The day of simultaneous actions across the country included vigils, leafleting, inter-denominational services, demonstrations, marches and more. This day also led into a Holiday Season of Conscience, when consumers are asked to shop with their conscience.

Each year U.S. people spend $184 billion on apparel purchases. The U.S. is the largest clothing market in the world. By raising our voices, we can create change. The companies have to listen.

Recently, several successful grassroots human rights campaigns--The GAP, Philips Van Heusen, NIKE, Kathie Lee/Wal-Mart, Disney--led to the formation of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Sweatshop Abuses. The Task Force is to issue a report to the President by the end of the year, setting industry-wide human rights standards.

In connection with this, a number of organizations, including the National Labor Committee and UNITE are sponsoring a petition drive for people to tell President Clinton to call for an end to child labor and sweatshops. A copy of the language is produced here for anyone to use in communicating with President Clinton.

A PETITION

to the

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

THE U.S. CONGRESS

& THE WHITE HOUSE TASK FORCE TO END SWEATSHOP ABUSES

Wethe People believe that there is a direct link between sweatshop abuses offshore and the growth of sweatshops in the U.S., job loss and falling wages. We believe that in our global economy, human rights protections are every bit as important as corporate rights. We do not want U.S.-based multinationals pitting the U.S. worker against the poor in the developing world in a race to the bottom competing over who will accept the lowest wages and benefits and the most miserable working conditions. We need to lift human rights standards around the world, not lower them.

We affirm the dignity of life over corporate greed.

• Children belong in school.
• Companies should clean up their factories and hire the parents and older brothers and sisters of these young people to attend school.
• Corporations must respect internationally recognized human and worker rights, with their actions and not just words.
• Wages must be tied to the basic cost of living in each country--which the multinationals can easily afford.
• Corporations must open their plants to independent monitoring by respected local religious and human rights organizations.

• NO to child labor.
• NO to the exploitation of teenaged girls forced to work long hours in harsh sweatshop conditions under armed guards.
• NO to workers being stripped of their rights, fired and blacklisted when they try to meet or organize to defend their rights.
• NO to starvation sub-subsistence wages.
• NO to corporations claiming that they will monitor and police their own factories.

SIGNATURE PRINT NAME ADDRESS

PLEASE SEND COMPLETED PETITIONS TO:

National Labor Committee 275 Seventh Avenue, 15^th floor, New York, NY 10001

Teaching Packet Available

Educating the next generation about the underside of the growing global economy--child labor and sweatshops--is an important task. UNITE has put together a teaching packet that takes on this difficult subject in a way that is understandable to school-age children.

The packet contains a number of lesson plans and work sheets developed to foster an understanding of the importance of work and education. It is now being used as a model curriculum and is available to teachers and parents who want to educate children about the real world of work.

To draw attention to this important and timely subject, UNITE also has book-covers that facilitate learning about why kids belong in schools, not in sweatshops. The book cover includes a child labor "quiz."

Is your child's teacher interested in the sweatshop issue? Would your child like to bring the teaching packet to school or use the book cover?

To find out how to order these materials, call 1-800-23 UNITE (86483), ext. 821.