Sweatshop activism news 5/24/99
Campaign for Labor Rights
/* ---------- "Sweatshop activism news 5/24/99" ---------- */
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SWEATSHOP ACTIVISM NEWS
posted May 24, 1999
In this alert:
Saipan follow-up to air tonight (Monday, 5-24)
New book: Reclaiming America
Stop Sweatshop News resumes email publication
Guestworker legislation re-appears
Graduation Pledge Alliance
1999 sweatshop activist organizing packet
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SAIPAN FOLLOW-UP TO AIR TONIGHT
ABC's 20/20 will be airing a follow-up investigation of sweatshop
abuses on
Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory
in the Western Pacific, tonight (Monday, May 24) at 10PM Eastern and Pacific
Standard Time, 9PM Central and Mountain time.
Also, according to a wire service report, a Washington-based human rights
group, the Global Survival Network, is releasing a report today based
on its
8-month undercover investigation of abuse of foreign workers on Saipan.
The Gap is one of 17 companies facing lawsuits for their sweatshop
abuses on
Saipan. Protests continue nationally at Gap outlets on the first
Saturday of
each month. For more information, contact Global Exchange at (415) 255-7296,
<juli...@globalexchange.org>.
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NEW BOOK
Reclaiming America:
Nike, Clean Air and the New National Activism
by Randy Shaw, University of California Press, $16.95
For ordering information, call (609) 883-1759.
Reclaiming America is an inspiring account of how activists can link
grassroots organizing to national struggles. Shaw shows how various
campaigns - against sweatshop abuses by corporate giants Nike and
Guess, for
tougher environmental laws and for redirection of Pentagon spending - have
mobilized community organizations and made effective use of the media and
the Internet. The book provides an in-depth analysis of the campaign
strategy and tactics used by groups like Campaign for Labor Rights in the
struggle against sweatshop abuses. This is a nuts-and-bolts book about how
social movements are conceived and developed.
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STOP SWEATSHOP NEWS
The Stop Sweatshops News is once again available weekly via email. To sign
up, go to www.uniteunion.org, click on Stop Sweatshops News, and go to the
bottom of the page. This email publication is a service of UNITE (Union of
Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees).
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GUESTWORKER LEGISLATION RE-APPEARS
The Senate immigration subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Spencer Abraham, who
supported the growers' guestworker legislation last year, was scheduled to
hold an oversight hearing on similar legislation this month (May). Such
legislation would bring Mexican workers here temporarily under conditions
making them subject to immediate deportation if they are fired for engaging
in union activities. We will post more on this legislation as we receive
updates from organizations mounting the opposition to it.
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GRADUATION PLEDGE ALLIANCE
In 1987, Humboldt State University (California) initiated the Pledge of
Social and Environmental Responsibility. It states, "I pledge to
explore and
take into account the social and environmental consequences of any job I
consider or any organization for which I work." Since then, dozens of
colleges and universities have adopted the pledge. In 1996, Manchester
College began coordinating the campaign effort. The pledge helps
educate and
motivate students around issues such as sweatshops. Contact Neil
Wollman at
N...@Manchester.edu for an explanatory brochure or further information or
write to GPA, MC Box 135, Manchester College, 604 E. College Avenue, North
Manchester, IN 46962. The pledge campaign has a web site:
<http://www.manchester.edu>. Click on "index," then "Graduation Pledge
Alliance."
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1999 SWEATSHOP ACTIVIST ORGANIZING PACKET
Campaign for Labor Rights has prepared a multi-theme, multi-campaign packet
for local activists who are organizing around sweatshop issues. Updated and
additional materials will be mailed automatically during the year to
everyone who orders the initial installment. The initial packet includes
brochure masters (INS and immigration issues, living wage, What can I buy?),
leaflet masters, masters for consumer cards, masters for sign-on letters,
background information on campaigns (farmworkers, Disney, Nike, Phillips-Van
Heusen, The Gap) and a resource list. Order by email <C...@igc.org> or phone
(541) 344-5410. Include your postal address: Packet is in hard copy. Whole
packets only; it is not practical to break down packets and send selected
pieces. Packet includes a donation form and a return envelope. Suggested
donation: $10.00.