Dress codes and labour rules: full, corporate disclosure of apparel makers back in fold

Ignorance was once bliss for Ontario's Catholic education students--oblivious to those hand-stitching their school crests for possibly less than a dollar an hour. Sweatshops were the unfathomable.

But the wool is now pulled back from over their eyes.

"Everyday, it bothered me that I could possibly be wearing something that was made under poor labour conditions," says student Christopher Longtin, an 18-year-old senior at Hamilton's St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School. "The notion of sweatshops is contrary to the teachings in my school."

Longtin and his classmates just wanted their school board to mandate their uniform suppliers to show and tell. They participated in a grassroots campaign last year in the same vein as well-known Canadian activist Craig Kielburger's, who by age 15, was responsible for Free the Children--the international network of more than 100,000 youths helping other youths out of child prostitution and labour. In the fall of 2002, the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board paid heed and was the first board in Canada to form a "No Sweat" policy, requiring their uniform supplier to divulge manufacturers' names and addresses upon the request of the board.

"More and more people are looking at their clothing labels and asking questions," says Longtin.

Lori Ryan, Youth Initiatives Coordinator for the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, is an exuberant mother hen to Longtin's cause. According to Ryan, high school students are now following the path recently blazed by anti-sweatshop campaigners on university campuses. Within a carefully woven network of NGOs, labour unions and human rights advocacy groups, young lobbyists have solicited greater corporate accountability in a globalized economy.

It is an issue that transcends their own sphere into Third World barrios, inside textile plants operating solely for the purpose of mass-producing student's day-to-day wear. "It's a very appealing movement for young activists because they know they have the unique opportunity to directly influence school policy," says Ryan.

An increasing number of students and teachers are forming committees and lobbying their school boards to develop a "No Sweat" purchasing policy--one that permits the board to terminate existing relationships with uniform suppliers if violations are unearthed. They are pushing for more assertive language in contracts, requiring full public disclosure, agreement to independent monitoring and unswerving adherence to International Labour Standards.

"Our purchasing dollar is supporting the garment industry, which is rot with human rights abuses. People are working in oppressive and unfair conditions to create our clothing. With this purchasing power, we can also improve those working conditions, raising the bar around the world," asserts Ryan.

Since campaigns against unsafe workplaces and bottomless wages began, consumers have been familiarized, and in some cases, desensitized to dubious corporate practices abroad. And the shell game involving suspected textile factories continues. Abuses are tricky to uncover and some brand purveyors have "cut and run" from their responsibilities when caught, according to the Canadian Labour Congress.

Debt and depravity

Adding to the depravity on the factory floor, existing labour standards have, at times, been lowered by countries vying for manufacturing contracts with foreign investors. In some cases, they have been dropped altogether by the. lowest bidder, it is reported.

While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank prescribe "liberalization," or an export-oriented open market to developing economies, half the world--nearly three billion people--live on less than two dollars a day. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations is less than the wealth of the world's three richest people combined. Fifty-one percent of the world's wealthiest bodies are corporations.

The poorest countries have been described as indebted, indentured. servants, condemned to produce in abundance for their creditors. It is purported that out of all human rights failures today, those in economic areas are the most prevalent. Seven million children die each year as an indirect result of debt repayment, according to corporate watchdogs. And an estimated 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically malnourished.

Curbing such "morally abhorrent" situations, codes based on the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UN conventions have been implemented by apparel companies as well as their host countries. On paper, safe factory conditions, fair wages and a minimum, admissible employment age are lauded. However, the application of provisions aimed at improving labour standards around the world, is still met with starch resistance.

Protest signed, sealed and delivered

The Canadian-based Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) is one prominent workers' advocacy group, promoting equity in maquiladora factories--the autonomous, duty-exempt exporters in Mexico, Central America, and Asia. It's a burgeoning movement, one not visible 10 years ago.