Students Stage Downtown Labor Protest

Chanting, "What's outrageous? Sweatshop wages!" and "What's disgusting? Union busting!" nearly 150 Boston-area high school and college students--armed with megaphones, informational pamphlets, empty water bottles and sticks--greeted hoards of holiday shoppers as they strolled down Newbury Street Saturday afternoon.

A dozen members of the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) joined representatives from about 20 schools, braving intermittent freezing rain to demonstrate for nearly four hours in front of the Gap and Niketown--stores which PSLM members said sell clothing produced under poor labor conditions.

The demonstration began in front of the Gap, where a group of self-described progressive senior citizens called the "Raging Grannies" led the group in anti-sweatshop carols.

The songs included "O Rest Ye Gap Executives." The song--sung to the tune of "O Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"--featured the refrain "O tidings of Gap sweatshops and lies/dangerous lies/O tidings of Gap sweatshops and lies."

Protest organizer Dan Denvir, a high school senior, attacked the Gap for its role as one of 18 defendants in a lawsuit filed on behalf of over 50,000 workers in Saipan.

Denvir and other protestors distributed literature saying that the Gap abuses Saipan's status as an American territory to print "Made in the USA" on their clothing, but has sub-par labor standards.

The lawsuit accuses the Gap of using "indentured labor"--predominantly young women from Asia--to produce clothing and failing to pay overtime, according to pamphlets and signs the protestors circulated.

One sign read, "Saipan Fell into the Gap."

The Gap responded to the protest with a press release stressing the company's concern over the lawsuit.

"We believe that once the litigation runs its course, the facts will show that Gap, Inc. is a company of which all of us--employees, shareholders, and customers alike--can be proud," the press release read.

As students chanted in front of the Gap, a sense of community seemed to spring up among the protestors.

One man offered passersby cups of free vegetarian soup from a large metal pot. Another passed out chunks of brown bread.

From the Gap, the demonstrators--carrying the pot of soup--moved across the street to gather outside Niketown.

At Nike, workers are paid as little as 16 cents an hour, the protesters said in signs they held as they stood outside the athletic store's doors.

According to a press release issued yesterday by Nike, the company says it has made steps over the past two years to improve its workplaces, including increasing the age requirement for all Nike workers to 18 years of age.

But these sorts of promises are not enough, Denvir said.

"Our goal is for people to find out the conditions, and start boycotting, " Denvir said. "Only when people do that, and it starts hitting the pockets of these companies will they really clean up their act."

Chanting was interspersed with short speeches by heads of Boston-area organizations.

PSLM member Benjamin L. McKean '02 mounted a snowbank to address the crowds outside Nike.

McKean reminded student protestors to remain humble.

"Even though we do all this, we are still involved in the sweatshop economy," McKean said.

He also urged the crowd to continue asking questions and investigating how their campus clothes are made.

"As students, we have a lot of power," McKean sad.

After short speeches by representatives of the Massachusetts Green Party and Boston Global Action Network--each applauding the students for their social conscience--the group rallied around four anti-sweatshop cheerleaders, including Jane Martin '01.

The cheerleaders wore Santa Claus hats, miniskirts, fishnet tights and combat boots.

Their cheers included the lines "Clap once for revolution, clap twice for opposition," and the refrain "We can rock the streets."

Invigorated by the cheerleaders, about half the group moved back in front of the Gap, and the crowd--on both sides of the street-- began an organized chant.

Their voices crescendoed as they yelled in unison, "CEO's don't give a crap! Boycott Nike, boycott Gap!"

Many students brought out empty water bottles and began pounding them with sticks to the beat.

As the group grew louder, two Boston police cars arrived. The police--who Denvir said had been alerted earlier of the protest--monitored the traffic to make sure that the protestors did not block the street.

While chanting, the students attempted to dissuade shoppers from entering the Gap and Niketown.

As one tall, well-dressed middle-aged man exited Nike carrying a shopping bag, a protestor addressed him with, "Thanks for supporting class-ism. Did you know Nike employs little children?" The man walked away quickly.

Outside the Gap, employee Linda Poon--carrying three Gap shopping bags--seemed annoyed and somewhat perplexed by the large crowd.

"I think it's kind of ridiculous," Poon said. "Are they trying to say that Nike has slaves? This is a high-end shopping place and they're just messing around."

Poon looked increasingly bothered as she surveyed the crowd of chanting students.

"I'm getting out of here," she said.

But the protest did seem to succeed in changing some holiday shoppers' plans, at least for the day.

"It's sad. I guess I didn't really know," said Boston resident Kim Franca. "It's good that they're making people aware of how bad the conditions really are."

It's reactions like Franca's that make this sort of demonstration worthwhile, Denvir said.

"I believe that most people really are good-hearted," Denvir said. "They just don't know what's going on. We need to make them aware."