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Labor Alert: Day of Conscience



Labor Alerts/Labor News
a service of Campaign for Labor Rights
1247 "E" Street SE, Washington, DC 20003
clr@xxxxxxxxxxx   (541) 344-5410   http://www.compugraph.com/clr
Subject: Petition to the President calls for "Yes! to Human Rights, 
No! to Sweatshops
 
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[The material in this alert was obtained from the National Labor 
Committee, 275 Seventh Avenue 15th fl., New York, NY 10001; (212) 242-
3002.]
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Action Alert: Petition to the President calls for "Yes! to Human 
Rights, No! to Sweatshops
 
Leading up to a National Day of Conscience on October 4, 1997, and a 
Holiday Season of Conscience in November and December, the National 
Labor Committee (NLC) now has available the petitions on which up to a 
million people are expected to sign their names demanding that the 
President, the U.S. Congress and the White House Task Force to End 
Sweatshop Abuses say "Yes! to Human Rights and No! to Sweatshops."  
 
The actions are sponsored by a broad coalition of religious, human 
rights, labor, student, women's and grassroots organizations, 
including (along with the NLC) the Union of Needletrades, Industrial 
and Textile Employees (AFL-CIO, CLC), the United Methodist Boards of 
Church and Society and Global Ministries (Women's Division), the 
Presbyterian Church (USA), the People of Faith Network, Congressman 
Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and the State Senate of Vermont among many 
others.
 
The petition states that "We the People...believe that in our global 
economy, human rights protections are every bit as important as 
corporate rights."  It calls for wages to be tied to the basic cost of 
living and for workers to be free to organize to defend their rights.  
It will be presented to the White House Sweatshop Task Force which 
will be reporting to the President at the end of the year with its 
final agreement which will establish industry-wide human rights 
standards for the first time.
 
In order to show public opposition to corporate use of sweatshop 
manufacturing, on October 4th, there will be simultaneous actions in 
hundreds of cities and communities stretching across the entire 
country (and around the world) -- vigils, candlelight marches, 
interdenominational services, leafleting, music, demonstrations, 
ringing of church bells, street theater and much more.  Students, from 
grade schools to universities, will be asked to play a major role.
 
On October 4, the coalition will announce the Holiday Season of 
Conscience, providing consumers the opportunity to shop with their 
conscience. In the midst of the shopping season, the coalition will 
release a list of the companies with the worst record of human rights 
violations.
 
Charles Kernaghan, Director of the National Labor Committee, said in 

announcing the petition drive, "There is an enormous decency in the 
American people who would never knowingly purchase products made by 
children, or any exploited worker, forced to toil under sweatshop 
conditions for starvation wages.  Our job is to help create a vehicle 
to free this voice of decency on the part of millions and millions of 
American people.  If we do our job right, we will create a social 
movement which will put a human face back into our global economy."
 
Order petitions and brochures from the National Labor Committee, 275 
Seventh Avenue, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001; Tel: (212) 242-3002 
or download soon from the NLC website: http://www.nlcnet.org
 
CAMPAIGN FOR LABOR RIGHTS memberships:  Send $35.00 to CLR, 1247 "E" 
Street SE, Washington, DC 20003.  For a sample copy of our newsletter, 
send your postal address to clr@xxxxxxxxxxx
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