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Our Involvement in Sweatshops
"We have advocated for the rights of women, minorities, and the disabled, for the attainment of equal and fair rights for all people. This value should not be applied only to instances in which discrimination and inequality are visible. In fact, the cases that are hidden from the public eye and concealed from judgment by the nature of their oppression require us to seek them out and apply the same measuring stick of equality to them that we apply to all other instances of discrimination.
The sweatshop phenomenon is such a hidden issue—one that exists not only in our own country but throughout the world.
This issue must be addressed because when we buy clothes and goods made in sweatshops, we, too, propagate this injustice instead of helping to eradicate it."
[UAHC "Sweatshop Awareness" guide, page 5]
What RAC and URJ called Our Congregations to do:
“Address these questions…
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.
* Sweatshops thrive when they are hidden. Does your store know how the workers who made this garment were treated?
* Do you have a list of all the factories around the world that make your products? Does it include the wages and working conditions in each factory? Can I see it?
* Does your store guarantee that the workers who made this garment were paid a living wage, enough to support their families?
* Does your store have a Code of Conduct that protects human rights and forbids child labor and unsafe conditions in all the factories that make the clothes you sell? How do you enforce these rules? ” [UAHC "Sweatshop Awareness" guide, page 18]
If URJ calls each Reform Jew to ask these questions before buying a shirt - shouldn't RPB ask these questions before investing our hundreds of millions?
Youth: "Do as we say... not as we do" ?
"Urge the youth group members to find companies that are sweatshop-free instead of hiring the cheapest company to make the T-shirts and gifts distributed at retreats.
Groups should be sure to contact companies that adhere to high labor standards." [p.19]
Reform families: you should do this
"Encourage socially responsible consumerism. Families can do this together. Before shopping for school and camp clothes, families can discuss which stores they will frequent. They can log on to some of the Web sites that provide lists of the greatest offenders and of the stores that are sweatshop-free."
SRI Fund managers can also look at "the greatest offenders" and choose - as any family can - not to do business with them, with RPB money.
The sweatshop phenomenon is such a hidden issue—one that exists not only in our own country but throughout the world.
This issue must be addressed because when we buy clothes and goods made in sweatshops, we, too, propagate this injustice instead of helping to eradicate it."
[UAHC "Sweatshop Awareness" guide, page 5]
What RAC and URJ called Our Congregations to do:
“Address these questions…
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.
* Sweatshops thrive when they are hidden. Does your store know how the workers who made this garment were treated?
* Do you have a list of all the factories around the world that make your products? Does it include the wages and working conditions in each factory? Can I see it?
* Does your store guarantee that the workers who made this garment were paid a living wage, enough to support their families?
* Does your store have a Code of Conduct that protects human rights and forbids child labor and unsafe conditions in all the factories that make the clothes you sell? How do you enforce these rules? ” [UAHC "Sweatshop Awareness" guide, page 18]
If URJ calls each Reform Jew to ask these questions before buying a shirt - shouldn't RPB ask these questions before investing our hundreds of millions?
Youth: "Do as we say... not as we do" ?
"Urge the youth group members to find companies that are sweatshop-free instead of hiring the cheapest company to make the T-shirts and gifts distributed at retreats.
Groups should be sure to contact companies that adhere to high labor standards." [p.19]
Reform families: you should do this
"Encourage socially responsible consumerism. Families can do this together. Before shopping for school and camp clothes, families can discuss which stores they will frequent. They can log on to some of the Web sites that provide lists of the greatest offenders and of the stores that are sweatshop-free."
SRI Fund managers can also look at "the greatest offenders" and choose - as any family can - not to do business with them, with RPB money.