Shop in good conscience

Though you may have paid top dollar for that new spring jacket, it's possible that it was made by a grossly underpaid sweatshop worker. Here's how you can find out… and what you can do about it.

By: Pat Daley

  Ah, spring has sprung and for a lot of us that means ... shopping. It's time to shake out that drab and dusty winter wardrobe and get some new duds.
  But how's the smart shopper to know the conditions under which those new clothes were made? It's a hard issue to ignore for any of us who have been following the local news. As of this writing, Students Against Sweatshops (SAS) are into Day 10 of their occupation of the president's office at the University of Toronto (U of T).
  The students want the university administration to adopt a "Code of Conduct for Trademark Licensees" including a guarantee that workers manufacturing U of T merchandise receive a living wage.
  Studies like a recent one by Marymount University in the U.S. show that most consumers would agree with the students' demands. Three-quarters of people surveyed said they would avoid shopping at stores that sell sweatshop-made clothes while 86% said they would be willing to pay extra to make sure the clothes they buy weren't made in sweatshops.
 

As of this writing, Students Against Sweatshops are into Day 10 of their occupation of the president's office at the U of T

  It used to be easy to do the right thing - a shopper just had to "look for the union label." The garment workers' union - UNITE - has a directory of brand names made in Canada by unionized workers. But these days, those same companies may also sell clothes manufactured elsewhere. That's the reality of the global economy. In most cases, you can't tell by looking at the label where a piece of clothing was made.
  The anti-sweatshop movement is not calling for consumer boycotts - partly for that reason and partly because they don't want to hurt the people who are already working for less than a living wage. (The one exception, says Jonathan Eaton of UNITE Canada, is Burma - or Myanmar - where the democratic opposition is asking people not to do business with their country. It's also a nation where the garment industry is growing rapidly.)
  Instead, the push is for retailers and manufacturers to adopt codes of conduct for their own operations and those of their suppliers. Consumers are being asked to write letters to their favourite stores. It really works. Enough people participated in a Christmas 1998 letter-writing campaign that the federal government formed the Canadian Partnership for Ethical Trading. They are trying - slowly - to develop a Canadian Base Code of Labour Practice.
  In the meantime, go ahead and shop for your new spring wardrobe. Just be sure to take along this list of questions from the Maquila Solidarity Network:

• How does your store guarantee your clothes are produced under humane conditions?

• Can I get a list of the names and addresses of the contractors and subcontractors that produce your clothes?

• Does your company have a code of conduct that protects human rights and prohibits child labour and unsafe working conditions in the factories that make your clothes? Can I have a copy?

• How do you monitor whether your contractors adhere to your code of conduct? What do you do when you discover violations?

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