wfn.org | National Day of Conscience

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)]

Reply-to: owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)
"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (352
notes).

Note 352 by UMNS on Sept. 26, 1997 at 16:06 Eastern (4275 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Green							540(10-71B){352}
	     Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470	 		 Sept. 26, 1997

United Methdodists called to  
'National  Day  of Conscience'

by Kathy Kruger Noble*

	TOPEKA, Kan. (UMNS)--  United Methodist Bishop Fritz Mutti, Topeka, is
leading the call to Kansans and United Methodists across the country to make
Saturday, Oct. 4, a "National Day of Conscience."
	The day is being called to increase awareness of exploitive labor practices
used to produce many of the goods sold in the United States. The "National Day
of Conscience" is being organized by the National Labor Committee, an
independent human rights organization that focuses on the protection of
workers rights.
	Meeting here, Sept. 16, The Rural Religion and Labor Council endorsed the
"National Day of Conscience to End Sweatshop Abuses." Mutti convenes the
informal coalition of labor, agriculture and religion leaders that meets twice
yearly to discuss issues of mutual interest.
	In a news conference following the meeting,  Mutti and Jim DeHoff, executive
secretary of the Kansas AFL-CIO, said the Day of Conscience and related
activities in the 10 weeks following would make people more aware of the
conditions under which many toys, garments and other items are produced. 
During the 10-week campaign, the committee plans to release a list of the
companies with the most flagrantly exploitive labor practices.
	Churches will be urged to ring their bells for 10 minutes at noon each
Saturday of the campaign to raise awareness among the buying public.
	The committee also is gathering one million signatures on a petition to
present to President Clinton calling for an end to child labor and sweatshops.
The President already has created a White House Task Force to Eliminate
Sweatshop Abuses.
	As consumers become more aware of the conditions,  Mutti said, their choices
about what they purchase can register protests against unfair labor practices
around the world.
     By participating in the "Day of Conscience" and "Holiday Season of
Conscience," he said, people of Kansas and across the country can "say 'no' to
child labor" because children belong in school. People can "say 'no' to the
exploitation of  teenaged girls forced to work long hours in harsh sweatshop
conditions under armed guards and threat of sexual abuse" and "say 'no' to
workers being stripped of their rights and fined or blacklisted when they try
to meet or organize to defend their rights."
	According to DeHoff, throughout the world, an estimated 200 million children
are at work -- and "too many of them work under conditions that should move us
to shame, to anger and to action." He said "child labor has been  and
shamefully, still is -- a problem in the United States, especially in the
actions beyond our borders of multinational corporations headquartered in our
country."
	The resolution the Council adopted noted it has been documented extensively
over the past few years that: 
* 12-year-old children in Pakistan were forced to work 10 hours a day for six
cents an hour sewing Nike soccer balls;
* women in Haiti, stripped of their rights, are paid just 28 cents an hour
working under harsh conditions sewing Disney garments;
	* 13-year-old girls in Indonesia are paid just 21 cents an hour making toys
for Mattel and other companies;
	* 17-year-old women in Vietnam are forced to work 10-hour shifts seven days a
week, earning just six cents an hour making promotional toys for McDonald's.
	Although unable to attend the news conference, Wayne Maichel, Kansas AFL-CIO
executive vice-president, said in a prepared statement, "We must all, as
consumers, become better informed and aware of our responsibility to make
decisions as consumers with an understanding of the consequences. We must
become informed about the products we purchase and the conditions under which
they were produced."
	Packets providing detailed information about the campaign and how to
participate in it are available from the National Labor Committee, 275 7th
Avenue -- 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001. The telephone number is
(212)242-3002, fax (212)242-3821.
#  #  #

	* Noble is associate director of communications for the Kansas West United
Methodist Annual Conference.
	

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 This article sent to both the umethnews list <umethnews-request@ecunet.org>
 and also to the Worldwide Faith News list wfn-news <majordomo@wfn.org>
 Look at the header files to figure out which this is.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------