News reports have described the use of forced child labour for cotton harvesting in Uzbekistan, which is then used in t-shirts and so on, including those sold by some major shops in England like Asda/Wal-Mart, as I mentioned on the debian-project email list last autumn. When you buy badly-produced T-shirts to support free software projects, you may be helping provide freedom for more software users in your country, but you may also be helping to enslave vulnerable workers in other countries.
If you buy Debian T-shirts from the UK, you’re probably OK. This is something that the Debian UK Society seems to do right. Their buyer (and current Debian Project Leader) Steve McIntyre wrote:
“[Fruit of the Loom premium Ts, Kustom Kit Augusta/405 polo shirts …] both FotL and KK have ethics statements that describe their standards. The KK one is linked off the front page of their website; the FotL details I have in .doc format that I’ll pass on if people would like to see them.” (original)
I also asked my local perl mongers group to do similar but there’s been no response to that yet (or any t-shirts AFAIK). I’ve been told that all of the FSF Europe gear is Fair Trade but it doesn’t say that on their web shop.
How about other free software projects? Have you asked about your T-shirts? Is there a central site for this sort of information?
Are you wearing Levi’s jeans? Reebok Shoes? Laptop assembled in China?
All workers are working in inhuman condition. Avoid these products too. Come on, you can’t have product 100% produced in ‘human’ condition as FOSS SW.
No, I don’t wear Levi’s jeans or Reebok Shoes. Also, I’ve never really considered doing so, so I don’t know their production methods.
My laptop was assembled in China, but there are three mitigating factors: firstly, it’s an HP, who are still pretty good on http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/greener-electronics-hp-ranking-5 ; secondly, I’ve had it for a few years and have upgraded rather than replaced; and finally, there’s not really much choice in the computer market, is there? When I checked, all of them seemed to have some components from unverifiable sources.
Not all workers are working in inhumane conditions, but abuse is still sadly widespread. We can have all products 100% produced in humane conditions – maybe not today, but we need to start looking for them, asking for them and buying them. (This is similar to my view of some parts of free software.) When I can’t find them, I aim to make an equivalent donation to a related social enterprise or charity project.
“I give up” is an irresponsible attitude. Another world is possible.
I agree MJ,
we CAN “have product 100% produced in ‘human’ condition”. Unless Kartik is somehow saying that work by its very nature is inhuman…
Good article.
Cheers
You’re talking about fair trade T-shirts and then mention FotL as a good example. Well, FotL says that they are for fair trade etc., but they don’t allow independent organisations to check on that nor do they have public records of internal procedures (AFAIK). And there have been problems in the past (e.g. in 2001 they were accused of systematic harassing and firing of union representatives in their low-pay Moroccan factory).
Instead of just believing corporate propaganda, it’s often best to ask (specialised) fair trade & human rights groups for their opinion too… 😉
And of course, some companies are even worse than FotL, but then again, others are much better.
Any links or contacts for which fair trade & human rights groups are critising FotL please?
When I’m buying a new debian shirt, I’ll ask more questions. If you’re buying one sooner, please take up Steve McIntyre’s offer of the appropriate ethics statement and follow it up.
Thanks for the help!
Most of my sources are Dutch-speaking, but they sometimes refer to English-speaking sources.
One of the English-speaking organizations is the Clean Clothes Campaign: http://www.cleanclothes.org/cccs.htm
This was reported on their site back in 2001: http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/01-01-24.htm (I don’t have any more recent issues, so maybe they are better now, but I have no idea really).
Other organizations that might be useful are Oxfam and similar fair trade organisations (some of them even sell t-shirts, so they might be able to help).
But what I did some time ago, was look through those sites and google (some) company names (combined with words like “fair trade” and “clean clothes” and the like).
It’s not easy to find a large textile company that has not seen controversy in this domain… 😉
i need t shirt