Rights movement gains momentum

Many of the workers in sweatshops and factories in Central America are young women who are struggling to live.\nThe wages are low and the working conditions are terrible. \n"It's almost impossible to survive. The factories are extremely hot, there's no air conditioning, no ventilation system," said Jocelyn Viterna, a graduate student in sociology and Latin America studies.\nViterna cited a recent study conducted by Maria Elena Cuadra Women's Movement, which interviewed 2,562 women in the Nicaragua free trade zone. She said the study found that 85 percent of the respondents were below the age of 26, and 70 percent were single mothers. Sixty-three percent said their pay was docked when they had to go to the doctor, and 57 percent said they were not provided with masks to protect them from airborne fluff, which often leads to health problems, Viterna said.\n"These places are almost like prisons," said junior Nancy Steffan, who is a member of No Sweat!, an IU anti-sweatshop activist group.\nCrisis in Nicaragua\nHundreds of workers have been fired by four clothing factories in Nicaragua's Las Mercedes free trade zone. The goal was to eliminate unions that have been organizing and attempting to negotiate a salary increase. At the Mil Colores factory, more than 200 workers were fired, some of which are facing criminal charges.\n"The workers tried to get a very small wage increase, in a wage that doesn't really cover the cost of living," said Hannah Frisch, coordinator of STITCH, an organization dedicated to helping women in Central America and the United States organize for economic justice.\nThe workers struggle to find a way to feed their families. International pressure is being put on the factory owners, the free trade zone management, the Nicaraguan government, the U.S. embassy in Nicaragua, and Kohl's and Target, two companies that manufacture products at these factories.\nU.S. companies seek cheap labor\nAs the world becomes increasingly global, many U.S. companies seek to cut costs by manufacturing their products in factories such as the maquila factories in Central America. \n"The point is to keep the labor costs low. Free-trade zones are a way of encouraging these businesses come over," Nancy said.\nBut the results are detrimental.\n"Basically the workers have no rights," Steffan said.\nBecause many U.S companies are believed to be involved with such factories, some people say the United States is at fault.\n"The U.S. companies have an extreme amount of power. They could very easily set standards for minimum wage. But they're making huge profits," Viterna said.\nA national effort\nSTITCH trains women in the United States and Central America to deal with issues such as how to start and maintain a union, how to be effective in increasing wages and improving working conditions.\n"We've built a core of women activists in the U.S. who support women in Central America," said Jennifer Hill, steering committee member and one of the co-founders of STITCH.\nThe group is involved in an effort to help the workers in Nicaragua win back their jobs. Hill has been to Nicaragua recently for a training session with women workers who were fired.\n"They want to win their jobs back and they want to build a union. They are in a horrible position. They've just seen several hundred people fired. How do you maintain your union when you've just been fired?" Hill said.\nCoordinator Hannah Frisch said the goal is to get the factories to rehire all the workers, to drop all the criminal charges, negotiate a raise in salary and eventually to pay a living wage.\n"These women are trying to do all this and they have to worry about the fact that the water is no good. They have to organize a union and their members don't even have phones," Hill said.\nThe college campaign\nIU students are joining in the campaign to help Nicaraguan workers get their jobs back. Earlier this semester, No Sweat! members protested outside a career fair recruiters from Kohl's attended.\n"We're trying to encourage people to not shop at Kohl's until they treat they're workers fairly," Steffan said.\n"We exposing different corporations that use sweatshop labor and make them know that their not welcome on campus," she said.\nLast year, No Sweat! convinced the administration that the University should join the Worker's Rights Consortium. Now anything with the IU logo on it has to be made in approved factories. And No Sweat! is supporting other college campuses in their fight to join the WRC, leaving Hill impressed with the results. She said she believes that the anti-sweatshop campaign at college campuses across the nation has turned into a real movement.\n"It's just made a tremendous change in the ability for Central American workers to win campaigns and sustain their unions," Hill said.