Conference to address growth of sweatshops in American industry

By PATRICIA DONOVAN
News Services Editor

The ongoing battle against human-rights abuses and labor exploitation at home and abroad has provoked 17 UB entities, including the Law School, United University Professions, the Baldy Center, the Student Association and several graduate student associations, to co-sponsor a conference to explore the meaning of work and address the growth of the "new American sweatshop."

The first annual Anti-Sweatshop Conference, sponsored by the Labor and Employment Law Association of the Student Bar Association, will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday in the Jane Keeler Room, Fillmore Academic Core, in the Ellicott Complex on the North Campus.

Organizers point out that since the 1980s, Americans¹ working hours have increased steadily without any increase in actual benefits or pay. They say they will demonstrate to conference participants how current global economic trends foster the creation of sweatshops, and how declining working conditions, even in higher-paying jobs, have lead to led to our loss of control over the time and quality of all of our lives.

Working more hours
The event was precipitated by increased intensity and visibility of labor abuse, particularly that of immigrants working in the U.S. and of laborers in developing countries who are working for U.S. corporations, organizers say.

Speakers will include Nils Olsen, dean of the UB Law School; Law School Professors Frank Munger and James Atleson, and Betty Yu, coordinator of the New York City-based National Mobilization Against Sweatshops (NMASS). Panel discussions will feature UB students, garment workers and representatives of local, state and national human-rights organizations.

Film to depict struggles
A brief film, "American Tien" by NMASS Theatre Troop, which depicts the real life struggles of garment workers in Chinatown, will be shown in the Katharine Cornell Theatre (across from the Jane Keeler Room) during the conference.

To register, see the conference program. Further information about the conference is available by e-mailing antisweatshops_conference@yahoo.com.

Joane Wong is chair of the Asian American Law Student Association, and one of the principal movers behind the conference. She points out that human rights and community organizations have been successful in several campaigns on behalf of low-wage sweatshop workers, whom she says live dehumanized lives, particularly those working under treacherous conditions in developing countries.

"We overlook the fact, however, that there are many thousands of low-wage sweatshops in the United States," she says, "and that sweatshop conditions are now developing in job areas outside of the low-pay sector."

As a result, she says, as disturbing as it may sound, you or someone you know already may be working in a sweatshop.

Historically, the term "sweatshop" stems from low-wage work in a horrendously unsafe, miserable and dehumanizing environment like those that prevailed in the U.S. garment industry at the turn of the century.

This industry in the U.S. and overseas again has been indicted by labor unions and human-rights activists for the conditions in which many thousands of workers labor. The American garment industry has been linked to specific sweatshops here, and that often brutally exploit cheap foreign labor and child labor.

Wong points out that it is through the exploitation of these workers that the industry is able to provide low-cost clothing to ready-to-wear houses, which, in turn, sell them at a very high profit to American consumers.

She said that conference organizers want to explore solutions offered through the diverse experiences of the conference attendees and to create a chapter of NMASS, a group founded by students and young professionals in 1996 to fight for better working conditions for all workers.

Schedule
9:30 am	Registration and coffee
10:00 am	Opening Remarks: Nils Olsen, dean, UB Law School
10:15 am	Keynote Address: Why Should We Fight Against Sweatshop Working Conditions? Betty Yu, senior at New York University, coordinator, National Mobilization Against Sweatshops (NMASS)
10:30 am	10-Minute Video: Interviews With Working People
10:45 am	Panel Discussion I: What is Our Connection to Sweatshops? What Allows Sweatshop Conditions to Exist and Persist? How are Sweatshops Affecting Our Lives? Peter Kwong, chair, Asian American Studies Program, Hunter College JoAnn Lum, coordinator, National Mobilization Against Sweatshops (NMASS) Stanley Mark, program director, Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund Luis Aguiar, research associate, Centre for Research on Work and Society, York University, Toronto Moderator: Jim Atleson, professor, UB Law School
12:30 p.m.	LUNCH-$5 for all conference attendees at the Jane Keeler Room
1:30 p.m.	Workshops: How Have Different Groups and Communities Begun to Fight Against Sweatshops? (I) Defining Grassroots Organizing Living Wage Campaign Joanne Cole, executive director, Citizen Action, Buffalo Michele Sterlace-Accorsi, student, UB Law School Street Beat Sportswear Campaign Camilla Chen and Virginia Yu, NMASS Street Beat Factory Worker (TBA) Moderator: Rebekah Williams, UB junior (II) Affect the System and Change the Tide National Mobilization Against Sweatshops Nancy Eng and Jeff Mar, coordinators, NMASS New York State Sweatshop-free School Initiative Brian O'Shaugnessy, executive director, New York State Labor and Religion Coalition, Albany Joan Malone, executive director, Coalition for Economic Justice, Buffalo Moderator: Frank Munger, professor, UB Law School (III) Fighting Economic Racism in Our Community Campaign for Economic Justice at NYU Jon Lepofsky, NYU student Gil Banks, organizer, Harlem Fight Back Construction worker (TBA) Oscar Pareles, worker & organizer, Make the Road by Walking Ruth and Eva Herrera, workers with a story Safety and Health as An Organizing Tool Roger Cook, executive director, WNYCOSH, Buffalo Ricky Baldwin, mobilizer, WNYCOSH, Buffalo Moderator: Kevin Hsi, student, UB Law School
3:30 p.m.	Panel Discussion II: What Role Can Students Play in Improving Working Conditions? Moderator: Karah Newton, UB Junior
5:30 p.m.	"American Tien" by NMASS Theatre Troop (a 10-minute clip) at the Katharine Cornell Theatre (across from the Jane Keeler Room). This play depicts the real life struggles of garment workers in Chinatown sweatshops.
SUNDAY: All individuals interested in forming an NMASS chapter are invited to a formation meeting at 1 PM. (the place will be announced at the conference)