The Price of Profit

They believe they are absolved of all wrong doing when they hide behind the fact that the work is contracted out. That if the contractor fails to pay a working wage what does that have to do with them. Corporations should be held accountable for who makes their products and under what conditions.

That should be their price for profits.

Northern Pretensions | Nike - Doing it Just? | Exposing the GAP | Disney Dogs

Ah, it gives you a nice warm feeling to know that you have purchased a Canadian product. It imparts a sense of security doesn't it? You have contributed to the economy, jobs were created and there is no fear of sweatshop labour. Right? Wrong!

To begin with it is not a Canadian company. Woolworth Corporation, a U.S. multinational retail giant, owns all the Northern Reflections, Getaway, Traditions and Elements stores.

Ahh, big deal you say!

The ugly truth behind the wholesome all "Canadian" symbol of the Loon is that the Northern chain profits from sweatshop labour based in Metro Toronto. There are many women in small factories or at home, sewing Northern clothes for piece rates well below the minimum wage, some as low as $4.50 per hour. At peak times, such as pre-Christmas, these women frequently work up to 12 hours per day and are coerced into working weekends. At slow times there may be no work at all. To add to this injustice, they are denied any overtime pay, vacation pay, statutory holidays and employer contributions to Employment Insurance and the Canada Pension Plan.

No one is asking you to stop buying Northern clothes, but before you buy stop and reflect about your sisters and imagine the suffering which exists in their lives. Ask the store managers some tough questions. Ask if they could supply you with their report of the investigation into labour rights violations. Ask what is Woolworth doing to ensure that none of their clothes are produced under sweatshop conditions.

We all know that big corporations will go to any length to increase their profits. We are becoming increasingly aware that to obtain these profits means sweatshop conditions in third world countries and loss of our own jobs. However it's unsettling when they fool us with the made in Canada wholesome, pioneer, aren't we terrific image in our own back yard. Let them know we will no longer be fooled and that profit off the backs of workers anywhere in this world is not acceptable.

1997 - 400 unionized jobs were lost when Nike closed the Bauer skate manufacturing plant in Cambridge, Ontario.
1994 - 125 Toronto garment workers lost their jobs when Nike outsourced the manufacturing apparel to Asia, Indonesia, China and Vietnam . They believed they had no responsibility to re-train these laid off workers as they were employees of a sub-contractor.
April 28 (National Day of Mourning) - Nike spokesperson Jim Small stated: "Indonesia could be reaching a point where it is pricing itself out of the market." This was in response to 10,000 Indonesian Nike workers hitting the streets in protest to the companies failure to pay the new minimum wage of $2.46 U.S. per day (increase of .20¢ per day). They eventually agreed to pay the minimum wage but they reneged on a $7.75 monthly premium given to those with steady attendance.
March 8 (International Women's Day) - Over a dozen Vietnamese woman collapsed in the hot sun when 56 of them were made to run the perimeter of the factory belonging to a Nike contractor. They failed to wear regulation shoes to work. The wage of a Vietnamese Nike worker is $1.60 per day.

Revenue (1997) $9.19 billion U.S.
Profit $795.8 million
CEO Phil Knight's 4th quarter dividend earnings (1997) $80 million
Michael Jordan's annual endorsement fee $20 million
Salary of Nike contract worker in Indonesia $2.60 per day
Working 10 hours a day, six days a week, she makes $811 per year.
She would have to work:

2-3 months to purchase a pair of Nike running shoes
24,661 years to make Michael Jordan's annual endorsement fee
98,644 years to make Phil Knight/s 4th quarter dividend earnings.

The GAP

The GAP wouldn't be able to sell a sock if the public could stroll through the squalid working conditions of the many women and children that produce their profits. And that is why they work so hard to hide this wart. But sooner or later the wart gets too big to hide and then and only then will they do something about it. Only when people stop to point at this wart and state how ugly it is will it change. That is what happened to The GAP - their wart was exposed. They caved in to public pressure and now have independent monitoring of some (very few) of their sub-contractors. It is a start, it shows what people can do to make a difference in the lives of others.

Disney Dogs

What is wrong with this world when we care
more about dogs than people.

All 230 puppies for the Disney film 101 Dalmations had their own heated kennel complete with a nice soft bed.
A woman in Haiti who makes Disney clothes exists in an eight by ten foot shack, with no water, no windows, no cushy beds just a couple of cots, with four kids who never wear Disney clothes and a nice outdoor hole in the ground to be shared with several other families.
With a veterinarian on call, there was never a fear of illness for the spotted cuties.
Two of the woman's children have malaria and dysentery, they can not afford the $50.00 for the antibiotics.
A well balanced diet is provided for the puppies to ensure good development.
This family oftens feels the pang of hunger as there are many times they can not afford to purchase food. The children are frequently fed sugar water and coffee.
$1 Billion is the estimate of Disney's profits from clothing, toys - the dalmations, Mickey Mouse and other consumer products.
This woman makes 30 cents an hour.

Now how is that for family values?

graphics by: The Labour Behind the Label Coalition

Further information contact:

Labour Behind the Label Coalition
Phone: 416-532-8584
Fax: 416-532-7688
E-mail: perg@web.net