SweatFree Communities is a national network of local coalitions that campaigns for sweatshop-free purchasing policies on all government levels and in school districts. Such policies require vendors and contractors to comply with local labor laws and disclose the names and locations of their factories, as well as report information about wages and working conditions.
"Often the reality of globalization is that workers are facing horrible abuses of conditions on the job," said Foxvog. "These workers often stand up for their rights and form unions to demand better treatment, but what we find is that management often fires union organizers, and sometimes when many workers organize, the management closes down the factories and ships the production somewhere else."
Sweatshops are pervasive throughout the world. In many of these countries, apparel exports comprise a major part of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Large corporations exploit the high demand for employment and seek out the factories that will offer the lowest labor costs. The factories, or sweatshops, typically pay poverty wages, require extremely long hours and employ children. Sweatshop workers are often subjected to discrimination, harassment and health and safety hazards.
Foxvog cautioned against the "Made in the U.S.A." label as a reliable indicator of sweatshop-free products. For example, Saipan, a U.S. protectorate, is not subject to the same standard of labor regulation practiced in the U.S. Workers in Saipan are imported from Thailand and the Philippines to work under the "Made in the U.S.A." label. Moreover, Foxvog said, in cities such as Los Angeles and New York, immigrant workers are frequently exploited and forced to work overtime.
"Most major brands use sweatshops," said Foxvog. "Unless [the label] says union-made, there is no legal enforcement of ILO (International Labor Organization) labor standards."
Because companies employ workers from as many as thousands of different factories, it is difficult to monitor the working conditions for any one brand. Additionally, retailers often do not disclose their factory locations and move production when workers insist on better conditions.
So far California, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, as well as dozens of cities, counties and school districts have adopted the sweat-free purchasing policies. The current Massachusetts SweatFree Campaign is seeking to get Governor Deval Patrick to sign onto the state and local government Sweatfree Consortium, an initiative proposed by Governor John Baldacci of Maine that aims to get states and cities to collaborate in sweatshop-free purchasing.
Foxvog emphasized that college students can pressure their administrations to ensure that companies licensed to produce school apparel abide by Sweatfree standards. The Designated Suppliers Program (DSP) sets out with that in mind. The DSP is part of the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), an organization that conducts independent investigations of labor conditions. The DSP specifically aims to protect the rights of laborers who produce university logo apparel. Over 150 schools are affiliated with the program.
This workshop is part of an SCSR sweatshop series. Last week, the organization hosted a lecture entitled "Women, Labor and Globalization: Central American Workers Speak Out" and last semester they co-sponsored a lecture by a journalist who writes about globalization and labor rights.
SCSR was founded just last year, and emerged out of separate campaigns regarding Wal-Mart, Coca Cola and the divestment of College funds from companies based in Sudan. "It's an umbrella group for issues concerning labor rights," said co-founder Julian Damashek '09. "Instead of having all of these issue-specific groups, we thought it would be better to have one big broad one with different campaigns."
Said Holly Saltrelli '09 of the workshop, "It was fun and informative. It made me more dedicated to getting Amherst to be WRC- and DSP-affiliated before we graduate."