Ethical Christmas Shopping

Question:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – This is a copy of a bi-weekly online email list- if you are interested in in the subject line. begin letter: Greetings and Salutations- Howdy! I have had a rough one, but I am feeling much better, getting this letter done. Doing these letters really gets me sort of high- so if you aren’t reading it, don’t tell me. I am catching the Christmas spirit, activist style- and am refusing to shop from the following stores that have been cited by the National Labor Comission for using sweat-shops for some of their products: Wal-Mart- $.15/hr Guess Walt Disney- $.13, $.57/hr Nike- refused to pay workers $2.50/day May (Foley’s) Kmart- $.15/hr J.C. Penny- $.15/hr Espirit Victoria’s Secrets- $.71/hr (source: San Antonio Current Dec 11)

1: I don’t believe sweatshops are a good thing. The Triangle factory fire was shameful, that it was repeated in the last decade or so, was irredeemable. 2: That part out of the way, are you refusing to shop at stores that carry clothes, made by other firms, that were made in sweatshops? If so, should I chastise you for owning a couch or a car that has cloth seats? The fabric industry is infamous in its depredations visited on illegal immigrants, yet we insist on wearing clothes. you mention Disney, yet I am somehow sure that the people who walk around in character costumes aren’t so lowly paid as you indicate. I would be willing to bet that those wages are the wages paid to the workers who make the souvenir T-shirts and caps. 3: I would also be willing to lay bets on what countries these wages are paid in. While the fabric industry is infamous, it is still losing market share to goods made outside the country. I once bought a linen table cloth, manufactured in China, in a shop in St Thomas, USVirgin islands. That table cloth cost me only $40, while a similar tablecloth made in the states would have cost hundreds. I have no figures on what wages define the median income in Singapore, or Taiwan. I have no idea of the tax structure there. I do know there are two ways I can affect the cost of labor in those places. A) refuse to buy their goods, and convince my friends. The companies will go under, the workers will starve, but at least no one will be paid minimum wages anymore. Maybe, if I’m lucky, the landowners will hire the former workers as tenant farmers, so they can eat. I hear people saying that these companies make enough money to pay their workers much more, that is also true of many companies that pay their workers well. somewhere, there is a balance point where the companies that make the product, cease to make money at it, and go into other work. B) I can buy their goods, and convince my friends.If the goods are of better quality, then the company hires more workers. The supply does not grow, so workers in that company start commanding higher wages. Labor becomes a higher percentage of the cost of manufacture. This is the only scenario where labor comes out on top. Go to the Marx-Lenin library online and read up. It is only in times of high demand that laborers, ever competing with one another for jobs, have a chance of getting their true worth for their labor. At all other times the landowners ability to charge rent, and the company owners ability to pay as little as workers will work for, combine to work against the average unskilled laborer. By buying their product, and talking it up to my friends, I will hopefully increase demand, cause labor costs to rise and prices to go up. This is not good for the consumer, but then, we weren’t worried about him, were we? C) The last thing we haven’t talked about is payment by the piece. Many garment factories pay on the basis of how many items you have completed. While this makes it easy to calculate labor costs for specific items ($1 per shirt, say) it does nothing towards advancing the industry towards an hourly wage, and an assembly-line method of manufature (see Wealth of Nations for analysis of difference in living standards of worker on assembly line as oposed to individual turning out complete product). when laborers work on an assembly line, the only honest way to pay them is for time put in. In short, investigate those numbers. What is the average wage in those countries, what does it buy? if $1/hour buys food, clothing and shelter, you have no complaint about workers earning $1/hour. a while ago, the mexican peso was trading for american dollars at a rate in excess of 800 to one. A worker earning 400 pesos per hour would have earned your wrath, yet have been fairly well off. At the current reate of exchange, this worker would be earning about $60/hour. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I can hear the responses already. People have tried to convince me that these sweatshops are a good thing- that at least they are getting some money. And I only ask you to look into your heart and ask it if this is right, good and beautiful. If so, I have no arguement with you. It is tough enough to convince a mind that is set in its ways, but a heart…. I am not sure it is my place to change anyone’s heart. And, I must confess I bought something at Foley’s today- because I did not realize that they were owned by May. Alas, I have not achieved perfection yet- but hold on Jesus, I am trying. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48 Being a disciple of this guy is tough! The GOOD NEWS I have so much good News that I am burtsting at the seams: This last week saw a lot of firsts for women around the world: For the first time in New Zealand’s history the office of Prime Minister is held by a woman. Two women have recently been elected to Hong Kong’s High Court And, for the first time in Israel’s history- women are allowed to be pilots. However, the new law has mandated that they take four days off each month. Reuters: President Clinton has officially changed the Military’s policy on nuclear weapons. The military is no longer to think of them in terms of a tool to win a struglle or war- but purely as defense. The military is finally admiting publically what everyone knew- it is practically impossible to win a nuclear war. http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/971208/news/stories/nuclear_3.html (I was kidding about the four days off thing.) A Call for Action: I am sending you the www address of a really neat site called Interactivism. This site is designed so that you can send of faxes to the appropriate people on various issues- gun control, Liberating Tibet and Campaign Finance- to name a few. And if you click on "action" you will find 5 more issues to voice your opinion on! A plethora of oppurtunities for you to speak your mind. The neat thing about this page is that they list 5 or 6 victories- in which public support (like for example- faxes, and emails!) helped an important measure go through. http://www.interactivism.com/ Go get em’ tigers! be well! blessings, Rev. Paul === -Everyone needs to do their part. -If you would like to be on this mailing list, a -Forward this petition to everyone you know, please. -If you are not interested in receivining emails from this list, just respond, with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. -The word "activism" rightly begins with the word "active."

– Come see my web site "The Elfvin Family Reference Page" at <A Href="http://home.att.net/~elvish1/" Your one-stop reference for information, books and search engines!

Response:

Not just at Christmas, but all through out the year, Knight Ridder and Gannett (the newspaper publishers) should be boycotted for their behavior towards the striking union workers at the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News.

Response:

This is a copy of a bi-weekly online email list- if you are interested in in the subject line. begin letter: Greetings and Salutations- Howdy! I have had a rough one, but I am feeling much better, getting this letter done. Doing these letters really gets me sort of high- so if you aren’t reading it, don’t tell me. I am catching the Christmas spirit, activist style- and am refusing to shop from the following stores that have been cited by the National Labor Comission for using sweat-shops for some of their products: Wal-Mart- $.15/hr Guess Walt Disney- $.13, $.57/hr Nike- refused to pay workers $2.50/day May (Foley’s) Kmart- $.15/hr J.C. Penny- $.15/hr Espirit Victoria’s Secrets- $.71/hr (source: San Antonio Current Dec 11) I can hear the responses already. People have tried to convince me that these sweatshops are a good thing- that at least they are getting some money. And I only ask you to look into your heart and ask it if this is right, good and beautiful. If so, I have no arguement with you. It is tough enough to convince a mind that is set in its ways, but a heart…. I am not sure it is my place to change anyone’s heart. And, I must confess I bought something at Foley’s today- because I did not realize that they were owned by May. Alas, I have not achieved perfection yet- but hold on Jesus, I am trying. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48 Being a disciple of this guy is tough! The GOOD NEWS I have so much good News that I am burtsting at the seams: This last week saw a lot of firsts for women around the world: For the first time in New Zealand’s history the office of Prime Minister is held by a woman. Two women have recently been elected to Hong Kong’s High Court And, for the first time in Israel’s history- women are allowed to be pilots. However, the new law has mandated that they take four days off each month. Reuters: President Clinton has officially changed the Military’s policy on nuclear weapons. The military is no longer to think of them in terms of a tool to win a struglle or war- but purely as defense. The military is finally admiting publically what everyone knew- it is practically impossible to win a nuclear war. http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/971208/news/stories/nuclear_3.html (I was kidding about the four days off thing.) A Call for Action: I am sending you the www address of a really neat site called Interactivism. This site is designed so that you can send of faxes to the appropriate people on various issues- gun control, Liberating Tibet and Campaign Finance- to name a few. And if you click on "action" you will find 5 more issues to voice your opinion on! A plethora of oppurtunities for you to speak your mind. The neat thing about this page is that they list 5 or 6 victories- in which public support (like for example- faxes, and emails!) helped an important measure go through. http://www.interactivism.com/ Go get em’ tigers! be well! blessings, Rev. Paul === -Everyone needs to do their part. -If you would like to be on this mailing list, a -Forward this petition to everyone you know, please. -If you are not interested in receivining emails from this list, just respond, with "unsubscribe" in the subject line. -The word "activism" rightly begins with the word "active."

Response:

Filed under: Activist Activism

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