No Sweat is a broad-based not-for-profit organisation with HQ in London's Kings Cross, England, which fights for the well-being and protection of

sweatshop A sweatshop or sweat factory is a cramped workplace with very poor and/or illegal working conditions, including little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting and ventilation, or uncomfortably or dangerously high or low temperat ...

labourers, not only in developing countries but also in Britain.

History

Working with the

GMB Union The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 560,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...

in London's East End, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in 2005, the organisation infiltrated and exposed sweatshops operating for Topshop and reported those involved to the authorities. No Sweat encourages consumers to choose ethically sourced clothing, whilst firmly rejecting boycotts which only lead to factories being moved further from the limelight, further increasing the dangers to those trapped in the cycle of

wage slavery Wage slavery is a term used to criticize exploitation of labour by business, by keeping wages low or stagnant in order to maximize profits. The situation of wage slavery can be loosely defined as a person's dependence on wages (or a salary) f ...

Partners

The organisation works variously with parts of the TUC and other trade union organisations, the National Garment Workers Federation and closely cooperates with the Ethical Threads clothing company in Britain. It is also aligned with other campaign groups like Labour Behind the Label, and with "No Sweat Apparel" in the United States. Independent of political influence, the group seeks to reach out to all parts of the global community to help stamp out sweatshop labour fullstop - often dealing directly with groups of workers that would normally have no voice and no support outside their immediate community - for example Batay Ouvriye in Haiti and individuals like jailed union official Ali Nejati in Iran.

Events

They hold numerous events in London, Sheffield, Glasgow, Brighton and elsewhere around the United Kingdom, and have a presence at many events such as Glastonbury Festival's Leftfield and many smaller counter-culture festivals and gigs. Recently the organisation has been running a successful comedy night on the 2nd Thursday of each month in London's Cross Kings basement rooms, guest acts have included Mark Thomas, Josie Long, Rob Newman, Robin Ince and Simon Munnery as well as live podcasts from established acts such as

Richard Herring Richard Keith Herring (born 12 July 1967) is an English stand-up comedian and writer whose early work includes the comedy double act Lee and Herring (alongside Stewart Lee). He is described by ''The British Theatre Guide'' as "one of the leadin ...

and Andrew Collins and legendary punk filmmaker Don Letts. These events all aim to publicise the plight of sweatshop workers (children and adults) around the world as well as giving a platform to other, less prominent groups where appropriate and have developed a reputation as the last bastion of genuine counter culture in the now hyper-developed Kings Cross area.

Fashion parade

In April 2009 the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

news and Times newspapers covered a No Sweat fashion parade outside Primark's flagship Oxford St store - an event organised in response to recent outcry over the company's atrocious labour policies and relationships with subsidiary contractors who make regular use of child labour, as highlighted by the

's in 2006.

Goals

The group's activities are primarily two-fold, firstly to organise direct action campaigns to pressure the big brand companies that exploit people through sweatshop labour, secondly to work with independent organisations around the globe to support vulnerable people and help them to unite together and stand up to their employers, demanding safe working conditions, decent hours and a living wage as well as independent trade union rights to protect them from malicious attacks and extreme exploitation. They are volunteer-run, and anyone can get involved.

Gallery

File:1903sweatshopchicago.jpg, Sweatshop inspection in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, 1903 File:2008 Olympic Torch Relay in SF - Embarcadero 27.JPG, Women protesting sweatshops, The Embarcadero, San Francisco, 2008.

References

External links

No Sweat's Myspace

No Sweat's Facebook group

ethicalthreads.co.uk

labourbehindthelabel.or
{{DEFAULTSORT:No Sweat (Organisation) Ethical consumerism Fair trade organizations GMB (trade union)