Students Standing in Solidarity with Garment Workers
Often we receive blog posts from constituents, partners and Ambassadors (we always love guest posts - let us know if you want to contribute!), but we sit on them until the time is “right” to post. Having just returned from the Dominican Republic myself, the time for this one finally felt “right.”
This summer, the CRS Fair Trade Fund gave a small grant to Gonzaga University student Yecenia Morales-Garcia to go to the Dominican Republic with Solidarity Immersion, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), and Alta Gracia. Her goals for the trip were as follows:
This summer I want to expand my borders by going to Alta Gracia Apparel in the Dominican Republic for two weeks. During these two weeks, I will be learning skills that will help me lead the USAS chapter at Gonzaga. I will be meeting and living with the workers of Alta Gracia as well as other college students from across the nation. Once I return to Gonzaga in the Fall, I will be using the skills I learned from the union workers and the workshops, to organize USAS campaigns on campus. I will also be collaborating with on-campus departments to educate the Gonzaga students on the injustices that occur in the garment industry as a result of our First World demands for cheap apparel at the expense of overseas workers.
As part of her grant, we asked Yecenia to write a reflection about her trip. Here’s what she had to say:
Brands become an identity. Brands that manufacture for our universities’ sport teams. Unfortunately not all brands or companies treat their works as individuals.
Everyday in countries like Bangladesh, the Philippines and China garment workers are treated as objects. The workers used and abused until there is nothing left of them. They work forced overtime, then are not paid for it. They are paid poverty wages that has them in the struggle of food verses water and food verses a home. Women are sexually harassed, workers are verbally abused. The workers are stripped of basic things: like going to the bathroom when they need to. They have to wait for their managers to grant them permission to go.
But not at Alta Gracia.
Alta Gracia is a living-wage apparel factory in the Dominican Republic with a safe and healthy workplace that allows for workers to have a democratic voice. Workers of Alta Gracia no longer have to choose between rent, food, or their children’s education. They are recognized as human beings and their human rights are respected.
Alta Gracia is a direct result of students standing in solidarity with workers and unions in the Dominican Republic. With the help of United Students Against Sweatshops, a student-run, nationwide organization, students organized and took action to make Alta Gracia the ideal workplace in the garment industry.
Change of the treatment of workers in the garment industry is possible and Alta Gracia is just the beginning. 19 students and I travelled to Alta Gracia this summer and we are continuing to stand in solidarity with the workers.
We can start by bring Alta Gracia apparel to our campuses. Not only to support dignified jobs for the people at Alta Gracia and their families, but to send a message to corporations that it is possible to see workers as individuals with rights, in the workplace. The status quo for the garment industry should not be sweatshops.
Next time you walk into your bookstore, ask them if they carry Alta Gracia. If they do not offer it, then talk to your administration about having it.
Change has started with students and workers standing in solidarity together, and, as the Jesuits say, “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam: for the greater glory of God.”
