For Immediate Release:
March 26, 1997
Contact: Rick Spencer, EarthCulture
910-854-2957
Suzi Hoffman, UNITE
213-239-6520
Students Act to Shut Down Guess Sweatshops;
Target Guess Film Festival on Duke Campus
Durham- A group of human rights and labor activists are protesting Guess
Jeans' sweatshops. The demonstrators, mostly students from Duke, UNC, and
UNCG are converging at the opening of the Guess Film Festival and are
handing out literature, chanting, and carrying banners from 7:00-7:45 PM in
front of the Bryan Center at Duke University on March 28. The protest is
led by the Greensboro-based environmental and human rights group
EarthCulture, and is part of a national effort by the Union of
Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). The director of
Girl's Town, one of the films featured in the festival, is considering
pulling it from the remainder of the tour, as he became aware of Guess'
unfair labor practices through demonstrations around the country.
Guess is one of the worst in a slew of clothing manufacturers that
contracts sweatshop labor. The workers- mainly women, are forced to work
long hours in unsafe and unclean factories for less than minimum wage. They
are also expected to take work home with them if they do not make quota
during the day. In the summer of 1996, Guess' illegal sweatshop labor was
confirmed, and as a result, the company plans to move factories to Mexico
and Central America where child labor and minimum wage laws are not
enforced.
"We want people to stop buying Guess jeans and other products made in
sweatshops," says EarthCulture's Rick Spencer. "Guess thinks they can just
move their operations south of the border, but we, as consumers, must
refuse to buy from them until they provide fair working conditions in the
US and elsewhere."
(
geocities.com/rainforest)