Date of publication: April 30, 2005
Source: The Capital-Journal
Author: Cait Purinton
A leader of SweatFree Communities, a national organization based in Florence, Mass., was at Washburn University this week talking to students and faculty about anti-sweat shop initiatives.
" In Topeka, there is interest in this on two levels," said Liana Foxvog, SweatFree Communities national organizer. "At one level, there are student groups and university faculty interested that the clothing Washburn University buys isn't made in sweat shops. They do this by affiliating with the Workers' Rights Consortium."
The consortium is an independent monitor that checks factory conditions and tells companies to improve labor conditions, Foxvog said.
She said that at another level, city officials can tell companies to improve workers' conditions when making bulk orders for police and city employee uniforms.
Garment labels identify where clothing is made and the brand. However the factory information isn't on the label, Foxvog said. She said policies are needed to obtain the factory information, and once the factories' locations are known, anti-sweat leaders can assess the working conditions.
"Finding that information makes a difference in the lives of workers in the factories," Foxvog said. "They experience conditions of forced overtime, women are fired when they get pregnant and the wages are really low."
SweatFree was invited to Washburn by the student organization Progressively Informed Student Society Engaged in Democracy. Club president Meranda Reifschneider said the group sponsored a Week of Sweat to bring awareness to sweat shops through panel discussions, short films, class presentations and protests.
"We're trying to get the university to join the Workers' Rights Consortium, which is a way for colleges and universities to have some power in holding corporations accountable for how they treat their workers," Reifschneider said.
She said the group was hopeful this week's activities got the attention of the university and would encourage cooperation with the student organization.
Foxvog said individuals can help improve sweat shop conditions by looking for "union made" labels and "made in cooperative" labels on clothing.
Local activist Sonny Scroggins, founder of Bias Busters of Kansas, said he became involved in the anti-sweat shop movement last year when introduced to an anti-sweat shop organization from Pennsylvania.