By Bjorn Claeson and John Wirtz
When you're in L.L.Bean or MVP Sports or, heaven forbid, Wal-Mart, do you glance at the much-advertised names on those jogging shoes, warmup jackets or other garments? Do you ever think about the worker whose labor produced the product you're thinking about buying? As an advocate for social justice, you probably do. And, thanks to a growing international anti-sweatshop movement, more and more individuals - activists as well as non-activists - are checking labels, wondering about the labor behind the product.
But when it comes down to it, what can we tell from a label? What do we actually know about wages, working hours, or the health and safety of workers when a label reads "Made in China," "Made in Indonesia," or "Made in El Salvador"? For that matter, can we assume respect for basic human rights if the label reads "Made in the U.S." or "Made in Canada"?
The truth is that not even a "Made in the U.S" label is a guarantee of decent labor practices. Just because it's a major clothing company retailing in mainstream stores or catalogs is no assurance that its products aren't made under harsh sweatshop conditions. The fact is, the apparel industry hides working conditions behind a wall of secrecy, as firms - often former manufacturers - contract production across the globe. The intent is deception. Consumers are supposed to see the label while being blind to the human misery behind the label.
What can we do? For one thing, when sweatshop workers around the world rise up to demand fair treatment and living wages, we can stand in solidarity with them. Together, we can tell our local stores - and even institutional purchasers such as cities, universities and healthcare facilities - that until some form of ethical purchasing standards are put in place. we no longer wish to participate as consumers in this global economic system.
Joining an ever-expanding international coalition of concerned consumers, labor groups, faith communities, students and others dedicated to ending the scourge of sweatshop and child labor, grassroots organizations here in Maine are raising consciousness and developing practical ways to challenge sweatshop abuses. For some time now, there's been the Bangor Clean Clothes Campaign along with the Southern Maine Coalition to End Sweatshops. In recent months, the movement has gathered further impetus in the southern part of the state with the formation of "Clothes Made with Dignity," a Scarborough-based group.
In common with the other two groups, "Clothes Made with Dignity" works from the moral premise that garments and other merchandise sold in our local stores should be made according to established international criteria for ethical production.
Well established, The Bangor Clean Clothes Campaign has gained agreement from a number of area retailers to develop an inventory of products that meet fair, humane workplace standards. The Campaign publishes the Clean Clothes Shopping Guide which documents Campaign research on garments available in member stores and provides action tools to challenge the most notorious sweatshop abusers.
Of particular note are the Clean Clothes Campaign's informational brochures called "Dignity Dollars" or "currency with a conscience," which offer an easy way to express your concerns to the stores where you shop.
The Bangor Clean Clothes Campaign meets on the first and third Mondays from 6-8 at the office of Peace through Interamerican Community Action (PICA) at 170 Park Street in Bangor. Call Bjorn Claeson at 947-4203 or e-mail him at pica1@hamtel.tds.net for updates on Campaign activities.
Clothes Made with Dignity meets one Monday a month at 7 at St. Maximilian Kolbe's parish hall on Black Point Road in Scarborough. Call Pauline Michaud at 883-0156 for further information.
from Peace Talk, September, 1999Back to Peace Talk Index, September 1999