c. 1999 Religion News Service

(Pamela K. Brubaker teaches Christian ethics at California Lutheran University. She is the chair of the Sweatshop Action Committee of the Mobilization for the Human Family, a progressive Christian movement centered in the Los Angeles area.)

(UNDATED) _ Although the holiday season is upon us, my trip to Wal-Mart will not be to do holiday shopping. I am joining others to raise awareness of Wal-Mart’s human rights abuses around the globe.

Why Wal-Mart, you may wonder. Aren’t other retailers just as bad?

For one thing, Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer, and could make a real difference in the garment industry if it worked to reform the”sweatshops”it deals with. That is the reason the People of Faith Network (PFN) and the National Labor Committee (NLC) have again targeted Wal-Mart in their annual Season of Conscience campaign.

Wal-Mart claims to have a”buy American”policy, but the great majority of the apparel it sells is produced in other countries. It uses more than 1,000 sweatshops in China alone, where women assembling”Kathie Lee”purses earn 12.5 cents an hour. And some of those clothes with”Made in the USA”labels may actually come from Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific.

Thousands of garment workers work and live there in deplorable conditions, putting in 12 to 18 hours a day and earning $2.90 or less an hour.

The Marianas, a U.S. commonwealth, are permitted by the U.S. government to control their own minimum wage and immigration laws. Most of the workers are young women recruited from China and the Philippines, who pay a cash bond of up to $5,000 for a one-year contract to work in a garment factory. Many of their contracts include clauses that restrict them from joining unions, attending religious services, quitting or marrying.

These practices are in violation of U.S. labor law and human rights. Yet the apparel made there is shipped to the mainland, with no tariffs or quota restrictions, and it carries the coveted”Made in the USA”label.

Several retailers have settled lawsuits related to their use of Saipan sweatshops, agreeing to independent verification of compliance with their Codes of Conduct. But Wal-Mart and the Gap refuse to settle. Thus there is no independent verification that their contractors follow their codes, which end up being empty rhetoric.

The Rev. Lou Sheldon, chair of the Traditional Values Coalition, believes churches have a vested interest in keeping these factories running. He thinks this is a great opportunity to preach to people from countries, such as China, that make it difficult for evangelists to preach there. When the workers return to their countries, he believes, they will not only have money but be full of faith.

These values are not the values of many people of faith, who believe that sweatshops violate human dignity. Love of neighbor and solidarity with the oppressed move us to speak out.

Human rights and labor groups also support the efforts of the Season of Conscience campaign to end child labor and sweatshop abuses. And so do many Wal-Mart customers, as I discovered during a November action.

I was part of a group of people of faith holding placards declaring our opposition to sweatshops and distributing brochures making the case against Wal-Mart. A great many customers signed the cards we had, addressed to the CEO, asking Wal-Mart not to use sweatshops.

At times, people even waited in line to sign the cards. They may shop at Wal-Mart, but that doesn’t mean they necessarily know or approve of Wal-Mart’s practices.

Surveys continue to show that a significant majority of Americans are willing to pay more for products to help end sweatshop conditions. Many feel caught in an economic system they cannot change. But as the protests at the World Trade Organization convention in Seattle showed, more of us are beginning to challenge corporate exploitation of workers and the environment.

We want fair trade, living wages, environmental protection and respect for human rights. These are values more important than ever-larger corporate profits.

IR END BRUBAKER