UNITE LAUNCHES PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN FOR "DECENT CLOTHES"
(Label Letter, January-February 1996)
As part of its vigorous campaign against garment sweatshops In the U.S. and elsewhere, the Needletrades & Textile Workers union, UNITE, has launched a nationwide public education campaign centered on a wallet-card that carries the "Consumer Gulde to Decent Clothes."
Pointing out that the "care tag" on clothing "tells you how to treat the garment, but not how the worker who made it was treated," the card lists four questions shoppers should ask retail storc managers when there is no union label on a garment.
The questions ask if the retail company has a code of conduct for all the factories that make the clothes it sells, if the code forbids child labor, protects human rlghts, demands living wages and requires that an independent agency monitor compliance wlth the code.
The education campaign is one of several anti-sweatshop moves on several fronts followlng revelations of the growth in sweatshops and chlld labor in garment making In the U.S. Central Amerlca and elsewhere.
In announclng the "Decent Clothes" campaign In November, UNITE President Jay Mazur Invited consumers to "look at a few labels" in a clothing store.
"You'll find identical itemsÑone made in America, the other in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala or in other countries where workers are paid 50 cents an hour or lessÑall selling for the same price," Mazur said, adding: "The difference is the unconsclonable profit being made from sweatshop labor."
Mazur also commended U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Relch for the "Fair Labor Fashions Trendsetter" 11st he unveiled in December. The list names clothing retallers and msnufacturers - initially 31 later 35-who have pledged to eradicate sweat shops among their suppliers.
The UNITE leader called the list "an important step" and said it was "highly significant" that"some retailers are prepared to accept the responsibility that goes with their power industry".
"Last summer, in ads in the New York Times and Women's Wear Daily, UNITE called for a "Partnership for Responsibility" among retailers, manufacturers, contractors. Iabor, government and consumers to "confront the challenge presented by the return of the sweatshop."
The "Decent Clothes" cards are available for the asking from the UINITE Office of Communications, 1710 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10010-5299.
Consumer guide to decent clothes
Were these clothes made under decent conditions?
The care tag tells you how to treat the garment, but not how the worker who made it was treated. A union label is one way to know. If you don't find one, here are some questions to ask the store manager. UNITE! 1710 Broadway. NYC 10019
Do you know how the workers who made his garment were treated?
Does your store have a code of conduct ror all factories that make the clothes you sell?
Does it forbid child labor & protect human rights? Does it specify living wages? Is the code of conduct posted in every factory?
Is there an independenl monitoring agency to make sure that everybody lives up to the code?
LOOK FOR THE UNION LABEL!
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