Message from the CEO


Sweatshops: Reviving an American Tradition

 

 

 


Sweat Gear Fashion Line


Empowerment Fashion Line

 

 

 


What can I do?

CISPES Anti-Sweatshop Campaign

CISPES is doing something nobody has ever tried to do before: create a Violation-Free Zone in one of El Salvador's most notorious Free Trade Zones.

CISPES and its Salvadoran labor allies are going to turn this Free Trade Zone into a Violation-Free Zone, where workers' rights are respected... and workers can organize unions to defend their own rights. This is the only permanent way to improve wages and working conditions. Corporate pressure campaigns are certainly necessary, but when US consumers shift their attention to a new corporate abuser -- as they necessarily will -- the corporations are free to start exploiting their workers again.

Our plan for creating a Violation-Free Zone involves US AID, which built several of El Salvador's Free Trade Zones... but failed to ensure that labor rights were ever enforced there. On October 11, AID told CISPES representatives that they were interested in helping create a Violation-Free Zone. Now we are pressuring AID to do that, by:

  • Calling and writing our congresspersons and senators. Urge them to write AID's Latin America bureau chief, Mark Schneider. Their letters should praise AID for setting up a violation-free zone and end,

    "Please keep me informed regularly as this project develops."

AID has a legal responsibility to see that labor rights are observed in the Free Trade Zones that it funded.

We plan to extend this model... first to other Free Trade Zones, and then to the whole country. Our vision is that some day, you will be able to look at a "Made in El Salvador" label on a T-shirt or a pair of jeans, and buy that garment, knowing that it was made without exploited labor.

In 1995, right-wing President Calderon said he wanted to turn El Salvador into one big Free Trade Zone. CISPES and its Salvadoran labor allies intend to turn all El Salvador into a Clean Clothes Zone.

Of course, this strategy also depends on supporting labor organizing in El Salvador. And part of that is CISPES's campaign to stop the Christmas firings.

STOP THE CHRISTMAS FIRINGS!

Every year, as Christmas approaches, sweatshop managers in El Salvador fire hundreds of workers.

Why? Because in El Salvador, the Christmas bonus is a legally guaranteed part of your year's pay. So every December, the sweatshops save a few bucks... and make Christmas miserable for thousands of young women and their children.

What could be more cynical?

Well, the Salvadoran government is more cynical. It lets sweatshop managers get away with breaking the law. According to Salvadoran workers:

  • government Labor Ministry officials actually sell copies of a blacklist to factory managers. It lists union activists whom managers "won't want to hire."
  • the Salvadoran government promised foreign investors it would keep unions out of their factories... if they set up shop in El Salvador.

And this is on top of the factory workers' 14-hour days, forced overtime, two bathroom breaks a day, physical and sexual abuse, dirt, lint, noise....

This year it's going to be different.

  • Call the Salvadoran Embassy in Washington today, at 202-265-9671. Tell them to enforce their own laws and stop the Christmas firings.
  • Join CISPES in protests on Friday and Saturday, November 29 and 30 -- the busiest shopping days of the year. We're leafleting outside stores, urging their managers to make sure their suppliers in El Salvador don't lay off their workers this Christmas.
  • Or join CISPES in demonstrations at Salvadoran consulates on December 2nd.

For more information, or to find the CISPES chapter nearest you, call CISPES at 212-229-1290.

"CROSS BORDERS" SOLIDARITY FUNDRAISING DRIVE

CISPES is raising funds for several groups in El Salvador -- all of which are working for labor, political, and human rights.

  • The Melida Anaya Montes Women's Movement (MAM) is training 120 young women in basic workers' rights and feminist consciousness. They understand that a major obstacle to union organizing in El Salvador's garment factories is the inexperience of the young women whom factory managers prefer to hire. So they are:
    • reaching out to women workers
    • training them in how to defend their rights
    • publicizing those rights on the radio and on billboards outside the Free Trade Zones
    • writing new laws to protect maquila workers, and
    • investigating and monitoring the government's (non-)compliance with those laws.
  • The MAM was founded in 1992 to organize for women's social, political, and economic rights. They have committees in 13 of El Salvador's 14 provinces, five regional women's centers, and over 6,000 active members.

    CISPES is raising $25,000 for the MAM.
  • In El Salvador (and here), you can't win economic justice without political power. The government is a machine for concentrating wealth upward. It does not enforce its own good labor laws; in fact, it actively colludes with factory managers to break the laws. And it tramples on other political voices in the legislature and the media.

    This will not change until the progressive opposition gains more political power, and forces the ruling ARENA Party to open up the government to the interests of the grassroots.

    CISPES is raising $20,000 for grassroots organizing by the FMLN. Formerly Latin America's strongest guerrilla army, the FMLN is now the strongest opposition party in El Salvador -- and growing. The FMLN's goal is not to be just a traditional electoral party, but rather, an organizing force that is in the communities day in and day out.

    This is the project that CISPES is funding. It will support eight grassroots organizers for one year in El Salvador's most populous provinces. Each organizer will work with the FMLN's traditional base and expand it to include new people who are looking for an alternative. They will form local committees that work to resolve people's real, daily needs, and that begin to make structural changes.
  • CISPES is also raising $5,000 for a Strategic Organizing Fund. This Fund helps labor unions and other mass organizations pay for everything from banners in a street demonstration, to food for striking students, to legal research against privatization.
  • Finally, CISPES is helping fund the Gay Cultural Center -- a truly courageous project in El Salvador, where safe sex workers' lives are regularly threatened. Bomb threats and death threats have not stopped the Center's organizers from setting up a storefront/cafe, or from holding public memorial services for AIDS victims. Gay activists, sex workers and HIV counselors of El Salvador are blazing a trail for basic human rights. CISPES is helping them make history. You can help by making a financial donation, organizing a benefit, or asking your family and friends for contributions.

How can people contribute?

You can earmark your donation for one of these projects if you wish, and you can make it tax-deductible by writing a check to the

CISPES Education Fund
Box 1801
New York, New York 10159

For more detailed descriptions of these projects, write or call CISPES, 212-229-1290, cispesnatl@igc.apc.org.

OTHER CISPES CAMPAIGNS

The Labor Tour!

It's happening right now. CISPES is bringing garment organizer Ana Maria Romero and telephone union leader Wilmer Erroa to the States for a month of meetings and fundraising.

Ana Maria worked in the GABO factory (in the San Marcos Free Trade Zone), where management physically attacked and harassed workers and cheated them out of their already extremely low pay. Last year, a woman worker died after GABO managers refused her permission to leave work and get medical attention. This August, the factory owner illegally shut the factory and fled the country. The Union of GABO Workers, STIT-FEASIES, has not given up, and is seeking international support for their struggle.

Wilmer is the Secretary of Relations for ASTTEL, the Salvadoran Association of Telecommunication Workers. ASTTEL is fighting the battle of its life against the government, which is trying to privatize ANTEL, the national phone company. Privatization will mean that the poor lose the little phone access they have, and ASTTEL -- the country's strongest union -- is destroyed. ASTTEL has mobilized thousands of working people in a brilliant community outreach campaign. Public opinion in El Salvador now runs 57% against privatization. Now ASTTEL is taking its cause to the people of the United States.

Their schedule is:

Ana Maria Romero

Nov. 6-8

San Francisco, CA

Andy Hagelshaw

415-648-8222

Nov. 9-10

Los Angeles, CA

Jennifer Ferrigno

415-648-6520

Nov. 11-12

Seattle, WA

Heather Day

206-325-5494

Nov. 13-14

Portland, OR

Margaret Underwood

503-236-7916

Nov. 15-16

St. Louis, MO

Meredith Aby

612-872-0944

Nov. 17-18

Chicago/Rockford, IL

Sheila Brady

312-227-2720

Nov. 19

Madison, WI

Meredith Aby

612-872-0944

Nov. 20

Minneapolis, MN

Meredith Aby

612-872-0944

Nov. 21-23

Boston, MA

David Grosser

617-524-1166

Nov. 24

Cleveland, OH

Tony Vento

216-961-0002

Nov. 25-26

Binghamton, NY

Jill Dowling

212-229-1290

Nov. 27-30

New York, NY

Phil Josselyn

212-645-5230

Dec. 1-4

Washington, DC

Jill Dowling

212-229-1290

Dec. 5-8

New York, NY

Phil Josselyn

212-645-5230

Wilmer Erroa

Nov. 6-8

San Francisco, CA

Andy Hagelshaw

415-648-8222

Nov. 9-10

Los Angeles, CA

Jennifer Ferrigno

415-648-6520

Nov. 11-12

Seattle, WA

Heather Day

206-325-5494

Nov. 13-14

Eugene, OR

Scott Miksch

541-485-8633

Nov. 15

Portland, OR

Margaret Underwood

503-236-7916

Nov. 16-20

Minneapolis, MN

Meredith Aby

612-872-0944

Nov. 21-23

Boston, MA

David Grosser

617-524-1166

Nov. 24-25

Albany, NY

Jill Dowling

212-229-1290

Nov. 26

Pittsburgh, PA

Jill Dowling

212-229-1290

Nov. 27-30

New York, NY

Phil Josselyn

212-645-5230

Dec. 1-4

Washington, DC

Jill Dowling

212-229-1290

Dec. 5-8

New York, NY

Phil Josselyn

212-645-5230

Labor Delegation to El Salvador

From January 8 to 19, CISPES activists and labor activists will join forces for a ten-day delegation to El Salvador -- visiting unions and checking out the political scene. Cost is approximately $1300, depending on air fare, plus any money you can raise to support the unions' work. For information or an application form call Jennifer Mertens at CISPES, 212-229-1290, cispesnatl@igc.apc.org.

Election Delegation to El Salvador

The March 16 elections will choose a new Assembly, mayors, and city councils, and the FMLN looks good in the polls. However, the voting system is rigged, and the ruling ARENA Party has refused to honor last-election promises to reform it. Observers will be needed to "defend the vote." Cost is approximately $1300, depending on air fare, plus any money you can raise to support the unions' work. Tentative delegation dates are March 8-19. For information or an application form call Jennifer Mertens at CISPES, 212-229-1290, cispesnatl@igc.apc.org.

Material Aid

CISPES is also gathering materials the FMLN has requested, including: typewriters fax machines portable or large sound systems two-way radios complete computers, 386 or better, with or without hard drives 1.44mb disk drives hard drive controller cards RAM memory 1 MB video cards for SVGA and/or VGA monitors network cards for Novell, preferably NE1000 or NE2000, hard drives, a tape back-up drive, either external or internal, a professional/developer's version of FoxPro, preferably with manuals; and they are looking for computer people, before and during the elections -- mural painters, trainers for door-to-door campaigns -- if they are familiar with El Salvador.

Contact CISPES (above) if you have HIGH-QUALITY materials or volunteers.

STOPPING SWEATSHOPS HERE AT HOME

UNITE, the US garment workers' union, is organizing a strong "Stop Sweatshops!" campaign which you can reach at www.uniteunion.org. Click the "Stop Sweatshops" button on UNITE's homepage.

One target of the campaign is GUESS, which buys garments from West Coast sweatshops. UNITE is urging consumers to boycott GUESS products and to let the company know how you feel about exploitation, at www.guess.com.

Of course, there are plenty of international anti-sweatshop campaigns too, like the Nike campaign. An excellent clearinghouse for these is the Nicaragua Network's Campaign for Labor Rights, which puts out frequent alerts to people on their list. You can reach them at clr@igc.apc.org.

Copyright © 1996, CISPES. Credits.