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Anti sweatshop protesters right on Target
July 18, 2000 @ 05:00:00 am
DES MOINES, Iowa / USWA / - Fifty members of USWA Local 164, University of Iowa Students Against Sweatshops (SAS), the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the AFL-CIO demonstrated outside a Target department store in...

Fifty members of USWA Local 164, University of Iowa Students Against Sweatshops (https://www.umich.edu/~sole/usas/]SAS[/url]), the American Friends Service Committee (https://www.afsc.org/]AFSC[/url]) and the AFL-CIO demonstrated outside a Target department store in West Des Moines Saturday, July 8, to protest the practice of selling imported goods produced by sweatshop labor.

AFSC staffers Kathleen McQuillen (a former Local 164 member) and David Ochoa of Guatemala brought together students, workers and members of the Des Moines religious community to demand that the Target corporate leaders use their influence to improve working conditions in factories that supply Target stores.

According to the AFSC, Target imports goods from sweatshops in Nicaragua that exploit predominantly young women workers and girls. These workers sweat in conditions where 10-hour shifts and mandatory overtime are normal, wages are as low as 20 cents/hour, sanitary conditions don?t exist, women must relieve themselves while being observed by male security guards, the companies cheat on health insurance, and mass firings and union busting are commonplace.

"Exploiting labor, especially child labor ? whether it is in the United States or anywhere else ? is wrong, just plain wrong," said USWA Local 164 member Mike Bolten. Bolten is a former president of the local.

"Though our conditions are not the same as in Nicaragua, we know what abusive employers are. We know that if we don?t fight for labor rights around the globe, we will lose the few that we have left here. Companies will always flee to where wages are lowest, where governments and unions are weakest. Solidarity with workers across borders is our main weapon in a fight for a decent life."

Bolten?s words echoed those of SAS leader Laura Crossett who spoke of growing up in a union family and described how union security enabled her family to have a decent standard of living. She also told how she felt a responsibility, in a global economy, to see that all workers were free to organize and bargain for fair contracts without threats or intimidation, whether in Nicaragua or the U.S.

Pastor Denny Coon of Trinity United Methodist Church brought a religious perspective to the event. He quoted Biblical scripture condemning unfair relations between employers and workers, noted that workers are the source of wealth and have a right to a fair share of what they produce, and called for justice for all workers everywhere. Economic justice is not a matter of charity, but a biblical mandate, Coon said.

The demonstration, co-sponsored by the Campaign for Labor Rights, was one in a series of actions by the University of Iowa SAS for the day. The caravan of cars, brightly painted with anti-sweatshop and pro-labor slogans, also visited Target, Wal-Mart and Kohl?s stores in West Des Moines, Williamsburg, Coralville, Cedar Rapids and Davenport.

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