Two Approaches in the Anti-Sweatshop Movement

Activists and labor groups continue to campaign a doctrine of unionization against corporate globalization with success in anti-sweatshop campaigns varying in approach. Where the movement first connected in social conscience, it is interesting to ask which  of these approaches will shape its future? Opposition to the garment industry existed long before Kathy-Lee and Wal-Mart became synonymous with Sweatshops. Yet these media viruses along with awareness campaigns over Disney's and Nike’s wage atrocities infused the campus activism of groups within the United Students Against Sweatshops movement.   

What further propelled the successes of United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is their solidarity with foreign, as well as domestic workers. Throughout the 1990’s student activists organized hard fought battles from the Mexican Maquiladoras (factories) to living wage campaigns on their campuses. That these mostly privileged youth were able to form a principled solidarity with often-impoverished workers became a drastic tug on the unraveling of the garment industry. Perhaps the most vivid reaction to sweatshops is the horror induced by tiny children slaving away in factories. Yet USAS has learned to avoid sensationalizing the issue of child labor as an approach to activism, focusing more on aiding workers in their own efforts to improve conditions.