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Students take sweatshop protest to the mall By GARY CHANDLER About 20 high school and college students rallied
outside the entrance Holding such signs as "End Sweatshop Labor Now" and "Corporate Greed = Starvation Wages," the students said the demonstration was intended to raise consumer awareness about exploitation of workers, especially women and children, in sweatshops. They also called on local school administrators
to act on "sweat-free schools" The students, who formed a line at the mall's Walden Drive entrance, are part of the Western New York Sweatshop Awareness Project. They said they were not calling for a boycott of retailers, for fear of hurting low-wage workers. But they urged shoppers to telephone and write to company executives, calling for better working conditions. They identified J.C. Penney, Gap, Abercrombie &
Fitch, Nike and Disney as There are around 250 million child laborers worldwide, many working in unsafe conditions for pennies per hour, according to the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition, an organization seeking higher wages and worker protection. The student demonstrators also urged schools to stop buying uniforms and other apparel made in sweatshops. Inside the mall, many shoppers said they weren't aware of the sweatshop issue, which has been prominent on college and high school campuses for years. e-mail: gchandler@buffnews.com Copyright © 1999 - 2002 The Buffalo NewsTM Last Updated:9/5/02
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