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Living Wages,
Not Sweatshops
Kicking ass with the working class.
Across the world, the workers who make our clothing are subjected to long hours in dangerous conditions, just so that they can get by on meager wages. Workers fight these conditions however they can, but the "race to the bottom" in global labor standards has made it all but impossible for them to win the wages they deserve without support.
In 2000, student activists convinced Columbia to commit to living wages and fair conditions for people making Columbia-logo apparel. Since then, some factories' health, safety, and non-discrimination standards have improved, but wages continue to stagnate; in fact, Columbia has no effective monitoring system to ensure that wages paid to our garment workers are adequate.
SEEJ is working with United Students Against Sweatshops, monitoring agencies, and garment workers' unions worldwide to implement a monitoring system so that we can hold sweatshop brands accountable. We call on the university to demand wage disclosure from the companies producing Columbia logo apparel to make sure that they are living up to their commitments to decent wages.
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