Hanesbrands to cut 5,300 jobs, close 9 facilities in 5 countries

For the first time, anti-sweatshop legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress which will prohibit the import, export or sale of sweatshop goods in the U.S. Up to this point, it has been the companies that have demanded and won all sorts of enforceable laws--intellectual property and copyright laws backed up by sanctions--to defend their corporate trademarks, labels and products. Yet, the corporations have long said that extending similar laws to protect the human rights of the 16-year-old girl in Bangladesh who sews the garment would be "an impediment to free trade." Under this distorted sense of values, the label is protected, but not the human being, the worker who makes the product.

On January 23, 2007, Senator Byron Dorgan along with co-sponsoring Senators Lindsey Graham, Sherrod Brown, Bernie Sanders, Russell Feingold and Robert Byrd re-introduced the "Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act" which, when passed will prohibit the import, export or sale of sweatshop goods in the U.S. A companion bill introduced in the House last year had 66 co-sponsors.

NLC director Charles Kernaghan testified at a Senate committee hearing on Overseas Sweatshop Abuses, Their Impact on U.S. Workers, and the Need for Anti-Sweatshop Legislation on February 14, 2007. Click here to read his testimony and the testimony of a former sweatshop worker.

On April 23, 2007, Representative Michael Michaud of Maine and Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey re-introduced the companion bill (H.R.1992) in the House.