Help build No Sweat!

Submitted by Anon on 9 October, 2004 - 12:25 Author: Mick Duncan

No Sweat, the British anti-sweatshop campaign, became a national network in 2001. Since then the organisation has extended the breadth of its work, which includes drives to pinpoint against sweatshop bosses in the UK and overseas.

What No Sweat offers is a particular way of approaching such questions. Unlike the NGOs, No Sweat believes class is central. No Sweat's structures are open and flexible - there are Trotskyists like the AWL, anarchists, Labour Party leftists, trade union militants and activists from various backgrounds working together to achieve common goals.

Six national trade unions and the National Union of Students are affiliated as of 2005. No Sweat is getting bigger every week. In 2002 No Sweat linked up with the GMB London region to campaign against Whitechapel's sweatshop bosses, in a campaign that exposed gross exploitation in the heart of the rag trade. News that workers were paid less than the legal minimum to make clothes for big names along Oxford Street was splashed across the London Evening Standard. Many of the workers got significant pay rises and improvements in health and safety.

Practical action can win improvements by putting pressure on the big brand names. It also allows people to protest creatively. No Sweat activities are often eye-catching and theatrical - Halloween actions against Nike, "Streets of Shame" processions and stunts outside sweatshop bosses like Disney, H&M, Puma and Levis. We made solidarity with the FNPBI trade union in Indonesia. We organised for FNPBI chairperson Dita Sari to tour Britain. Independent unions, organised on the ground, are the best defence workers have against being abused at work.

No Sweat organises practical events and stunts to help press the case for workers in Indonesia, Iraq, Mexico and Haiti. We raise money for their organisations and arrange speaking tours for their representatives.

These direct links we establish through this work can become vitally important factors as struggles unfold.

A case history: in 2002 we organised for two worker/activists from Puebla in Mexico to come to the UK. One of the workers, Josefina Hernandez, was central to the fight against Nike and local management at the Kuk Dong factory. In a ground-breaking victory, workers established an independent union in this maquila (production for export) factory.

In 2003 when the Puebla workers began to spread the fight for union rights, we pushed for international solidarity. Later that year a No Sweat delegation visited Mexico. The bonds we formed with local activists will continue for years to come.

In 2004 No Sweat helped Haitian workers win union recognition in an export processing zone.

By touring Britain with Mexican, Haitian and Indonesian union militants we're also bringing the message that workers' action can make gains. We're saying: listen to these people, learn how they've fought and won.

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