{"article":{"id":141981,"heading":"Anti-Sweatshop activists demand Levi\u2019s take responsibility","author":"Cornelius Cardew","created":"2005-12-19 01:49:12","modified":"2013-11-11 00:37:07","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:37:07","article":"<p>Anti-sweatshop activists held a festive holiday-themed protest to demand that Levi&rsquo;s take responsibility for labor violations.  Demonstrators had cardboard cut-outs of mock Levi&rsquo;s jeans styles, linking these to sweatshop exploitation. At the same time, hundreds of postcards were collected and sent to Levi&rsquo;s.  Protesters also sang satirical songs that highlight corporate power and sweatshop exploitation to the tunes of Christmas carols. <br><br> Since January 2005, garment workers in Lajat factory in Gomez Palacio, Mexico have been organizing to address sweatshop conditions including: - unpaid overtime - lack of access to drinking water and clean bathrooms - exposure to dangerous chemicals - denial of freedom of association Since workers began organizing to form an independent union, they have experienced harassment by management, police attacks, blacklisting, lock-outs, and reduction of wages to starvation levels.  Because Levi&rsquo;s is Lajat&rsquo;s largest client, workers and their supporters are calling for Levi&rsquo;s to ensure workers&rsquo; rights are respected at the factory. <br>  <br> <\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","summary":"Sweatshop Watch, a California-based coalition working to end exploitation in the garment industry,  joined Billionaires for Bush, a group that uses humor and street theater to expose corporate greed to protest sweatshop labor.","numcomment":2,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2005\/12\/i2005-12-17-112958.jpg","filesize":"35.1 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2005\/12\/141981.php","image":{"original":"\/uploads\/2005\/12\/i2005-12-17-112958.jpg","small":"\/uploads\/2005\/12\/i2005-12-17-112958.jpgthumb.jpg"}},"attachments":[{"id":141982,"heading":".","article":"","author":"Cornelius Cardew","parent_id":141981,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2005-12-19 01:49:13","modified":"2005-12-19 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The rest of us will continue to buy products at prices we can afford. ","author":"Steve","parent_id":141981,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-12-19 18:32:30","modified":"2005-12-19 18:32:30","fileurl":""},{"id":142040,"heading":"support this nonsense?","article":"To Steve:\r\n\r\nI'm not willing to spend much more than $10 for jeans but I don't understand why I shouldn't support this &quot;nonsense&quot;, I do! The sweatshop workers probably can't even afford $10.","author":"Art Kennedy","parent_id":141981,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-12-19 21:02:06","modified":"2005-12-19 21:02:06","fileurl":""}]}