No-Sweat Documents
Organizing Packet (PDF)
Sweat-Free List (PDF)
Organizing Packet (PDF)
Sweat-Free List (PDF)
* What are sweatshops?
* What can I do to help stop sweatshops?
* Aren't sweat free clothes way more expensive?
* I've heard that that all of WPI's products are sweat-free already. Why is there a No-Sweat campaign?
* What is the WRC?
What are sweatshops?
Sweatshops are any workplace (but especially most overseas garment factories) where workers are subjected to brutal conditions, long hours, and human rights abuses for very low pay. In sweatshops, people are forced to work in conditions that are dangerously below safety codes. They must work long hours (much more than the standard American eight hour workday). If they complain, or if their bosses don't think they're working hard enough (usually due to exhaustion and malnutrition), workers are routinely beaten or sexually abused in the worst of these factories. Most sweatshop workers around the world make less than two dollars a day, and some much less. A sweatshop worker can make anywhere from three to twenty five cents for producing a sweater that sells in a campus bookstore for $40. This is less than half of what they need to meet a basic standard of living, much less provide basic healthcare, nutrition, and shelter to a small family.
Many sweatshops trick workers into signing complex contracts that trap them into working in a sweatshop, making barely enough to feed themselves, and then forced to live in a factory dormitory packed with other workers (the typical sweatshop dorm measures 8' x 8' and houses 5 workers). This closely resembles what we would recognize as indentured servitude or slavery. Workers in sweatshops are not allowed to unionize in order to advocate their interests and needs. If they do, their best hopes are to be fired. People who emerge as union leaders are often beaten into submission, or in some cases, executed by death squads hired by factory owners1.
What can I do to help stop sweatshops?
Sweatshops thrive on two things: the ignorance and support of uninformed consumers. If the many consumers were made aware of how sweatshop clothing is manufactured, they'd naturally be appalled. Corporations who use sweatshop labor do whatever they can from allowing this information to come to light. Despite this, cases of repeated sweatshop abuse from many major corporations are well-documented.
You can help shut down sweatshops by boycotting companies who rely on sweatshop labor. Instead, you can use your buying power to support clothing manufacturers who do not use sweatshop labor. Many large companies have made a policy of supporting fair labor and trade. These companies pay their factory workers a livable wage (enough money to afford food, shelter, and basic healthcare) and provide a safe workplace with respect to the worker's basic human rights. Workers in these factories have the power to voice their concerns, and the right to organize in support of their interests. In fact, many of your favorite clothing companies may already be sweat free. To find out if a company is sweat free, consult our list of sweat-free companies.
If you'd like to do more, consider volunteering to help with your local anti-sweatshop movement. Your involvement can range anywhere from educating your friends and families about the issue to running your own local campaign. You can help by signing a petition, writing a letter to your president or board of trustees, or just by talking to your school bookstore manager. If you are a part of an organization or school government, get your organization to adopt a no-sweat pledge, or endorse a campus-wide policy.
Aren't sweat free clothes way more expensive?
The truth is that sweat-free clothes need not be more expensive than regular clothing. About 75% of the cost of a garment is profit for the garment manufacturer, the brand name company, or the store that sells the item. Only 1-1.5% of the cost of the item goes towards the wages of the worker who produced the item. Many companies that produce sweat-free clothing simply absorb the cost of paying their workers more. To them, this means accepting a 73% profit instead of 75%. Other companies simply raise their prices in accord with their labor costs. However, the difference for the consumer is little. Buying a sweat-free t-shirt might mean paying $20.25 instead of $20. The difference may be small to us, but for a garment worker in Malaysia, it may mean the difference between enough food for the entire family and being forced to starve his or her children. For more information, please see our cost analysis of sweat-free clothing.
I've heard that that all of WPI's products are sweat-free already. Why is there a No-Sweat campaign?
Almost all of the clothing sold and distributed by the school is made by the companies who are members of the Fair Labor Association, or FLA. The FLA is an organization dedicated to representing the interests of the world's biggest garment manufacturers, not to representing the interests and safety of workers. The FLA supposedly monitors factories to make sure that the workplaces meet an arbitrary standard of quality. However, these inspections are often spotty and lax, in response to the wishes of the FLA governing bodies (the same companies who abuse sweatshop labor sit on the board of directors of the FLA). Additional inspections from independent groups suggest that FLA factories fall far below international standards for fair labor. Many of the same factories inspected and approved by the FLA have been condemned by others as some of the worst sweatshops imaginable. Asking the FLA to police the actions of major garment manufacturers is like asking the Saddam Hussein to hire his own chemical weapons inspectors instead of allowing the United Nations to carry out an independent investigation. Be wary of FLA companies who claim their clothes are sweat free. There is still a critical need for these companies to allow independent, third-party inspectors to monitor garment factories.
What is the WRC?
The Worker's Rights Consortium, or WRC, is a non-profit interest group that represents over 140 colleges and universities across the United States. Clark University, Harvard, MIT, and more have all adopted sweat-free policies under the guidance of the Worker's Rights Consortium. The Worker Rights Consortium was created by college and university administrations, students and labor rights experts. The WRC's purpose is to assist in the enforcement of manufacturing Codes of Conduct adopted by colleges and universities; these Codes are designed to ensure that factories producing clothing and other goods bearing college and university names respect the basic rights of workers. The WRC helps schools to ensure that their garments are sweat-free. They also advocate for worker's rights, often negotiating for better pay and conditions in sweatshops around the world. The WRC is an independent, non-biased, third-party, unlike the FLA. For more information on the WRC, please visit www.workersrights.org
1: Source - killercoke.org
All other information from United Students Against Sweatshops.
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.
So do two other documents.