Justice, ethics in economy put in focus

Suppose someone told you that a worker's health or safety had likely been jeopardized to manufacture your athletic footwear, or that a pregnant woman felt compelled to secure an abortion in order to stay on the payroll of the company that stitched your slacks?

If the foregoing scenarios stir a twinge of conscience or, better yet, make you want to help stop such labor practices, a conference titled "Organizing for a Just Economy: The Nuts & Bolts of Ethics & Economics" promises to be a soul-searching eye-opener.

Ethics probed

"The very words in the conference title should speak to Catholics everywhere," asserts Casey. "When you use 'just' and 'ethics' in the same phrase, Catholics are bound to make a strong connection."

The fact that Bishop Howard Hubbard is co-chair of the sponsoring organization and that he has been an outspoken opponent of unjust, unethical labor practices for many years should further motivate area Catholics to get involved, insists Ms. Casey.

Schools involved

This endorsement by seven of the eight dioceses in the state was important, she explained, because it sent a clear message to manufacturers around the world that New York's Catholics will not knowingly outfit their children in school or sports uniforms produced under morally reprehensible conditions.

One of the greatest obstacles the Labor-Religion Coalition faces is trying to convince large corporations that the public has a right to know where specific items are manufactured -- and under what conditions.

"They'll tell you it's a trade secret, things like that," Ms. Casey noted. The resulting lack of information can make it very difficult "to separate the good guys from the bad guys" in a manufacturing village of global proportions.

Injustice at work

"I have met with and taken the testimonies of workers who tell about minimum 48-hour shifts with forced overtime up to 70 hours a week for shockingly low wages," she says.

In Matamoros, Mexico, she discovered it was common for female workers to be given only three-month contracts. If a blood test performed at the start of a new three-month cycle revealed the woman to be pregnant, she either had to have the pregnancy terminated or lose her job.

Other horror stories include a woman who complained of having to sew the seam of a sleeve inside 120-dozen sweatshirts a day. The monotony and repetitiveness, on top of the exhaustive hours, were taking their toll.

Popular clothing

"Polls taken since the Kathy Lee [Gifford] sweat shop expose of a few years ago show that American consumers would gladly pay an extra dollar or two to know the apparel they are purchasing was not made in a sweat shop or by a child," Ms. Casey said. "They are often shocked to learn that apparel they presumed to be manufactured in the USA, like Fruit of the Loom, was actually made by foreign workers outside of our borders.

"We're not saying all of these jobs should come back to the United States. We are saying the goods should be produced in an atmosphere that doesn't make the workers sick."

Sisters involved

Ms. Casey expects student representatives of a "Free the Children" chapter that was started with the support of Sister Lee Connelly, CSJ, to be present at the conference along with students from Cornell University. The youth groups are expected to discuss topics ranging from student initiatives against sweatshops to how to bring economic education to one's union, community and congregation.

(Convention workshops will be divided into three tracks: Anti-Sweatshop and Global Economy; Organizing for a Living Wage; Economic Education; and Miscellaneous Nuts & Bolts. Keynote speaker is Jane Sweeney, special projects coordinator of the Queen's College Labor Resource Center. Kim Bobo, executive director of the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice; the Rev. Richard Witt of Rural and Migrant Ministries; and Brian O'Shaughnessy, coordinator of the NYS Labor-Religion Coalition, are among the other authorities scheduled to address participants. For registration information, call 459-5400.)

(10-28-99) [[In-content Ad]]