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Mural from the Mission District in San Francisco

March/April 2006

Celebrating Women's History Month

March is National Women's History Month, while March 8th is International Women's Day. Here are a few ways to celebrate:

1. CHECK OUT CODEPINK's anti-war vigil photos and blog from March 8th, which raised awareness about the escalating brutality in Iraq and a recent poll exposing the desire of 72% of U.S. soldiers to leave Iraq. Read the Global Call for Peace delivered to the White House by a delegation of Iraqi women and CodePink supporters.

CodePink is a women-initiated grassroots, nonviolent, peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education and other life-affirming activities.

2. READ about toxic chemicals in cosmetics and educate others. Check out the Environmental Working Group's website, SKIN DEEP. Skin Deep is an interactive personal care product safety guide. The searchable database features brand-by-brand safety rankings and in-depth information on over 14,000 shampoos, lotions, deodorants, sunscreens, lip balm, and other products from almost 1,000 brands. And check out the list of companies, representing an estimated $4 billion in sales, that have pledged not to use chemicals in their products that are known or strongly suspected of causing cancer, mutation or birth defects. Be sure to forward the website to your mother, wife, sisters and friends.

3. LISTEN! Invite a woman over age 70 to lunch, dinner or coffee and ask her about her life experiences. Where was she during the Civil Rights Movement? What does she remember about World War II? What would she do differently if she could live her life over? Whether it's your grandmother, mother or dear friend, ask if you can record her thoughts to pass along to the next generation.

January/February 2006

In celebration of Martin Luther King Day & Black History Month:

Often when people hear the name Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., they think about the March on Washington and the "I Have a Dream" speech. But these are only a small glimpse into the extensive life, writings, and speeches of Martin Luther King.

King's speeches and actions were not always considered inspirational by the mainstream of America, and in fact, King was demonized by leaders from the government, church and society. King challenged Americans to deal with problems of race, poverty and war, and was considered an "ultra-liberal", a "revolutionary" and even a "communist" by those who feared the change that was the collective dream of the Civil Rights Movement.

On April 4, 1967 - one year to the day that King was murdered - he gave a speech titled, "Beyond Vietnam" at Riverside Church in New York City. Much in the way that those who speak out against the Iraq War today are labeled "anti-American" by pro-war voices, Martin Luther King's attention to the war angered many civil rights supporters as well as those who already hated what Martin Luther King stood for.

Below is an excerpt from this speech:

A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just.” This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

MLK, "Beyond Vietnam"
Riverside Church, New York City
April 4, 1967

Click here for the full text of "Beyond Vietnam".

In addition, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University has created "The Liberation Curriculum", an excellent online resource providing teachers with educational materials that engage students in active learning on issues of social justice, transformation, and reconciliation. The online Curriculum features Lesson Plans and Classroom Resources, including the "King Encyclopedia" and the text from MLK's most famous speeches.

November/December 2005

EFJ NEWS
  • Fall 2005 EFJ Speaking Tour – See if EFJ is coming to a school near you!
  • Wal-Mart Worker Tour

SWEATSHOPS AND TRADE NEWS
  • USAS Launches New Campaign
  • San Francisco Passes Sweatshop Ordinance
  • Wal-Mart Under Fire
  • Chinese Government Calls Factories Sweatshops

PICKS OF THE MONTH
  • Website of the Month: Find out which baby products tested positive for toxins
  • Campaign of the Month: Voices For Creative Nonviolence

EFJ BLOG
  • Interview with Jennifer Harbury, international human rights lawyer, author & activist
  • “Evolution, Katrina & God” - a sermon by Fr. Paul Surlis

ACTION ITEM OF THE MONTH
  • Remembering Rosa Parks

EFJ NEWS

FALL 2005 SPEAKING TOUR
EFJ co-Directors will present “Behind the Swoosh: Sweatshops and Social Justice” to 11 colleges and 8 high schools during the Fall 2005 semester. Check the calendar to see if they are coming to a school near you. If you have friends or family living near a school where they will present, please encourage them to attend!

EFJ is currently booking for our Spring 2006 semester. Events are currently booked for Northern Massachusetts, Western Pennsylvania, and Northern California. To book an event, e-mail Leslie@educatingforjustice.org.

WAL-MART TOUR
The International Labor Rights Fund is sponsoring a group of workers from various countries for a national speaking tour from November 2005 to February 2006. They will be bringing laborers from Nicaragua, Swaziland, Colombia, Honduras, Indonesia, and Guatemala to talk about the violations of their rights at the factories and farms that supply Wal-Mart. If you are interested in hosting this group, please e-mail workertour@ilrf.org.

SWEATSHOPS AND TRADE NEWS

UNITED STUDENTS AGAINST SWEATSHOPS LAUNCH NEW CAMPAIGN
The United Students Against Sweatshops recently launched a new campaign which would require companies that produce collegiate apparel sold in university bookstores to contract only with "sweat-free factories" where workers have freedom of association (to form independent unions) and receive a living wage. Educating for Justice proudly endorsed the new campaign. For more information visit USAS’ website at: www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org. Below is a recent article on the campaign:

STUDENT GROUP STEPS UP EFFORT TO GET UNIVERSITIES TO USE THEIR CLOUT AGAINST SWEATSHOP FACTORIES
By Audrey Williams June
The Chronicle of Higher Education

A national network of student labor activists demanded on Wednesday that universities require the makers of apparel bearing their college logos to produce the goods at factories where workers are paid a "living wage" and have been allowed to form unions and bargain collectively.

United Students Against Sweatshops announced the campaign to end the sweatshop production of collegiate apparel during demonstrations at 40 colleges, including Duke University, Indiana University at Bloomington, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California at Berkeley. The campaign is a bid to breathe new life into the student group's seven-year struggle to protect the rights of workers in the global garment industry.

"We know that we'll face resistance, but we firmly believe that the rights of people must take precedence over the drive for university licensing fees and corporate profits," said Jessica Rutter, a national organizer for United Students Against Sweatshops.

It has been difficult to sustain the improved working conditions that have come about in some overseas apparel factories because major brands, such as Adidas, Nike, and Reebok, tend to shift orders away from "good factories," a step that forces them to close, the student group said.

Paying workers a living wage and allowing them to unionize forces the factories to seek higher prices for their products from the apparel companies, which then turn to lower-cost producers, the group said.

In response to that pattern, the group -- with the help of the Worker Rights Consortium, an independent monitoring organization that has 144 colleges and universities as members -- created a plan that it says will help ensure that collegiate apparel comes from factories where workers are treated fairly.

The proposal urges universities to require that apparel bearing their logos comes from a"sweat-free" factory, as designated by the Worker Rights Consortium. Apparel companies would pay a little more than the industry norm for the goods that they buy from those factories so that the factories could then pay their employees a living wage, according to the plan.

Sweatshop conditions, the student group said, would begin to disappear if a set group of factories received fair prices for their work and a steady stream of college-logo business in return for respecting workers' rights.

"It's a bold proposal, but at the same time, it has a logic that I think is very compelling," said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium.

Mr. Nova said universities have "shown themselves willing to make changes in the way that their goods are produced."

"I think there's real potential for them to embrace this approach," he said.

Jim Wilkerson, director of trademark licensing and stores operations at Duke University, said the proposal is "feasible and doable." While senior officials at the institution have not seen the proposal yet, "support is likely," he said. Duke first adopted a code of conduct for its licensees in 1998 (The Chronicle, November 13, 1998).

"I think it's certainly time, based on our experience, to attempt a better way of ensuring good working conditions in factories that produce our goods," Mr. Wilkerson said. "We're hopeful if this works that it would serve as an example for factories outside of the college apparel business."

SAN FRANCISCO SWEATSHOP-FREE ORDINANCE PASSED!
It's official! The San Francisco Board of Supervisors held their final vote on the Sweatfree Ordinance and it passed unanimously.

Global Exchange and the Sweatfree Bay Area Coalition is now hard at work selecting an people from the community to serve on the Advisory Group, which will ensure the successful implementation and enforcement of the ordinance. For more information, visit www.globalexchange.org/sweatfreebayarea. Congratulations to Valerie Orth of Global Exchange and the rest of the Bay Area Coalition on this wonderful success!

If you are interested in pursuing a similar ordinance for your town or city, visit SweatFree Communities at www.sweatfree.org. Similar campaigns are underway in the following states / cities: New York, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nashville, Philadelphia, Columbus. For more information on those campaigns, contact liana@sweatfree.org. Below is an article detailing the new law:

SF PLEDGES TO USE PURCHASING POWER TO PRODUCE SWEATSHOP REFORM
By Lisa Leff
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco supervisors unanimously approved a new law Tuesday that requires city contractors to guarantee in writing that the uniforms, computers and other goods they supply were not made by workers exploited in so-called "sweatshops."

By signing the "sweat-free code of conduct," manufacturers and wholesalers that do business with the city would be promising that their workers are paid the local minimum wage, have the right to unionize and enjoy safe working conditions. The pledge also vouches that no child labor, foreign convict or slave labor was used to produce the merchandise that winds up in San Francisco hospitals, fire stations and City Hall offices.

The cities of Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Newark, N.J. and Albuquerque, N.M., already have anti-sweatshop laws on the books. But Valerie Orth, who campaigned for the ordinance as part of the international human rights group Global Exchange, said San Francisco's law goes the furthest because it includes an initial $100,000 for enforcement and a stricter definition of what constitutes a sweatshop. Companies with one major violation of the conduct code would be disqualified from future contracts.

The purpose of the pledge is not to force the city to switch contractors, but to use the municipal government's $600 million in purchasing power to effect change at existing factories, according to Orth.

"All of this is going to rest on a test case," she said. "Once we find a company that signs the code of conduct and then violates it by say hiring a subcontractor in Honduras where the union is busted, the city of San Francisco can say, 'You signed this code ... you have to let the workers organize."

The law, introduced by Supervisor Tom Ammiano and Mayor Gavin Newsom, is scheduled to take effect in 90 days. During its first year, it will only apply to the garment industry, such as contractors who supply uniforms, sheets and towels. An advisory committee will decide what category of contractors to target next.

As part of the registration process, contractors who sign the sweatshop-free pledge would have to disclose the names of their subcontractors, where their factories and located and what workers are paid.

Randall Harris, executive director the garment industry trade group San Francisco Fashion Industries, said that out of the fewer than 200 companies producing apparel in San Francisco, none are under city contract. Harris said he nonetheless opposed the ordinance because he thinks it puts the industry in a bad light.

"We need support in the city and county for the industry we have left here," he said. "We don't need the city of San Francisco perpetuating a belief that our industry is somehow dirty. We have worked very hard to clean it up."

WAL-MART UNDER FIRE
Wal-Mart is under fire like never before. In the last 6 weeks, the company has been sued for violating workers rights, has had a memo leaked showing a concerted effort to take away benefits and has been given special treatment by the U.S. Department of Labor on regulating child labor. To top it off, a new film by Robert Greenwald (Outfoxed) which will be released soon, is set to expose all of these violations and more. To buy a copy of the film or to watch an interview with a former Wal-Mart manager, visit www.walmartmovie.com/confessions/. Below are stories on the lawsuit, the leaked memo and the Labor Department deal:

INTERNATIONAL WORKERS SUE WAL-MART FOR LABOR ABUSES
The New York Times reports September 14 that labor rights group the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) filed a class-action lawsuit September 13 against Wal-Mart on behalf of workers in Bangladesh, China, Nicaragua, and other countries who claim that the retailer violated its contractual obligations by not enforcing its code of conduct for overseas contractors.

The lawsuit, filed in state court in Los Angeles, asserts that Wal-Mart’s code of conduct created an obligation between it and the thousands of workers employed by its contractors around the world. These contractors are supposed to abide by the company’s code.

The represented workers in Bangladesh, China, Nicaragua, Indonesia, and Swaziland say they were often paid less than the minimum wage and did not receive time-and-a-half for overtime, and some said they were beaten by managers and were locked in their factories, reports the Times.

"Based on its vast economic power, Wal-Mart, based on its code of conduct, can and does control the working conditions of its supplier factories," the lawsuit states. "It could use its power and position to prevent its producers from profiting from the inhumane treatment of plaintiffs."

Beth Keck, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said the company was studying the lawsuit. "It's really too early for us to go into any kind of detail about this complaint," Ms. Keck said. "It involves a number of countries, suppliers and factories. We will be looking into this and taking it very seriously."

WAL-MART MEMO SUGGESTS WAYS TO CUT EMPLOYEE BENEFIT COSTS
By Steven Greenhouse and Michael Barbaro
New York Times
October 26, 2005

An internal memo sent to Wal-Mart's board of directors proposes numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer's reputation.

Among the recommendations are hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart. In the memorandum, M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits. The memo voices concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive. To discourage unhealthy job applicants, Ms. Chambers suggests that Wal-Mart arrange for "all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering)."

The memo acknowledged that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, had to walk a fine line in restraining benefit costs because critics had attacked it for being stingy on wages and health coverage.

Ms. Chambers acknowledged that 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart's 1.33 million United States employees were uninsured or on Medicaid. Wal-Mart executives said the memo was part of an effort to rein in benefit costs, which to Wall Street's dismay have soared by 15 percent a year on average since 2002. Like much of corporate America, Wal-Mart has been squeezed by soaring health costs. The proposed plan, if approved, would save the company more than $1 billion a year by 2011.

In an interview, Ms. Chambers said she was focusing not on cutting costs, but on serving employees better by giving them more choices on their benefits. "We are investing in our benefits that will take even better care of our associates," she said. "Our benefit plan is known today as being generous."

Ms. Chambers also said that she made her recommendations after surveying employees about how they felt about the benefits plan. "This is not about cutting," she said. "This is about redirecting savings to another part of their benefit plans."

One proposal would reduce the amount of time, from two years to one, that part-time employees would have to wait before qualifying for health insurance. Another would put health clinics in stores, in part to reduce expensive employee visits to emergency rooms.

Wal-Mart's benefit costs jumped to $4.2 billion last year, from $2.8 billion three years earlier, causing concern within the company because benefits represented an increasing share of sales. Last year, Wal-Mart earned $10.5 billion on sales of $285 billion.

A draft memo to Wal-Mart's board was obtained from Wal-Mart Watch, a nonprofit group, allied with labor unions, that asserts that Wal-Mart's pay and benefits are too low. Tracy Sefl, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Watch, said someone mailed the document anonymously to her group last month. When asked about the memo, Wal-Mart officials made available the updated copy that actually went to the board.

Under fire because less than 45 percent of its workers receive company health insurance, Wal-Mart announced a new plan on Monday that seeks to increase participation by allowing some employees to pay just $11 a month in premiums. Some health experts praised the plan for making coverage more affordable, but others criticized it, noting that full-time Wal-Mart employees, who earn on average around $17,500 a year, could face out-of-pocket expenses of $2,500 a year or more.

Eager to burnish Wal-Mart's image as it faces opposition in trying to expand into New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, Wal-Mart's chief executive, H. Lee Scott Jr., also announced on Monday a sweeping plan to conserve energy. He also said that Wal-Mart supported raising the minimum wage to help Wal-Mart's customers.

The theme throughout the memo was how to slow the increase in benefit costs without giving more ammunition to critics who contend that Wal-Mart's wages and benefits are dragging down those of other American workers. Ms. Chambers proposed that employees pay more for their spouses' health insurance. She called for cutting 401(k) contributions to 3 percent of wages from 4 percent and cutting company-paid life insurance policies to $12,000 from the current level, equal to an employee's annual earnings. Life insurance, she said, was "a high-satisfaction, low-importance benefit, which suggests an opportunity to trim the offering without substantial impact on associate satisfaction." Wal-Mart refers to its employees as associates.

Acknowledging that Wal-Mart has image problems, Ms. Chambers wrote: "Wal-Mart's critics can easily exploit some aspects of our benefits offering to make their case; in other words, our critics are correct in some of their observations. Specifically, our coverage is expensive for low-income families, and Wal-Mart has a significant percentage of associates and their children on public assistance."

Her memo stated that 5 percent of Wal-Mart's workers were on Medicaid, compared with 4 percent for other national employers. She said that Wal-Mart spent $1.5 billion a year on health insurance, which amounts to $2,660 per insured worker. The memo, prepared with the help of McKinsey & Company, said the board was to consider the recommendations in November. But the memo said that three top Wal-Mart officials - its chief financial officer, its top human relations executive and its executive vice president for legal and corporate affairs - had "received the recommendations enthusiastically."

Ms. Chambers's memo voiced concern that workers were staying with the company longer, pushing up wage costs, although she stopped short of calling for efforts to push out more senior workers. She wrote that "the cost of an associate with seven years of tenure is almost 55 percent more than the cost of an associate with one year of tenure, yet there is no difference in his or her productivity. Moreover, because we pay an associate more in salary and benefits as his or her tenure increases, we are pricing that associate out of the labor market, increasing the likelihood that he or she will stay with Wal-Mart."

The memo noted that Wal-Mart workers "are getting sicker than the national population, particularly in obesity-related diseases," including diabetes and coronary artery disease. The memo said Wal-Mart workers tended to overuse emergency rooms and underuse prescriptions and doctor visits, perhaps from previous experience with Medicaid.

The memo noted, "The least healthy, least productive associates are more satisfied with their benefits than other segments and are interested in longer careers with Wal-Mart." The memo proposed incorporating physical activity in all jobs and promoting health savings accounts. Such accounts are financed with pretax dollars and allow workers to divert their contributions into retirement savings if they are not all spent on health care. Health experts say these accounts will be more attractive to younger, healthier workers.
"It will be far easier to attract and retain a healthier work force than it will be to change behavior in an existing one," the memo said. "These moves would also dissuade unhealthy people from coming to work at Wal-Mart."

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families U.S.A., a health care consumer-advocacy group, criticized the memo for recommending that more workers move into health plans with high deductibles. "Their people are paying a very substantial portion of their earnings out of pocket for health care," he said. "These plans will cause these workers and their families to defer or refrain from getting needed care."

The memo noted that 38 percent of Wal-Mart workers spent more than one-sixth of their Wal-Mart income on health care last year. By reducing the amount of time part-timers must work to qualify for health insurance, Wal-Mart is hoping to allay some of its critics. One proposal under consideration would offer new employees "limited funding" so they could "gain access to the private insurance market" after 30 days of employment while waiting to join Wal-Mart's plan. Such assistance, the memo stated, "would give us a powerful set of messages to use in combating critics. (For instance, 'Wal-Mart offers associates access to health insurance after they've worked with us for just 30 days.')"

US LABOR DEPT. CRITICIZED FOR WAL-MART DEAL
The New York Times, The Associated Press and others report November 1st that the inspector general of the Labor Department has criticized department officials for “serious breakdowns” in process as a result of an agreement between investigators and Wal-Mart that gives the retailer 15 days notice before investigators inspect stores for child labor violations.

In a newly released report, Gordon S. Heddell, the inspector general faults department officials for making the concession to Wal-Mart without obtaining a trade off. The report also criticized officials for letting Wal-Mart lawyers write substantial parts of the settlement and for leaving the department's own legal division out of the settlement process.

The report said that in granting Wal-Mart the 15-day notice, the Wage and Hour Division violated its own handbook. It added that agreeing to let Wal-Mart jointly develop news releases about the settlement with the department violated Labor Department policies.

The agreement did not violate federal laws or regulations.

The Labor Department reached the settlement in January after finding 85 child labor violations at Wal-Mart stores in Connecticut, New Hampshire and Arkansas, involving workers under 18 who operated dangerous machinery, including cardboard balers and chain saws. Wal-Mart settled the investigation by agreeing to pay $135,540, but it continued to deny any wrongdoing.

In addition to allowing the 15-day notice, the agreement lets Wal-Mart avoid civil citations and fines if it brings a store into compliance within 10 days of when the department notifies it of a violation.

"In our view," the inspector general's office wrote about the Wage and Hour Division, "the Wal-Mart agreement may adversely impact W.H.D.'s authority to conduct future investigations and issue citations or penalty assessments, and potentially restrict information to the public."

Martin Heires, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said, "We think it's important to note that the inspector general's office found that the agreement is in compliance with federal law."

GUANGDONG AUTHORITIES CONDEMN 20 "SWEATSHOPS" IN CHINA
The China Labour Bulletin reports October 3 that the Guangdong province Labour and Social Security Bureau has openly condemned twenty "sweatshops" in the province.

These factories have allegedly broken Chinese labor laws, including overtime working, wage arrears and employing child workers aged below sixteen. The local authorities announced the list of condemned factories by name, listed their violations through the media, and also posted the list at employment recruitment centers as a warning to prospective hires.

Among the first batch of sweatshops opened criticized by the Guangdong Labour and Social Security Bureau, fourteen of them are located in the Pearl River Delta - mostly in the construction, textile, and electronics industries in cities with high labor demand, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhongshan, and Huizhou.

This is the first time that Chinese government agencies have openly condemned manufacturers as sweatshops, according to the First Finance and Economics Daily.

PICKS OF THE MONTH

WEBSITE OF THE MONTH:
The Environment California Research and Policy Center released a report on Oct. 12th on the presence of toxic chemicals in popular children’s products, such as bath books, teethers, and sleep accessories. Learn whether such chemicals can be found in the products children in your family use.

CAMPAIGN OF THE MONTH:
Voices For Creative Nonviolence is a new campaign led by Catholic activist and three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly. The campaign is focused on challenging current US foreign policies against Iraq and other countries involved in the “War on Terror”. Voices For Creative Nonviolence launched recently when its predecessor “Voices in the Wilderness”, the Chicago-based nonprofit organization, was fined $20,000 for bringing medicine to Iraq in nonviolent civil disobedience to challenge the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the U.N. against Iraq.

EFJ BLOG

INTERVIEW WITH JENNIFER HARBURY
Jennifer Harbury's investigation into torture began when her husband disappeared in Guatemala in 1992. She told the story of his torture and murder in her book Searching for Everardo. Harbury received her law degree from Harvard. She has lived and worked with human rights activists, peasants, and Mayan villagers in Guatemala. Harbury has also worked with members of the U.S. Congress and the Organization of the American States to locate her husband and 35 other members of the Guatemalan resistance believed to be held by the military. She currently directs the STOP (Stop Torture Permanently) Campaign at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Harbury's book Truth, Torture, and the American Way: The History and Consequences of U.S. Involvement in Torture was just published by Beacon Press. Read the interview on EFJ’s blog.

EVOLUTION, KATRINA & GOD
Fr. Paul Surlis, Professor Emeritus from St. John’s University, delivered a sermon on September 11, 2005 discussing why the Bible should not be taken literally, why Hurricane Katrina is not punishment from God and how evolution and religion can coexist. Read the sermon on EFJ’s blog.

ACTION ITEM OF THE MONTH

REMEMBERING ROSA PARKS, 1913 – 2005
On December 1st of this year, it will be 50 years from the day that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama bus. Fifty years is not a long time ago. People who are 41 years of age and older were alive when black people were forced to drink from separate water fountains, enter back doors of public buildings, and give up their seats to white people who were considered superior by the laws of the United States of America.

Unlike how she is portrayed in the media, Rosa Parks’ decision of nonviolent civil disobedience was not “out-of-the-blue” and the Montgomery Bus Boycott which followed Rosa Parks’ stand was not simply spontaneous. Rosa Parks and her husband had worked hard alongside other community activists in the local NAACP chapter. They were waiting for the right time to launch what became the Montgomery Bus Boycott campaign. One of the best ways that we can honor Rosa Parks’ legacy is by acknowledging that hard, dedicated, tireless work is necessary in order to create social change.

ACTION ITEM: The Southern Poverty Law Center has a web-based resource called “101 Tools for Tolerance.” There are easy and concrete actions that you can take at your school, your church, your community, your workplace or your home to promote tolerance and conquer hate in our world today. Go to the website and choose 5 things that you will do as an active remembrance of Rosa Parks. Then, e-mail the website to 5 of your friends and ask that they do the same.

August/September 2005

SWEATSHOPS AND TRADE NEWS
  • CAFTA Passes By Slim Margin
  • Reebok Sweatshops in Honduras
  • Adidas Buys Reebok in $3.1 Billion Deal
  • High Schools Begin To Go Sweatshop-Free
  • Gap Admits To Problems at Factories

PICKS OF THE MONTH
  • Websites of the Month
  • Campaigns of the Month

EFJ BLOG
  • 60 Years Later, Apology for Hiroshima

ACTION ITEM OF THE MONTH
  • Buy a T-Shirt for Justice

EFJ NEWS

EFJ CLOTHING COMPANY LAUNCHES ONLINE!
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “You must be the change you wish to see.” That is what we seek to do with the EFJ Clothing Co. While we continue our grassroots efforts to change the labor practices of multinational companies like Nike to include living wages and true democracy and ownership in the workplace, we also want to begin to establish a new model for the clothing industry.

At the EFJ Clothing Co. our shirts are made in union shops or worker cooperatives where there are clear commitments to paying a living wage and to collective bargaining and/or cooperative ownership. Basically, we make sure the shirts are made with our values so you can wear your values.

What is even more exciting about the EFJ Clothing Co. is that a percentage of every item you purchase from us goes directly towards funding EFJ’s grassroots education programs. It is a win-win-win. You get clothes you can feel great about wearing, workers get living wages and good working conditions, and EFJ gets the financial support we need to continue our mission of educating people to end social injustice.

So make your purchase today and feel great about what you’re wearing! To buy your sweatfree gear, click here.

EFJ PLANS LAUNCH OF LOCAL EFJ CHAPTERS
In the past four years traveling the country, we have visited hundreds of campuses and spoken with thousands of students. At every campus we have heard students asking us, “How can I get more involved?” Here is the answer: Starting this fall, you can be a founder of a local EFJ Chapter on your high school or college campus or at your local church or community.

Here is what you need to get started: 3 students/members, 1 faculty or staff advisor, and a desire to help EFJ fulfill its updated mission which states, “Educating for Justice educates and empowers citizens to take action to end social injustice.”
To get started in establishing your local chapter, e-mail EFJ Director, Jim Keady at jim@educatingforjustice.org.

EFJ CONTINUES SUMMER FUNDRAISING DRIVE
With the start of the school year right around the corner, Educating for Justice is gearing up to provide you with exciting opportunities to help make your communities, our country and our world a more just place.

Educating for Justice funds new programs, like our EFJ Chapters initiative, through revenues from our “Traveling Classroom” lecture circuit, small grants, and through the financial generosity of supporters like you. Today, we need your help. You can make your secure online donation to EFJ right now, by clicking here.

Or you can be one of the first people to purchase a sweatshop-free t-shirt at EFJ’s new Online Store.

Or you can write a check payable to Educating for Justice and mail it to:
Educating for Justice
601 Bangs Avenue, Ste. 601
Asbury Park, NJ 07712

Your contributions to our Summer Fundraising Drive are earmarked for EFJ’s General Operating Budget. Your donation will allow us to continue providing resources and programming to students, teachers and everyday citizens on critical social justice issues, as well as remain a corporate watchdog for today’s human rights violations, like the fight against sweatshops.

Thank you for your continued support!

EFJ CO-DIRECTOR TAKES PUBLIC OFFICE
On July 1, 2005 Educating for Justice Co-Director, Jim Keady was sworn into public office in the City of Asbury Park, NJ. Keady is one of five Councilmembers governing the city. There were 19 people who ran in the nonpartisan Municipal election this past Spring. Keady’s swearing in speech follows:

“I would like to congratulate my fellow councilmen for a race well fought and well run and I want them to know – I look forward to working with each of you in the next four years. I would like to thank God for the blessings that I have been given that hopefully have prepared me for this task. I would also like to thank my family for 33 years of love and support regardless of what endeavors I chose to pursue. I would like to thank my supporters and my running mates whose tremendous hard work and dedication allow me to sit before you today. Finally, I would like to thank my wife and campaign manager, Leslie Kretzu. Given the amount of work you did, some might argue that it should be you sitting up here. Thanks for everything, I appreciate you more than you can know.

It is with tremendous excitement and deep gratitude that I begin my official service to the people of Asbury Park. Throughout the campaign, I believe that many of you got a sense of my beliefs about politics and the type of public servant I aspire to be. I believe that the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone shared what I believe is perhaps one of the greatest assessments of what politics can be. He said: ‘Politics is not about power. Politics is not about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people’s lives. It is about advancing the cause of peace and justice in our world.’

I hope that with your help and support that I can bring this kind of politics to Asbury Park and together we can make this city a wonderfully diverse and exciting community, where every citizen can live, work and aspire to the realization of the American dream. Thank you.”

SWEATSHOPS AND TRADE NEWS

CAFTA PASSES BY SLIM MARGIN
July 28, 2005 • WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House narrowly approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement early Thursday, a personal triumph for President Bush, who campaigned aggressively for the accord he said would foster prosperity and democracy in the hemisphere.

The 217-215 vote just after midnight adds six Latin American countries to the growing lists of nations with free trade agreements with the United States and averts what could have been a major political embarrassment for the Bush administration.

It was an uphill effort to win a majority, with Bush traveling to Capitol Hill earlier in the day to appeal to wavering Republicans to support a deal he said was critical to U.S. national security.
The vote, supposed to take 15 minutes, dragged on for an hour as negotiations swirled around the floor among GOP leaders and rank-and-file members reluctant to vote for the agreement. In the end, 27 Republicans voted against CAFTA, while 15 Democrats supported it.

Lobbying continued right up to the vote, with Vice President Dick Cheney, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez tracking undecided lawmakers.

Bush hailed the vote. "CAFTA helps ensure that free trade is fair trade," he said in a statement issued by the White House. "By lowering trade barriers to American goods in Central American markets to a level now enjoyed by their goods in the U.S., this agreement will level the playing field and help American workers, farmers and small businesses."

The United States signed the accord, known as CAFTA, a year ago with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, and the Senate approved it last month.

EFJ NOTE: President Bush signed the agreement into law on August 2, 2005. EFJ joined countless nonprofit, labor, environmental and religious groups in rejecting the agreement as weak on labor rights and environmental protections. In his statement above, President Bush co-opts the language “fair trade”, apparently hoping that in using the language it may appease people who are not well-versed on trade issues. CAFTA is clearly NOT an agreement that incorporates fair trade, and it is wrong of the president to mislead the public by using that language. While CAFTA did pass, it was passed by only 2 votes, which shows that the grassroots advocacy and education on behalf of nonprofits and concerned citizens had a powerful effect on Congressional Representatives.

REEBOK SWEATSHOPS IN HONDURAS
Athletic apparel giant Reebok disputed as "inaccurate and unfair" a report by the National Labor Committee (NLC) that says workers at a factory in Honduras toil in sweatshop conditions making the company’s gear, reports the Associated Press July 22.

The company’s press statement said it will hire an independent agency to asses the working conditions at the Hansoll factory to address the allegations.

The NLC staged a protest outside the National Basketball Association store in midtown Manhattan. Reebok supplies apparel to the league, as well as the National Football League. The organization accuses Reebok of paying workers 19 cents for each $75 jersey they sew.

Reebok told AP that its wages are "consistent with requirements under local law," and that the company subsidizes workers' lunches by 20 percent. It said the factory assured Reebok that workers were paid more than 19 cents per garment. Reebok also disputed claims that workers are locked inside the factory and required to work ten hours a day, and a claim that women there are subjected to pregnancy tests at work.

On July 25, the NLC issued a release listing the names of NBA and NFL stars on jerseys made at the Hansoll factory and displayed the named jerseys at the protest.
"This is the third time over the past several years that we have found the NBA using sweatshops. Each time a league spokesperson tells us that they’re investigating to make sure it’ll never happen again. I would bet that the players whose names appear on the jerseys have no idea where these shirts were made. When will the players, their agents and the players’ association put a stop to this?” said Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the NLC.

The report was founded on dozens of interviews by the NLC with staff at the Hansoll factory between April and July 2005. The NLC also reportedly received pay stubs from the workers documenting their hours and filmed the workers locked in the factory compound.

For more information see www.nlcnet.org and www.reebok.com.

EFJ NOTE: Charles Kernaghan and the National Labor Committee have an outstanding reputation for investigating and reporting sweatshop abuses in Central America and Bangladesh. This organization was the one to break the Kathie Lee Gifford child labor scandal back in the 90’s, which blew open the doors to reports of sweatshop conditions worldwide.

ADIDAS BUYS REEBOK IN $3.1 BILLION DEAL
August 3, 2005 (Germany) The world's second-biggest sportswear maker, adidas-Salomon, has announced that it is buying smaller rival Reebok in a deal worth $3.1billion. The deal will allow Adidas to grow its presence on Reebok’s domestic US market, driving its efforts to catch up with market leader Nike Inc.

Adidas is paying $59 (USD) per share for Reebok, and will also take on $69 million worth of cash, according to a statement released by Adidas. The transaction will take Adidas’ share in the international athletic-shoe market to approximately 28 per cent, compared to the 31per cent boasted by Nike. The deal, if cleared by shareholders, should be completed by early 2006.

HIGH SCHOOLS BEGIN TO GO SWEATSHOP-FREE
St. Ignatius Prep High School in San Francisco has begun to require that all clubs and groups purchasing apparel use sweat-free suppliers. Along with this exciting development, a new Students Against Sweatshops group emerged at the end of the 2004-2005 school year and they plan to work on a campaign in the Fall that will ensure that generic SI apparel and team sports apparel come from sweat-free suppliers as well. SI Prep is a school where EFJ Co-Directors have delivered presentations for the last four years.

GAP ADMITS TO PROBLEMS AT FACTORIES
The Guardian reports July 14 that the Gap has said that conditions at the factories that make its clothes were improving but admitted that many problems still existed.

In its second annual corporate social responsibility report, the retailer candidly released these details of its factories. The full report is available at www.gapinc.com. The company produces clothes in 3,000 factories across 50 countries. Over the year, 90 inspectors visited almost all of them, it said. According to the report, the company did not see significant changes in overall factory compliance levels from 2003 to 2004.

Among the labor violations uncovered were a Chinese factory found to forbid workers resigning at peak production periods, and three factories employing child labor. The company said it revoked approval for 70 factories that violated its code of conduct during 2004, down from 136 in 2003. The retail group, which also owns the Banana Republic and Old Navy chains, turned down applications from 15% of factories seeking contracts.

PICKS OF THE MONTH

WEBSITES OF THE MONTH:

www.axisofjustice.org
Axis of Justice is non-profit organization formed by Tom Morello of Audioslave and Serj Tankian of System of a Down. Its purpose is to bring together musicians, fans of music, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice together. AOJ has an exciting connection to EFJ as EFJ Co-Director, Jim Keady, moonlights as AOJ”s “Chief of Stuff” and EFJ’s webmaster, Jeff Lyons also designed and maintains AOJ’s new site.

www.campusactivism.org
This interactive website has tools for progressive student and youth activists. You can use it to start a campaign, share activism resources, publicize events, and build networks. Or you can join an existing campaign, get resources, learn about upcoming activist events, and let people find you. Currently featured on the site is the “WRC map” that shows the 144 schools that belong to the Workers Rights Consortium. A direct link to the map is at: www.campusactivism.org/googlemap/wrcmap.php

CAMPAIGNS OF THE MONTH:

CAMPAIGN TO STOP KILLER COKE
Although this campaign was featured in July’s EFJ News, we wanted to highlight it again. This campaign is seeking your help to stop a gruesome cycle of murders, kidnappings, and torture of union leaders and organizers involved in daily life-and-death struggles at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Columbia, South America. Learn more at: www.killercoke.org.

GLOBAL WARMING: UNDO IT!
On Thursday, August 4th, Commander Eileen Collins of the shuttle Discovery said astronauts had seen widespread environmental destruction on Earth and warned that greater care was needed to protect natural resources.

“Sometimes you can see how there is erosion, and you can see how there is deforestation. It's very widespread in some parts of the world,” said Commander Collins from the shuttle Discovery. “The atmosphere almost looks like an eggshell on an egg, it's so very thin,” she said. “We would like to see, from the astronauts' point of view, people take good care of the Earth and replace the resources that have been used,” said Collins. Global Warming: Undo It is an Environmental Defense campaign that addresses the critical issue of climate change. Their number one objective is passage of the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act, which would dramatically cut polluting emissions. Learn more at: www.undoit.org

EFJ BLOG

60 YEARS LATER, APOLOGY FOR HIROSHIMA
This EFJ Blog post is from the August 12, 2005 of the National Catholic Reporter. It begins:

“In one of her last public appearances before she fell ill for several years, Dorothy Day stood, with trepidation, before an audience at the 1976 Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia. The date was Aug. 6, the Feast of the Transfiguration and the 31st anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.”

Read the full editorial and share your thoughts at: www.efj.blogspot.com

ACTION ITEM OF THE MONTH

BUY A T-SHIRT FOR JUSTICE
Our Action Item of the Month is directly linked to the aforementioned launch of the EFJ Clothing Co. As the Fall semester is fast approaching (sorry to break the news), we know that many of you would love to be wearing your values when school begins. Start building your “sweatfree” wardrobe today. Along with looking great, you will be supporting worker justice on the factory floor as well as helping to fund EFJ’s educational initiatives. You look great, workers are treated fairly, and EFJ can keep educating and empowering to end injustice. It’s a win-win-win.

Visit the store right now at: www.educatingforjustice.org/store.htm

July 2005

  • Comprehensive Sweat-Free Ordinance Introduced in San Francisco
  • American Apparel Sued for Sexual Harassment
  • Clean Clothes Campaign Targets FILA
  • Congress Lifts Ban on Weapons to Indonesia
  • Website of the Month: “Killer Coke” Campaign
  • Action of the Month: NO to CAFTA

COMPREHENSIVE SWEAT-FREE ORDINANCE INTRODUCED IN SAN FRANCISCO
On Monday, June 27, Global Exchange and the SweatFree Bay Area Coalition held a press conference with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Tom Ammiano (the co-authors of the San Francisco SweatFree ordinance) which would prohibit the City from buying any goods (from garments to food) made in sweatshops. On June 28, the ordinance was introduced. Nine of eleven San Francisco officials co-sponsored the ordinance virtually ensuring its passage in late September of this year.

Over 100 San Francisco residents and members of the SweatFree Bay Area coalition (which consists of 56 local labor, faith-based, student, and community groups) attended to witness the public announcement of the nation’s strongest sweat-free ordinance. The ordinance has accompanying Fair Trade Certified and Organic Certified purchasing resolutions as well as a letter promising $100,000 allocated in the city budget for enforcement of the policies, split between the city and a non-profit, independent, credible monitor.

To learn more or to start a similar campaign, visit www.sweatfree.org

American Chronicle
www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=847
“Newsom & Ammiano Propose Sweatshop-Free Ordinance”

AMERICAN APPAREL CEO SUED FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT
(LOS ANGELES - May 31, 2005) Two women are suing the CEO of American Apparel for allegedly creating a sexually hostile work setting by using crass language, exposing himself and demanding one plaintiff find him women for sex. There was no immediate response to a telephone message and e-mail requesting comment on the allegations from a representative for American Apparel, which manufactures T-shirts. Heather Pithie and Rebecca Brinegar filed the employee harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday. They jointly allege in the complaint that the head of American Apparel, Dov Charney, "through his pattern and practice of egregious sexual comments, gestures and innuendos, creates and fosters a widespread offensive working environment intimidating and threatening to women employed at American Apparel."

The company prides itself on being sweatshop-free with all its clothing cut and sewn at a 800,000-square-foot facility in downtown Los Angeles -- the largest of its kind in the United States, according to the American Apparel Web site. Both Pithie and Brinegar allege they were forced to quit early this year because of the sexual harassment experienced on the job. Pithie claims Charney "made it clear ... that her job was to find him young attractive women to engage in sex" and used sexually explicit language to describe the type of women he wanted.

According to the suit, Pithie attended a work-related event in February in Las Vegas where Charney yelled and cursed at her, again using sexually explicit language. She quit about two weeks later, citing Charney's "perverse behavior" as the reason for her departure, the suit states. Brinegar, who helped coordinate trade shows for the company, alleges Charney used sexually explicit language, gestured to his crotch and exposed himself to her. The co-plaintiff claims she complained to management, who agreed to talk to Charney, but nothing changed. After a female employee allegedly was raped by a male employee, Brinegar quit her job in January. Brinegar alleges Charney "characterized the rape as a 'little problem in Vegas."' The plaintiffs are asking for general, compensatory and punitive damages against Charney and the company.

Business Week Online (June 27, 2005)
“Living on the Edge at American Apparel”
www.businessweekasia.com/magazine/content/05_26/b3939108_mz017.htm

NOTE: EFJ did research on the American Apparel company last year, and determined that the work conditions are NOT sweatshop-free, in particular due to the National Labor Relations Board investigation of American Apparel for violating federal law by blocking the unionization of its factory. Given the current sexual harassment case, EFJ maintains that American Apparel does not meet the standards for sweatshop-free consideration. For more info on such standards, click here.

CLEAN CLOTHES CAMPAIGN TARGETS FILA
Labor rights activists from a variety of countries and organizations are joining together in a campaign against international sportswear brand Fila.

The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), together with its allies, has planned a series of protests targeting US-based Fila because of their failure to act responsibly towards Indonesian workers who made their sport shoes.

The CCC launched its Fila protests at the Wimbledon tennis championships with a naked tennis match intended to attract attention to Fila’s negligence on workers’ rights issues.

The campaign calls for Fila to compensate thousands of workers in Tangerang, Indonesia. The workers, mostly women, reportedly came to work on February 11th, 2005 to find that the PT Tae Hwa factory that employed them had shut down. The workers were suddenly unemployed and have yet to receive back wages or the compensation they are entitled to, according to the CCC.

The right of the workers to compensation was supported by the Indonesian courts in a May 2, 2005 decision. The CCC and affiliate labor organizations are calling on Fila to clarify its role in the closure of the PT Tae Hwa factory; ensure that the PT Tae Hwa workers are paid the back pay that they are owed; ensure that the PT Tae Hwa workers are paid the compensation owed to them and granted by the Indonesian courts on May 2, 2005 without further appeal by the employer, and play an active role in getting the PT Tae Hwa workers new jobs.

More information is available at: www.cleanclothes.org

CONGRESS LIFTS BAN ON WEAPONS TO INDONESIA
On June 28th, 2005 the House of Representatives lifted all restrictions on military assistance for Indonesia in the FY 2006 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.

Back in September 1999, Congress voted to sever all military ties with Indonesia, as it was found that the Indonesian military was responsible for countless human rights abuses, torture, rape, murders and large-scale massacres in both Indonesia and East Timor. During such abuses and massacres, Indonesian troops wielded U.S.-supplied weapons.

For several years, Indonesia was restricted from receiving International Military Education and Training (IMET brings foreign military officers to the U.S. for training) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF provides grants and loans to help countries purchase U.S.-produced weapons, defense equipment, services and military training.)

However, in late February, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice restored full IMET for Indonesia. When Indonesia's president visited Washington in May, the Bush administration lifted restrictions in place since 1999 on foreign military sales of non-lethal items, allowing the Indonesian government to purchase military equipment, services, and training directly from the U.S. government.

Nonprofit organizations, such as Educating for Justice, are concerned that lifting the weapons ban for a country with a history of human rights abuses, such as Indonesia, maintains a vicious cycle of abuse. The Indonesian government can purchase military equipment from the U.S. and continue crackdowns on citizens who oppose unfair government policy. Because such crackdowns are now under the auspices of the global War on Terror, it will be even more difficult to monitor human rights violations that might occur against the poor and marginalized. In the past, Indonesia’s military was able to remove citizens forcefully from their land to make way for factories which would make products for U.S. and European multinational corporations. The Indonesian military was also involved in the intimidation and disappearance of union organizers.

East Timorese and Indonesian NGOs have repeatedly called for restrictions on military engagement to be maintained. The US-based nonprofit East Timor Action Network has been following these developments. For more information, visit ETAN’s website: www.etan.org.

Below are important facts (as reported by the Associated Press) on the amount of money spent for weapons and national defense around the globe:

Amount nations spent on defense in 2004: $1.035 trillion
Portion spent by U.S.: 47 percent
Portion spent by Britain: 5 percent
Weapons and arms sold by companies in 2003: $236 billion
Weapons and arms sold by companies in 2002: $188 billion

WEBSITE OF THE MONTH: “KILLER COKE” CAMPAIGN
On campuses around the country, students involved with the Killer Coke Campaign are booting the company’s vending machines off campus in an effort to pressure Coca-Cola to ensure that its workers in Colombia no longer deal with the intimidation and fear that has become common in the workplace.

Included among the schools to kick Coke off of their campuses are Rutgers University, Hofstra University, and Union Theological Seminary.

At Coca-Cola's Colombian bottling plants, 8 union leaders have been murdered in the past several years. In addition, hundreds of other Coke workers have been tortured, kidnapped and/or illegally detained by violent paramilitaries, often working closely with plant managements.

For more information, visit: www.killercoke.org

ACTION OF THE MONTH: NO TO CAFTA
What if you could prevent millions of sweatshop workers from enduring starvation wages, sexual abuse, limited bathroom breaks and toxic work conditions simply by making 1 phone call that lasted 1 minute?

Here is your chance and we really need you.

CAFTA is a trade agreement between the US and five countries in Central America and the Dominican Republic. It stands for the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and it is very much like NAFTA (the U.S. agreement with Mexico). NAFTA was supposed to be a win-win for the U.S. and Mexico, where U.S. corporations would get cheaper labor for their products and Mexican citizens would get jobs. In reality, roughly 1 million Americans lost their good-paying jobs, and Mexico became a place where sweatshops thrived. The only winners were U.S. multinational corporations. The losers were both Mexican and American everyday hardworking people. Simply put: the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.

The main problem with CAFTA is that it does not protect workers adequately, and it gives U.S. multinational corporations more power than local governments and communities. It’s not fair to workers, to farmers, and to the poor.

Just last week, the Senate passed CAFTA. Our only hope now is that the House will reject CAFTA. Here’s what to do. It’s really easy:

1. Make a free phone call - 1-866-340-9281 and ask for your representative. (If you don’t know who that is, visit www.house.gov first)

2. Ask for the person who handles trade issues. Tell them that you are a constituent and that you want your Representative to oppose CAFTA. Ask for a written response.

3. E-mail 3 friends and ask them to take the EFJ Action of the Month.

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