The Truth About Free Trade and the Fight Against Sweatshops

Come hear celebrated human rights activists

Charles Kernaghan & Fabia Gutierrez

WHEN: Monday, Oct. 27, 2003
12:50 – 1:45 p.m.

WHERE: Multipurpose Room East, Student Center, Hofstra University

Charles Kernaghan, Director of the U.S. National Labor Committee, first gained national attention in 1996 when he testified before Congress about the 13-year-old girls in a Honduras factory who were forced to work 13-hour shifts for 31 cents an hour sewing pants for Kathie Lee Gifford and Wal-Mart. Today in Honduras, workers making Nike and Adidas sportswear are paid just 6 cents for every T-shirt they sew. When women workers recently had their pay lowered even more and organized a peaceful sit down action, 37 of the lead organizers were fired and labeled “terrorists.” But they are fighting back for a livable wage and basic democratic rights at work.

Ms. Fabia Gutierrez -- herself a former maquila worker -- now a leader of the CUTH labor confederation, will describe how multinational corporations are waging a fierce “race to the bottom” in a campaign to depress world wage levels and roll back any labor rights gains in Latin America. This national tour will also release the most in-depth research to date on the violation of labor rights in Central America -- documenting concrete case study after case study of repression in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Haiti.

FREE ADMISSION.

COSPONSORS: Hofstra’s Labor Studies Program, Caribbean & Latin American Studies Program, Hofstra College Women’s Studies, New College Women’s Studies, HOLA & Students Against Injustice.

For information, call (516) 463-5040.