Sweatshop Information, Reflection and Action Packet

List of Actions To Take on Sweatshops
 

1.	Educate myself on the issue
2.	Visit the websites on sweatshops
3.	Share information on sweatshops with my community, family, ministry, church, school
4.	Plan an evening of education in my community, my church
5.	Use Applying the Pastoral Circle to Sweatshops for personal reflection and/or with a group
6.	Gather a group for prayer and reflection using the ritual in this packet
7.	Look at the labels on my clothes--where are my clothes made? by whom, and under what conditions?
8.	Declare one room of my house a "sweatshop free zone"
9.	Write letters, email or phone companies asking where and under what conditions their products are manufactured
10.	Write letters of praise to companies that are taking actions to guarantee that the goods that they are selling are made under humane conditions
11.	Write a letter about sweatshops to my local paper
12.	Write to lawmakers to express opinions or get more information about pending legislation on sweatshops
13.	Contact advertisers or publications that promote products made in sweatshops
14.	Go to the city council, school board, university and ask them to adopt a policy of not purchasing items made in sweatshops (see United Students Against Sweatshops on list of websites)
15.	Shop with a conscience. Tell storeowners, managers and employees that you not only care about the quality of the product you are purchasing, but also about the quality of the working conditions where it is produced.
16.	Get involved in current campaigns: Wal-Mart--The "People's Right to Know Campaign," is calling upon Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, to make public the list of factories producing its good around the world; to open those factories to monitors; to pay a living wage.   Disney--Co-op America's Disney Action Campaign advocates for the Disney corporation to implement a policy that eliminates sweatshop laborÑmake periodic wage adjustments to workers; provide for independent monitoring of suppliers; provide reports to consumers on progress. (see Disney info and Co-op America in List of Websites and List of Companies)  The Nike Campaign is mobilizing support to raise wages for Nike shoe workers in Indonesia, Vietnam, and China. (see Campaign for Labor Rights in list of websites and addresses of companies)
17.	Teach about sweatshops in schools. Children buy and/or influence billions of dollars of buying decisions on shoes, clothing, sports equipment and toys. Look over and consider using one of the curricula listed in the resources section. Stop Sweatshops is available online.
18.	Stockholders own the company. If you hold enough shares of the company you can file a shareholder resolution asking your company to be fair to its workers and not to continue producing goods in sweatshops. In any event, each shareholder has the opportunity to vote on resolutions at the time of the company's annual meeting. Religious shareholders are filing resolutions to stop sweatshops (see the shareholder resolution filed with Wal-Mart in this packet). Watch for these resolutions when you vote your proxies.
19.	Buy products not made in sweatshops: Item labels saying they were made by union labor. Contact: www.unionlabel.org Global Exchange--ethnic crafts & foods made by artisans living in some of the most impoverished areas of the world. Contact: 415-282-4438 or www.globalexchange.org Work of Human Hands--sponsored by Catholic Relief Services, provides international handcrafts for parish festivals, Christmas bazaars and other community events. Contacts: 1-800-685-7572 or www.catholicrelief.org/what/us_programs/work/index.cfm Alternative Gifts International--interfaith non-profit agency that provides gifts that empower people in crisis and help protect the environment. Contact: 1-800-842-2243 or www.altgifts.org Mayan Hands--fair trade enterprise working with Maya artisans and Pastors for Peace to make available high quality products for sales at events. Contact: 518-489-4593

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