Wal-Mart Sweatshop Workers Speaking Tour

Join SweatFree Communities and the International Labor Rights Forum for the 2008 Wal-Mart Sweatshop Workers Speaking Tour

From April 6-18, 2008, workers from Costa Rica and Cambodia will visit ten cities in Michigan and Ohio, sharing their stories of what it's like to work in the fields and factories that fill the shelves of Wal-Mart. With your help we will educate our communities about the high cost behind Wal-Mart's much publicized low prices, and we will inspire action to improve working conditions at home and abroad.

Throughout the tour, we will call on Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to join the emerging State and Local Government Sweatfree Consortium, which would stop tax dollar support for sweatshops.

To attend an event, or to find out how your organization can become a co-sponsor, please contact Midwest Regional Organizer Vicki Kaplan at 574-975-6207 or vicki [at] sweatfree [dot] org. Check back here regularly for updated information on tour events!

Many thanks to our tour sponsors for making these events possible.

Live in Ohio or Michigan (or nearby)? Join us for an event in your community!

Wal-Mart Worker Photo

“Even though we have a union, the factory won’t negotiate a contract which prevents us from trying to get a raise and making the factory safer. My salary is about half of what I need. On occasions I have been forced to work as many as 24 hours straight. My factory produces Wal-Mart shirts including the Wal-Mart brand No Boundaries.”
--Florie Arevalo, Filipina Worker

April 6: Tour Kick-off Reception, 7:00 pm, Goshen College, Newcomber Room 19, S. Main Street and Westwood Road, Goshen, Indiana 46526. Contact vicki [at] sweatfree [dot] org or 574-975-6207

April 7: Cincinnati, Ohio, 6:30 pm, Church of Our Savior, 65 E. Hollister Street, Cincinnati 45219. Contact vicki [at] sweatfree [dot] org or 574-975-6207

April 8: Columbus, Ohio, 6:30 pm, Carpenters Union Hall, 1545 Alum Creek Drive, Columbus 43209. Contact OHFairTrade [at] gmail [dot] com

April 9: New Philadelphia, Ohio, 7:00 pm, St. Joseph Catholic Church Family Life Center, 613 N. Tuscarawas Avenue, Dover 44622. Contact Melissa at meluswa [at] yahoo [dot] com

April 10: Cleveland, Ohio, 7:00 pm, Pilgrim Congregational Church, 2592 W. 14th Street, Cleveland 44113. Contact brian [at] irtfcleveland [dot] org or 216-961-0003

April 11: Toledo, Ohio

April 13: Dearborn, MI, 9:00 am Workshop at the Labor Notes Conference, Hyatt Regency Dearborn, 600 Town Center Drive, Dearborn 48126. Contact trina.tocco [at] ilrf [dot] org

April 14: Dearborn, MI, 6:30 pm, Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, Studio A, 15801 Michigan Ave, Dearborn 48126. Contact Brad at wilsonbrad2002 [at] yahoo [dot] com

April 15: East Lansing, MI, 7 pm - 9 pm, Michigan State University, 105 South Kedzie Hall. Contact John at beckj [at] msu [dot] edu

April 16: Grand Rapids, MI, 4 pm - 6 pm, Grand Valley State University, Allendale Campus, Pere Marquete Room of Kirkhoff Building, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale 49401. Contact Alayne at usftmw [at] gmail [dot] com

April 17: Kalamazoo, MI, 7 pm, Western Michigan University, Sangren Hall. Contact Don at donald.cooney [at] wmich [dot] edu

April 18: Traverse City, MI, 12 noon luncheon, Michigan Labor Press Conference, Shanty Creek Conference Center, One Shanty Creek Road, Bellaire 49615

Speakers' Biographies:

From Costa Rica, Didier Leiton has worked for 17 years on pineapple and banana plantations and has worked for two years as a union organizer for SITRAP (Sindicato de Trabajadores Agrícolas y Plantaciones, or Union of Agricultural and Plantation Workers). He has been ‘black listed’ by the plantations for his activities with the union. Workers on the plantation are usually under 40 years old because of the hard physical labor required of them. Didier is 41. He is responsible for organizing workers on pineapple and banana plantations that supply fruit to Wal-Mart stores.

From Cambodia, Phal Savin spent many years working in garment factories, where she sewed clothing for Wal-Mart. A mother of five, she was recently fired for trying to form a union, and is now vice president of the Coalition of Cambodia Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU). Phal has directly experienced labor abuses by factory management, including being forced to work long hours and facing intimidation in response to her organizing activities. She and her fellow workers have focused on raising the wages at their factory and at other factories that supply directly to companies like Wal-Mart.