Unions vs. WEF
Protest Gap sweatshops
By G. Dunkel
New York
On Jan. 31, the day that the World Economic Forum opened,
4,000 to 5,000 workers demonstrated at the Gap store on Fifth
Avenue, a couple of blocks from the sumptuous Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel where the WEF was meeting.
The Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees,
with some help from the New York City Central Labor Council,
had called the demonstration to protest how the WEF ignored
workers and aimed at globalizing profits, investments and
poverty.
As one placard put it, "Gap execs earn millions, Gap workers
pennies."
Sofia Sazo, a textile worker from Guatemala, spoke about the
four years she had worked in the Shin Won clothing factory,
making garments labeled "Gap." There were 3,000 workers, forced
to do unpaid overtime to meet their production quotas, in
dirty, crowded shops with bad water.
"We suffer," she said, "because they don't treat us like
human beings."
Besides the speeches in Spanish and English, two were given
in Chinese.
The chair made a point as the rally ended of saying that
this was just the first of many.
Reprinted from the Feb. 14, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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