The final cut: Levi leaves Edmonton - Back Burner

The long reach of sweatshops finally touched our inner city community with the announcement that the Levi Strauss Company will close its plant next March.

Edmonton joins the Ontario communities of Stoney Creek and Brantford along with a Texas plant. These four are the last of the North American plants to be closed by Levi.

After a long history dating back to 1911, the Great Western Garment factory sold its plant to Levi in the early sixties. The plant was tucked into a corner of our neighbourhood and was known to be a fair employer. Because so many workers were from immigrant communities, there was an on-site program to teach English. The Edmonton plant specialized in "Dockers" pants and the Alberta Federation of Labour placed its seal of approval by encouraging its members to buy local.

Even though Levi invested in laser cutting machines just four years ago, the plant will be closed due to the simple fact that jeans made in Asia are cheaper than those made in North America. The irony is that most of the 488 workers in Edmonton are of East Asian ancestry. Most immigrated to Canada in hopes of a better life. Now, they are losing their modest income and good benefits, knowing their sister workers in Asia will be sweating away for low wages in poor conditions.

The company has often been heralded as a good corporate citizen in North America. Levi was truly a part of the cultural fabric with its unique denim clothing. It was a donor to progressive community development charities. Now, Levi will only market and distribute foreign-made clothes. This could further tarnish a somewhat dirty image of the company's actions outside North America.

In a March 3, 2003 article in "Sweatshop Watch", writer Victor Narro describes a class-action suit by factory workers in Saipan, an island in the U.S. Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. This will "impact the way we address issues of sweatshops throughout the world.

The $20 million settlement of a landmark sweatshop case will go before a Saipan judge for final approval, marking a major turning point in the struggle for dignity and respect for workers who toil in sweatshops, sewing the clothes that we wear.

However, Levi's refusal to accept responsibility for the sweatshop conditions in its factories during its 14 year presence in Saipan strongly contradicts this public claim. Levi's refusal to settle this lawsuit sends a strong message of corporate greed to workers, consumers, and concerned citizens worldwide."

Those of us who don't work in the Edmonton factory will be affected, too. The City will lose a valuable business and taxes. When consumers purchase the most popular clothing item, a pair of jeans, they will be supporting this corporate greed while those jeans will still cost us a pretty penny.

The settlement for the Saipan workers is encouraging as are the "Clean Clothes" campaigns started in the Netherlands in 1990 and now active in ten Western countries.

Once in a while I read about universities making decisions not to buy promotional clothing from sweatshops. This is thanks to the work of student activists such as "Students Against Sweatshops-Canada."

The October, 2003 newsletter of the Maquila Solidarity Network issued a call to support workers at the Tarrant blue jean factory in Ajalpan, Mexico. "The factory is owned by the Los Angeles-based Tarrant Apparel Group, and produces for a number of major US brands, including Levi Strauss, Tommy Hilfiger, and The Wet Seal."

I learned about a new US company, No Sweat Apparel. They plan to sell clothing produced exclusively by members of independent trade unions in North America, Europe and the developing world. Its "Union Made" sourcing strategy is designed to help protect unionized workers in the North and fragile union victories in the South, and to support worker organizing."

Could the old Levi factory in Edmonton become home to such a company? It would take a lot of sweat to find the investors and learn how to run a business, but it would be a step away from the sweatshop trap we're all caught in.

Kate Quinn writes from Edmonton

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