Marchers Demand: "No Sweat" Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the October 16, 1997 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- MARCHERS DEMAND: "NO SWEAT" Labor, Students, Communities in National Actions against Sweatshop Exploitation. By Leslie Feinberg On Oct. 4, thousands of people took part in marches, rallies, picket lines and other actions in 35 cities across the U.S. to protest the super-exploitation of child labor and sweatshop workers by mega-corporations. The "National Day of Conscience to End Sweatshops" kicked off a three-month grassroots organizing drive. The campaign aims to collect 1 million signatures on a petition to be delivered to President Bill Clinton and Congress. The petition demands an end to sweatshops that employ child labor, pay poverty-level wages and bar unionization. More than 100 community, labor and religious groups are organizing the effort. The 13-million-member AFL-CIO has endorsed the campaign. In New York, about 2,000 workers and students-- predominantly Asian and Latino--protested outside the Disney super-store in Times Square. Demonstrators then marched to 32nd Street for a performance by British rock star Billy Bragg--well-known for his pro-labor activism. Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee reported that he had just returned from Haiti, "where subcontractors for Disney are paying 28 cents an hour and workers are living in total misery." Kernaghan said Disney sells 101 Dalmation children's pajamas for $19.99 in its New York store. But, he said, workers earned a piece rate totaling 6 cents for assembling all 11 pieces. Preston Wood reports that in Los Angeles on Oct. 4, hundreds of garment workers and activists marched through the downtown garment district demanding an end to sweatshop abuse in the apparel industry. The event built consciousness about the need for solidarity with sweatshop workers. Protesters called on consumers to boycott Guess? Inc., the region's biggest clothing manufacturer, and a notorious sweatshop employer. Workers at Guess? are in the midst of a union organizing drive. However, Guess? is not the only exploiter. More than 150,000 workers labor in some 5,000 garment shops in Los Angeles' huge apparel industry. Inhuman conditions and brutality are widespread in these shops. Two years ago, when a sweatshop in nearby El Monte was raided, it was discovered that scores of Thai women were being held in indentured servitude without wages or any rights, locked in a garment factory day and night. The Los Angeles action was organized by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees--UNITE. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. Web: http://workers.org) ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytlab-10.12.97-22:23:00-32638