When Children Do the Work

Talk show hostess Kathie Lee Gifford recently made headlines when she emotionally countered charges that she lent her name to (and made big bucks off) a designer line of clothes manufactured by sweatshop labor. This video is an unashamedly liberal look at what is being done today in the name of the new global economy. Kids and young women who should be in school are working in sweatshops, being paid poverty level wages, with the end result being that the U.S. balance of trade is hurt and American jobs are eliminated. The video pulls no punches and names names like Oshkosh, the Gap, and Wal-Mart, also mentioning a few companies which take a stand against child exploitation. The video claims that despite their family values stance, the Republican party's uncritical pro-big business legislation has encouraged sweatshop conditions. Some of the charges are shocking: owners of one third of the world's factories make young women line up each day to take birth control pills. The owners have also forced women to have abortions to ensure a steady labor supply while minimizing health related costs. An obviously pro-labor program, with a particular political axe to grind (although it's an issue we all should be concerned about), this is an optional purchase. Other new titles in the We Do the Work series include: Prison Labor/Prison Blues and Ties That Bind. Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)