Labor Alerts: a service of Campaign for Labor Rights

NIKE DEMOS: FOURTH INSTALLMENT

[All reports were subject to editing.] Posted May 1, 1998

This is the fourth in our series of reports from local committees who participated in the Nike mobilization and demonstrations in favor of fair trade vs. "free trade." The actions took place on and around April 18.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA/TIJUANA, MEXICO:

About 150 unionists and activists rallied in front of the Niketown outlet in San Ysidro, Calif. Chanting "No More Sweatshops" and "NAFTA, NAFTA, There's No Way; Labor Rights Must Have a Say," the demonstrators then marched one mile to a border crossing with Tijuana (Mexico) where activists from both sides of the border could see and speak to each other through a rail gate that opens two or three times a day to allow cargo trains to go through.

As the U.S. protesters reached the border crossing, they were met by chants from the Mexican activists already gathered at the gate. In unison, the crowd began chanting slogans in English and Spanish calling for justice to the Han Young (Hyundai) maquiladora workers, many of whom had taken off from work to participate in this rally. A bus load of workers and students from Mexicali, Mexico, had traveled two hours to join the rally. The day before, they had held their own border rally in Calexico-Mexicali as part of the International Days of Action Against Sweatshops and Free Trade.

The rally was addressed by speakers from both sides of the gate. From the United States, the speakers were Alan Wasdahl, Carpenters Local 547; June Brashares, on behalf of the San Diego-Imperial County Labor Council; Mary Tong, Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers; and Alan Benjamin, from the San Francisco-based Western Hemisphere Conference Continuations Committee. Musician Ray Rojo from El Paso, Texas, sang original labor songs in English and Spanish.

From the Mexican side, the speakers included Enrique Hernandez and two other workers from the Han Young plant in Tijuana, as well as Gemma Lopez Limon, a leader of the International Liaison Committee for a Workers' International in Mexicali. Lopez Limon also announced that their committee had made hundreds of T-shirts commemorating the April 18 Action at the Tijuana border to finance their delegation's expenses. Dozens of the beautiful T-shirt were sold.

The following day, a public forum was held in Mexicali that gathered 200 participants to hear reports from Alan Benjamin and SF State University student John Murphy on the International Days of Action across the United States and the hemisphere.

Alan Benjamin

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA:

We leafleted in front of a Foot Locker store in downtown Pittsburgh. We passed out many hundreds of fliers and got a terrific response: quite a few people telling us that they had heard about NIKE on TV, and others stopping to talk or ask questions. We also got six radio and TV stations - more than we usually get! And we had a great time doing it!

Robin Alexander, UE Director of International Labor Affairs, on behalf of the Pittsburgh Labor Action Network for the Americas (PLANTA)

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH:

On the International Day of Action against Nike sweatshops and against extension of NAFTA into the Free Trade Area of the Americas, about sixty people rallied in downtown Salt Lake City across from the Crossroads Mall with its Foot Locker outlet. The protestors were mainly young people from the University of Utah and local high schools. Along with a sprinkling of trade union activists from the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of the Way Employees, and the United Steelworkers Union, the protestors created a lively picket line of signs, banners and chants criticizing Nike, sweatshops and NAFTA/"Free Trade."

JEDI for Women (Justice, Economic Dignity and Independence for Women) a local activist organization that advocates for low-income women was an important sponsor of the protest. Brin Bon of "JEDI Women" expressed the spirit of building international solidarity among working people in her speech when she said "We are not just doing this to boycott Nike but to help improve the lives of people everywhere."

DeNorris Bradley, leader of the Hands Across Borders Campaign which organized the protest, explained the purpose of the International Day of Action and the demands of the Nike campaign, chaired the rally, led chants, and had everyone link arms in a "human chain of solidarity." In his brief remarks, Patrick Beecroft of Solidarity argued that it was in the interest of workers in the U.S. to support the struggles of workers around the world to raise their standard of living and eventually improve everyone's standard of living. The Salt Lake branch of Solidarity was the key organization initiating the Hands Across Borders Campaign.

Protest organizers were pleased with prominent news media coverage including both Salt Lake daily newspapers, the local ABC Television affiliate, and friendly front-page coverage from the student newspaper at the University of Utah, the 18,000 circulation Daily Utah Chronicle. The Salt Lake Tribune story focused on the debate about Nike's business practices while the (Mormon Church-owned) Deseret News featured the protest alongside the continuation of its headline story on the Summit of the Americas "Summit Nations Chart Plans for Free-Trade Zone" and explained how the protest linked "free-trade" issues with sweatshop labor exploitation.

The protest benefitted from advance publicity on the listener-supported community radio station KRCL and the local alternative newspaper, City Weekly. Participation from the University of Utah was enhanced when the Solidarity chapter there held a "Say No to Sweatshops!" forum the previous Wednesday. Justin Elardo, a graduate student in economics and DeNorris Bradley spoke, and several videos on sweatshops and Southeast Asia were shown. Several people at the downtown Saturday protest also took up Solidarity's invitation to see the same videos later that afternoon at the University library.

Other official co-sponsors of the April 18 action were four OCAW locals, the Utah chapter of the Labor Party, the Asian Student Association at the U of U, Solidaridad Zapatista and Food Not Bombs.

Dayne Goodwin

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA:

More than twenty demonstrators took part in actions to raise awareness of Nike's use of sweatshops. The day began with people entering the Nike and Footlocker stores on Robson Street to personally present the store manager with a letter that highlighted our concerns over labour practices used to manufacture Nike's products. This action was covered by VTV (tv) and CKNW (radio). The group then executed a similar action at the Metrotown shopping mall. As expected we were quickly escorted out by mall security soon after presenting the letters. Finally, some of us returned to the Robson street Nike store were we handed out over 1000 fliers calling on people to raise their concerns with Nike and Footlocker and discussed the issue with many. About five people suggested in passing that we "get a job", but this was more than offset by the dozens of others who were extremely supportive. As hoped for, a few more Vancouverites are now aware of the implicit support for sweatshop labour practices attached to the purchase of a Nike product.

Gabor Melli

NEW YORK CITY:

We couldn't do anything specifically Nike related, but we did (just barely) manage to do a leafleting action with 5 people, a giant puppet, a drum and a leaflet about free trade, the Summit of the Americas, the IMF, the MAI, etc. I really wish we could have done more, but the timing was bad and we're swamped with organizing other stuff (May 2 march for workers rights, and many protests against immigration raids). We did manage to get out about 1,200 leaflets.

MADISON, WISCONSIN:

The crowd was limited but lively. There was a mixture of students and gray panthers, labor activists, and greens. Almost all the people were carrying small flags of red or black colors.

The lead-off speaker Jim Cavanaugh, President, South Central Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. He addressed the impact that NAFTA and the other trade agreements had had on labor in Wisconsin. Mathew Rotschild, editor of the Progressive Magazine, addressed the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and its pivotal role in controlling international relations and trade.

The next speaker was Christine Neuman-Ortiz, co-editor, Voces de la Frontera. She spoke of her work in cross border organizing work. She told us of the brutality of work in the maquiladora plants across the Mexico border. She spoke of her hope to establish organizing efforts in those plants. John Peck, student activist, from the Alliance for Democratic Action spoke next. He had just returned from Africa. He told us of the Sub-Saharan Africa Trade Bill that is pending in Congress.

The rally then began to march around the State Capitol towards the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) Building. As the participants neared the Capitol Building the Capital Police began scurrying to close off and lock the doors to prevent our entry. We chanted our way to the WMC: "Afta NAFTA, we got GATT-we don't want no more O' that" "N-A-F-T-A take your globaloney and go away"

At the WMC no more speeches were needed. This hardy band of rally participants was well aware of the role that WMC plays in fostering misery and poverty. By being the mouthpiece for corporations in the State, the WMC continually had lobbied for the expansion of privatization, both locally and internationally.

The rally sought to pay homage to these "globaloney" barons. Packages of sliced baloney produced and were presented as an offering. Slowly the participants began to spell out the words: N-A-F-T-A N-O on the WMC steps while chanting no more globaloney. Sidewalk chalk was produced and slogans such as: production for people, not for profits; NO to NAFTA, NO to GATT; WMC sucks, were printed outside of the doors.

I believe that there was a feeling of accomplishment at the rally in our joining hands with others in the hemisphere in expressing our muted rage at continued expansion of global pillage.

Ned Powell, for the Madison International Liaison Committee

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