Labor rights activist speaks at 'U'

Daily Staff Reporter

Charles Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee, spoke to a crowd of more than 60 students at the Michigan Union last night, telling about David vs. Goliath-like efforts to fight for labor rights.

The National Labor Committee, consisting of just five staff members, works against large corporations like Wal-Mart and The Gap to protect workers' rights by focusing on U.S. business practices in foreign countries - in particular sweatshop exploitation in Latin America, Kernaghan said.

Kernaghan said he intended to raise the public's awareness of U.S. business practices abroad, and to let students know they can make a difference.

"Everywhere I go, everyone is talking about what the student movement is doing," Kernaghan said. "There are around 50 campuses across the country participating in the 'sweat free' movement. And this is making companies very nervous."

Expressing their condemnation of worker exploitation, students can participate in letter-writing campaigns for the "sweat-free" movement, urging U.S. businesses with sweat shops in foreign countries to adopt a corporal code of conduct, he said.

A corporal code of conduct would protect the rights of workers currently exploited by large companies, Kernaghan said.

"The Gap, which owns factories in El Salvador, have women work from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m.," Kernaghan said. "These women sleep next to their sewing machines and then start all over again at 7 the next morning.

"These women are able to stay awake because they are given amphetamines and are constantly yelled at," Kernaghan said. "The factory is a hot, nasty place where people are fainting, employers are yelling and drinking water is denied. Bathrooms in these factories are often locked in order to keep up high production."

Kernaghan said companies like Levi's and The Gap are not as bad as some U.S. companies. Liz Claiborne, which also operates factories in El Salvador, reportedly pays its workers 84 cents for every $198 jacket they produce, he said.

Spending only four-tenths of one percent of the selling price of the apparel on labor costs, Liz Claiborne could easily raises wages without raising sale prices in the United States, Kernaghan said.

In addition to a code, Kernaghan called for the right of workers to organize in unions, independent monitoring of factories and corporal disclosure, whereby the American public will have access to information on where the products they purchase were produced.

"We can't settle for a watered-down code of conduct," Kernaghan said. "Companies are currently pulling a fast one on the American public and this needs to stop. Companies are not under enough pressure to do something serious."

While pushing for change, Kernaghan does not encourage boycotts of exploitative companies because, he said, those actions would take jobs away from already poor workers in Latin American countries.

Sample letters and postcards reading "I want to end child labor and sweat shop abuses" addressed to companies like Wal-Mart were distributed at last night's event to encourage the "sweat-free" movement.

"People in the U.S. are doing more today for workers' rights than anywhere else in the world. The world is watching what the American people are saying," Kernaghan said.

The event was organized by Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality.

Organizers said Kernaghan's appearance on campus was one of the first steps to promoting awareness of these issues on campus.

"There's a lot of affluence on this campus, but not a lot of attention given to class-based issues," LSA junior Lara Zador said.

Students said the speech showed a commitment to changing the status quo.

"It gave me more faith that more people in this world care in a realistic manner," LSA senior Stephanie Pitsirilos said. "He put a human face on the global economy."

11-12-98