No-Sweat Information
Goals
Below are the current goals and objectives of our campaign, categorized by the scope of the objective:
Clubs and Organizations
* Encourage clubs to go sweat free (see sweat-free petition for clubs)
SGA
* Non-binding resolution encouraging clubs to use sweat-free garments.
Campus-wide
* Educate the public (students, faculty, etc) about sweatshop abuses and how to find alternatives to purchasing sweatshop garments.
* Get WPI to join Worker's Rights Consortium (WRC).
* Get WPI to adopt a sweat-free policy
* Bookstore compliance with school-wide policy
Steering Committee
The No Sweat steering committee meets every Thursday at 8:30 PM in the Campus Center. Its members are:
* Jeff DiMaria
* Greg Opperman
* Cody Rank
* Brianna Roy
* Allison Vasallo
* Drew Wilson
* Chloe Wiseman
Sweatshop Facts and Statistics
* The university clothing industry is worth over $3 billion dollars annually. Most of those clothes are manufactured in sweatshops.
* Sweatshop workers earn as little as one half to one fourth of what they need to provide for basic nutrition, shelter, energy, clothing, education, and transportation.
* In order to meet the basic nutritional needs of their families, sweatshop workers spend between 50-75% of their income on food alone.
* Worker wages typically account for 1-1.5% of the final retail cost of a garment. For example, a worker is typically paid 25 cents to make a $20 shirt. If the price were raised to $20.25, the brand could double the worker's salary with no loss of profit.
* Almost 75% of the retail price of a garment is pure profit for the manufacturer and retailer. That means that if the manufacturer absorbed the cost to double a worker's salary (as in the example above), their profit would decrease only to $14.75 instead of $15.
* Nike Chairman Phil Knight makes $14,000 a day; An Indonesian garment worker makes $2.50 a day.
* For less than 1% of Nike's advertising budget, wages could be doubled for all workers making Nike university clothing.
* According to US government data, in the past 10 years the price for cotton-knit shirts paid by US brands to factories has fallen 50%, on average. This drop in price has not been reflected in consumer retail prices.
Get Involved
There are several different ways you can become involved in the No Sweat campaign:
Sign the petition
Support the No Sweat campaign by signing our petition, and urging WPI to go sweat-free.
Tell others about the campaign
You can also help out by telling others about our campaign. Ask your friends and family to stop buying sweatshop goods, and urge them to sign our petition.
Join the campaign
The No Sweat campaign currently needs your help. Become an active part of the campaign today! You can do as much or as little as you have time for, and it's a great way to get involved in the community. E-mail oppy@wpi.edu to find out more. As a volunteer, you can:
* Collect petition signatures
* Help promote events (tabling, leaflets, etc.)
* Educate others about sweatshops and persuade them to go sweat-free
* Become a member of the steering committee
* Participate in direct action
-And more!
If you're interested, please e-mail oppy@wpi.edu for more information, or talk to any member of the No Sweat campaign.
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