Date of publication: April 21, 2005
Source: Portland Press Herald (ME)
Author: Giselle Goodman, Staff Writer
A Scarborough woman starts a group that urges ethical buying, hoping to someday put foreign sweatshops out of business.
When it comes to buying clothes, Pauline Michaud is one tough customer. She wants a promise that many retailers cannot give her: A guarantee that the clothes on the rack were not made in a sweatshop.
"A lot of people think that as long as the (people who made the clothes) have a job, that's OK," she said. "Well, it isn't enough. The people in these sweatshops don't make enough to live on, they don't even make enough money to buy food for a week."
This is relatively new knowledge for Michaud, 72, who for many years shopped for clothes the way any typical American mother of seven might shop. But in 1998, after watching a program on the deplorable working conditions in the sweatshops of China, Indonesia and other places, she started a chapter of the Clean Clothes Campaign in southern Maine.
The campaign is a national effort that, according to its Web site, www.cleanclothes.org: [1] "Aims to improve working conditions and to empower workers in the global ! garment industry, in order to end the oppression, exploitation and abuse of workers in this industry, most of whom are women."
Here in Maine, there has been an active chapter in Bangor for many years. In late 1998, the group's directors were on a local program talking about their work. Michaud watched with interest and was disturbed when she saw video clips of young children working at sewing machines. It was this quote that set her on fire: "In sweatshops . . . back-to-school clothes for our children are made by children who will never go back to school."
"That's so unfair and so sad," she said. "To me that's the important thing. The parents don't make enough money to support the family, so the children have to go to work. The whole aim behind the Clean Clothes Campaign is to bring fairness to the workplace. The basic fairness they need is to be allowed to have their own associations that could speak for them and fight for them. They are not paid well, the he! alth conditions are bad, they work long hours. They are abused and har assed."
Under the guidance of Bjorn Claeson, from Bangor's Clean Clothes Campaign, Michaud started her own group through her church, St. Maximilian Kolbe in Scarborough. The group meets at the church at 1 p.m. the first Wednesday of every month.
Michaud and her members have played an active part in getting the state to pass a purchasing policy that details rules for ethical buying. They were also the key players in getting Scarborough to pass a similar purchasing policy, under which town departments must have proof that uniforms and sports equipment and such have not been made in sweatshops.
Ron Owens, Scarborough town manager, said before Michaud's efforts he was not fully aware of the impact a town could have on foreign sweatshops. "What she did was to raise everyone's awareness and pique our interest in it," said Owens. "It seemed worthwhile, and it wasn't going to harm us. It may give us a little extra work, but it seemed somewhat appropriate.! It is one of those things we keep at the forefront."
Claeson said the campaign focuses its efforts on institutions like towns, cities and universities, to get them to change their buying habits. There is tremendous impact to be made there, he said, because large institutions have large buying power. The changes in Scarborough's buying policies, he said, would not have happened without Michaud.
"Pauline has been such a steadfast and effective worker in southern Maine," he said. "It doesn't take a huge number of people to make a difference. You need someone who is committed . . . willing to say this is wrong and I am willing to do something about it." Even though Michaud's town is doing its part, she is not ready to rest. The group is looking to its next purchasing policy target: Westbrook. They also continue to do work that is not policy related. Last fall, for example, the group hosted women founders of Cooperativa Maquiladora Mujeres de Nueva V! ida, a clothing manufacturing cooperative near Managua, Nicaragua.
"We hosted them overnight, raised money to assist with tour expenses, introduced them to T-shirt purchasers in Portland, heard the presentation of their story of success, and had an opportunity to purchase their fine-quality products," said Michaud. Despite knowing that her purchasing decisions barely make a dent, Michaud has become committed to buying only clothes that she knows are sweat-free. Not that she shops a lot. She wears her Canadian-made blouse nearly all the time.
Claeson said there is no complete list of sweat-free brands, but he offers suggestions on his Web site, www.behindthelabel [2]. org/campaigns/ sfc.
Michaud, therefore, goes by her own guidelines: If the tag says "made in China," then it might as well say "made in a sweatshop."
"You're buying something that was made possibly by a young person who is deprived of an education, by a young woman who sees no future for herself or by a young man who still can't provide for his famil! y," she said. "Those things are so cruel."
Caption:
Staff photos by John Patriquin
Pauline Michaud leads a meeting of the Clean Clothes Campaign at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Scarborough. The group's next goal is to convince Westbrook to adopt an ethical purchasing policy. They also do non-policy work, such as hosting foreign factory workers. Pauline Michaud of Scarborough created a southern Maine chapter of the Clean Clothes Campaign, an organization dedicated to changing the conditions of sweatshop workers around the world. Her group got Scarborough and the state to pass ethical purchasing policies.
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