletter), visit www.coopamerica.org or call 800/58-GREEN. To subscribe to our free
e-newsletter, visit www.coopamerica.org/signup.
BehindtheLabel.org — A multimedia news Web site, BehindtheLabel.org covers the stories of people
fi ghting for their rights within global clothing industry. BehindTheLabel.org is an initiative of UNITE
HERE (the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees and Hotel/Restaurant Employees), designed
to share stories of workers around the world who make our clothes, and to educate the public about
international campaigns where workers are struggling to correct injustices in their workplaces.
Fair Trade Federation — The Fair Trade Federation (FTF) is an association of businesses and organizations
that are fully committed to Fair Trade. FTF seeks to alleviate global poverty through the promotion of
trading practices based on principles of social and economic justice. FTF members link low-income producers
with consumer markets, and by adhering to social and environmental criteria, members foster a more
equitable and sustainable system of trade that benefi ts people and their
communities. Find businesses at www.fairtradefederation.org.
Global Exchange — Global Exchange is a membership-based international human rights
organization dedicated to promoting social, environmental, and economic justice around the
world. Global Exchange fosters people-to-people ties through its programs such as “reality tours” (educational travel
designed to positively affect global affairs) and its online Fair Trade store at store.gxonline.com, where you can fi nd
sweatshop-free products.
International Labor Rights Forum — The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) is an advocacy organization
dedicated to achieving just and humane treatment for workers worldwide. ILRF projects include
corporate campaigns to end child labor globally, campaigns to end sexual harrassment in the workplace,
advocating for labor rights in US trade policy, and collaboration with union and activist groups to end
violence against union leaders. Learn more at www.laborrights.org.
National Labor Committee — The mission of the National Labor Committee (NLC) is to help defend the human rights
of workers in the global economy. The NLC investigates and exposes human and labor rights abuses committed by US
companies producing goods in the developing world. NLC makes its fi ndings public on its Web site, www.nlcnet.org,
and runs campaigns that empower US citizens to support workers defending their rights around the world.
SweatFree Communities — SweatFree Communities coordinates a national network of
grassroots campaigns promoting humane working conditions in apparel and other laborintensive
global industries by convincing both public and religious institutions to adopt
sweatshop-free purchasing policies. Using institutional purchasing as a lever for worker justice, ordinary people can
create a just global economy through local action. Learn more at www.sweatfree.org and fi nd a consumer guide (a
joint project with ILRF and Sweatshop Watch) www.sweatfree.org/shopping.
Sweatshop Watch — Sweatshop Watch works to inform consumers about sweatshop abuses and empower low-wage
workers, with a focus on eliminating sweatshop exploitation in California’s garment industry. www.sweatshopwatch.org.
United Students Against Sweatshops — United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is an international student movement
of campuses and individual students fi ghting for sweatshop-free labor conditions and workers’ rights. USAS’ three
cornerstone campaigns are the Sweat-Free Campus Campaign, the Ethical Contracting Campaign, and the Campus Living
Wage Campaign. www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org
22 Co-op America’s GUIDE TO ENDING SWEATSHOPS www.coopamerica.org
5Ways to Take Action and
End Sweatshops
1. Shift Your Purchasing — Inside, we give you
tips and resources for fi nding quality clothing that
is green, sweatshop-free, Fair Trade, or union-made.
2. Demand Corporate Responsibility — Ask
supply-chain questions when you shop, and visit our
ResponsibleShopper.org for new action campaigns.
3. Organize with Others — Learn about sweatfree-
community and-university campaigns inside.
4. Speak Out — Share this guide with others and
spread the word about sweat-free solutions.
5. Join Co-op America — Get sweatshop-free
resources, and support our programs for greener
businesses and greater corporate responsibility.
Co-op America • 1612 K St. NW, Ste. 600 • Washington, DC 20006 • 800/58-GREEN • www.coopamerica.org