Students against sweatshops

Liza Featherstone and USAS, Verso, 120 pages, paperback, £10.00

A sweatshop is not simply a factory with bad working conditions, but a metaphor for the exploitation of labour, according to this book. Many conditions are indeed terrible, but the solution is still to organise unions.

This book is about the student anti-sweatshop campaign in the US, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). USAS is the result of a decade of organising, led by the United Needle and Textile Workers Union (UNITE), anti-Nike campaigners in Indonesia and Latino campaigners in the Americas.

The anti-sweatshop movement has used direct action methods, such as sit-ins, anti-fashion shows, and even a naked bike ride. But USAS has really proved its worth in international solidarity, helping garment workers in Mexico organise an independent union. As a result, Kukdong workers have won improvements in their working conditions.

It is a model for the No Sweat campaign in Britain.