No Sweat - Alberta Views

FEATURE Essay
No Sweat
A father and daughter venture to El Salvador,
where a co-op is struggling to break the sweatshop hegemony.
By Robyn Taylor-Neu & Dean Neu
Veronica, a member of the Co-operative of Single Mothers, says co-op work means “helping out with all the tasks.”
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No Sweat
D
Despite the prevalence of sweatshops and poor labour conditions
in Third World countries, some workers are fighting back and
establishing their own alternatives. In August 2006, Dean Neu
travelled with his daughter, Robyn Taylor-Neu, to El Salvador
to visit a co-op that makes clothing. They wrote journals about
their experiences, then wove them together to create this father/
daughter dialogue.
p h otos by D ean N e u
Robyn: Ciudad Futura is a new city on the outskirts of San
Salvador, intended as a home for maquila workers. Needless
to say, it isn’t most people’s ideal vacation spot. So what were
we doing here in the summer holidays? My father—a business
professor/activist (if there is such a beast)—and his friends are
visiting the Cooperativa de Madres Solteras (Co-operative of
Single Mothers). On the way to Ciudad Futura, I hear snatches
of a conversation in which the disease “dengue” figures
prominently. Annoyed at being out of the loop, I ask: What
is dengue? When the response comes, I think they’re pulling
my leg. Apparently, the disease, transmitted by mosquitoes,
does something to your blood, causing your cells to collapse,
resulting in blood streaming from your eyes, nose and ears,
and every other opening. Sounds like science fiction, no? After
being assured that they were definitely not joking, I fly into a
panic. When we leave the car, I practically hose myself down
with bug spray, pulling my sweatshirt sleeves down over my
hands, and attempt to cover every square inch of skin. We’ve
been told that dengue is common in this area.
Dean: It is raining in Ciudad Futura. We are sitting in the tiny
house of one of the members of the co-operative, talking about
what it means to be a co-operative. There are about 10 adults
crowded into the tiny space, as well as children of various ages
playing, talking and crying. The lights flicker intermittently
as the rain continues—after all, August is the rainy season in
El Salvador, bringing with it humidity, power disruptions and
the ever-present risk of dengue. Indeed, one of the themes
of conversation is that one of the neighborhood children
recently contracted hemorrhagic dengue and, miraculously,
survived. Marta starts the conversation, stating emphatically
that “a co-operative means working together and helping each
other out.” The other women nod in agreement. When Marta
pauses, Veronica takes the opportunity to add that working
co-operatively means “helping out with all the tasks, such as
putting the shirts in plastic bags and packing the boxes for
shipments.” The women smile and laugh, recounting how
they stayed up all night making sure one of their first orders
was ready to be packed onto the plane the following morning.
When the laughter dies away, Marta concludes that “we need
to work co-operatively because there is no other way.”
Robyn: I am sitting in a small plastic chair in the cramped
living room in Veronica’s house. As the others talk in rapidfire Spanish, my mind drifts to other topics. I recall that when
we’d first arrived a small group of children had been kicking
around a deflated soccer ball. And how Oscar, a member of
our party, immediately joined in. Being able to play soccer in
this country gains you the respect of the locals. Funny how
different cultures can be. The people of Ciudad Futura, like the
rest of the developing world, live with the reality of unstable
employment, health problems like dengue and the constant
preoccupation with whether there will be enough food to eat
tomorrow.
Dean: Why do people have to live with these uncertainties?
One reason is that our economic system rewards the lowestcost producers. In 1974, the Multi-fiber Agreement set international tariffs establishing how much textiles and clothing
a producing country could export to a consumer country.
Countries like Bangladesh or El Salvador could export a set
number of T-shirts or trousers to the US or European market;
retailers were forced to outsource their operations to as
many as 50 countries to guarantee a steady supply. With the
termination of this agreement in 2005, brands could relocate
production to lowest-cost producers. These changes have
encouraged centralization of production in the very countries
that have the fewest protections for workers. In El Salvador, the
tariff changes have led to the closure of hundreds of maquilas,
throwing thousands of people out of work. And while the
conditions of work were never great—Veronica recounts how
she used to earn $5 per day (and spend $2 and 15 hours every
day commuting and working)—at least there were jobs. What
a different world from Canada.
Robyn: On our return to Calgary, I noticed how different the
values and fears of the average Canadian are from those of the
maquila workers. My terror of spiders seems petty in comparison to their fears about not having enough food to eat. What
my schoolmates and I might spend on lunch is more than a
day’s wage for them. Isn’t it absurd that we can so proudly wear
brand-name clothing without a thought toward where it came
from and who made it? What is it that causes this lemminglike behaviour? The answer lies in the nature of the brand.
With increasing industrialization, the production of goods
moved from the community to the factory. However, people
weren’t prepared to trust goods from factories far away.
Marketers introduced characters such as Aunt Jemima and
Tony the Tiger so people could relate to these characters the
same way they would relate to a local shopkeeper—and people
would trust the products because they trusted the characters.
Over time these brands have become an end in themselves.
People buy products to consume the imaginary attributes
associated with them, to say who they are and who they want
to be. No longer are we buying a T-shirt that fits well and has
good quality, but rather we are buying an image, a feeling, a set
of emotions.
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FEATURE Essay
A member of the Co-operative of Single Mothers with two of her children. The co-op’s slogan is “Clothing with a Conscience.”
Dean: It seems that we can’t escape these conflicting realities.
We visit our local market, which sells products by local
artisans, and stop at a booth selling screen-printed shirts. The
artist tells us she uses Gildan shirts because they are certified
as “sweatshop-free” by the Fair Labor Association. But what do
we mean by “sweatshop-free”? Gildan tried to shut down one of
its plants in Honduras when the workers attempted to organize
a union. After much international pressure, it agreed to rehire
the fired workers—but not before redistributing them among
their other plants, perhaps to ensure they would not organize.
How can such a producer receive the endorsement of the Fair
Labor Association? International monitoring organizations
have emerged to reassure consumers that the brands they
purchase aren’t tainted with the sweat of the children and
other workers that have produced them. Throughout the late
nineties this issue became increasingly visible. Companies
such as Wal-Mart, Nike and Gap were pressured to change their
labour practices. Multi-stakeholder monitoring organizations
emerged—including the Fair Labor Association, Worldwide
Responsible Apparel Production, and Social Accountability
International—that attempt to monitor the maquilas. However, when one reads the fine print, one realizes that more is
concealed than revealed by these organizations.
Robyn: On the ride home from the market, my experiences in
Ciudad Futura and Canada suddenly come together. In that
moment, I understand why the co-operative sees fair trade as
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one of their few opportunities to escape the uncertainty and
drudgery of maquila work. Furthermore, I see why the cooperative’s slogans are “Clothes with a History” and “Clothing
with a Conscience”. This logo opposes traditional brands that
sell images and emotions while exploiting the workers who
make the products. It is a reminder that these individuals
should not remain nameless and faceless.
Dean: I hope that Robyn and the women are right and that it is
possible to survive and succeed in the global economy through
optimism, hard work and co-operation. At the same time, I
am reminded of the ocean in El Salvador and how dangerous
it is to swim during the rainy season. The global economy for
clothing is like the ocean: its currents and undertows can suck
the unwary in. But, like Robyn, I understand the importance
of actively swimming against the current. It isn’t easy for the
women’s co-operative to survive and prosper in the global
economy, but they are trying. Over the course of the last year,
they have shown themselves that they can produce quality,
stylish clothing products, and that there are consumers who
value their toil. But they need our hard work and co-operation.
We need to buy fairly traded products and to ask retailers why
they aren’t selling such products. For those of us who dream of
a better world, we do not have any other choice. #
Robyn Taylor-Neu is a Grade 10 student. Dean Neu is the director
for public interest accounting at the University of Calgary.
Citizen action
Promoting Fair Labour
5 Ways to Buy Better.
1. Be Aware
3 Did you know that approximately
6,000 Toronto women sew garments for
$3 an hour? That wristbands supporting
the “Make Poverty History” campaign were discovered to
have been made in a factory
in China that violated
labour standards? You
might be familiar by now
with the basics of sweatshop
data (a great many Third World
workers toil for low wages in terrible
conditions, and the goods they make
end up in megastores here), but a lot of
the info out there might surprise even
the most conscientious consumer. A
good place to look is www.verite.org,
the website of an NGO devoted to
exposing and improving the realities of
global labour. Another online source
of information is www.corpwatch.org,
which keeps tabs on the doings of specific companies, while the International
Co-operative Alliance (www.ica.coop)
represents and reports on co-ops around
the world. The Maquila Solidarity Network (www.maquilasolidarity.org) is
a good site for labour news, including
the story of the 6,000 Toronto “homeworkers.”
p h oto f r o m isto c k p h oto
2. Buy Selectively
3 Co-op America reports that many
major corporations subcontract their
manufacturing so they can wash their
hands of responsibility for working conditions in factories. Then they gobble
up market share thanks to the cut-rate
prices they can afford to charge. It’s tough
to say no to lower prices, but we can
buck this trend by paying a bit more and
shopping at locally owned businesses.
On the other hand, “international” does
not necessarily mean “bad”—there are
leave behind, simply by purchasing
less. And by purchasing goods that
aren’t so swaddled in plastic. And
by recycling the materials you
do end up casting aside. In other
words enact the oft-invoked three
R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle.
4. Invest Ethically
importers
in Canada that
follow strict principles. One example is
Ten Thousand Villages, an international
fair trade organization with stores in
Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge. Its
products range from furniture to musical
instruments and are made by artisans
in 35 developing countries, 70 per cent
of whom are women. The company
seeks artisans who are unemployed or
underemployed. Artisan groups determine a fair price for the product, and
are paid before the goods leave their
country. Another way to make sure
you don’t exploit the underpaid: buy
union-made goods. Go to the website
www.shopunionmade.org for an index
of companies whose workers have union
protection.
3. Buy Less
3 As for those corporate giants (WalMart, McDonald’s and the like), where
are you most likely to see their logos?
Often you’ll spot them on the ground:
Big Mac boxes crushed into the
sidewalk; Wal-Mart carts toppled at
a bus stop. Litter and packaging are
one of the consequences of our megaretail culture. One way to fight back
is to reduce the packaging that you
3 If you play the market, be sure
not to let potential profit blind you to
the ramifications of where you put your
money. At 21 years of age, The Ethical
Funds Company is a pioneer in the field
of ethical investing. Call 1-877-384-4225
(1-877-ETHICAL) to find out more.
Another investment outfit, Meritas,
(www.meritas.ca), provides different avenues of investment based on different
criteria—among the options are the
social index fund and the international
equity fund. A resource for more info
is the Social Investment Organization:
visit www.socialinvestment.ca, or call
416-461-6042.
5. Urge change
3 The Fair Labor Association, Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production,
Social Accountability International and
other “multi-stakeholder organizations”
are supposed to monitor maquilas and
pressure bad companies to improve
their practices. However, as Dean
Neu points out, it’s worth checking
the fine print to see how these groups
really operate: they sometimes conceal more than they reveal. If you
would like to pick up the slack and
insist that corporations stop exploiting
labourers, you can do so through
Amnesty International, or through the
Clean Clothes Campaign, online at
www.cleanclothes.org.
— Kirsten Mundy & Peter Norman
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