AN INVITATION FOR PHILLY AREA KOSSACKS
USW Local 10-1 is proud to present "An Evening With Charles Kernaghan." Charles who? Charles Kernaghan. Better known simply as Charlie. Or, if you prefer, The Man Who Made Kathie Lee Cry. Charlie Kernaghan is internationally known (and internationally despised) as the Executive Director of the National Labor Committee.
Wednesday August 13, 2008 -- 6 PM
Chichester Avenue, Linwood, PA
This is an open invitation for all Kossacks.
more after the jump...
Not many people in this world have done more to bring an end to the human suffering and misery experienced by workers in the global economy than Charles Kernaghan. He is the executive director of the National Labor Committee in Support of Human and Worker Rights. Charles Kernaghan is the world's foremost expert on sweatshops and child labor. Besides exposing the fact that Kathie Lee Gifford's Wal Mart clothing line was made by children in Central American sweatshops, he has also taken on companies like Nike, Gap, Kohl's, JC Penney, Alcoa, Toyota, Mattel and many others and has forced them to change the ways in which they treat their workers. Also, Kernaghan's partnership with the USW has helped end human trafficking and 21st century slavery in Jordan for tens of thousands of workers making products for the U.S. marketplace.
Everyone is in awe this week at the amazing pace world records are being broken this week in the Beijing swimming pool. How many lives were broken to make it possible?
A Real Olympic Sweatshop
by Charles Kernaghan
Speedo may be the top-selling and best-known swimwear brand in the world, and an official sponsor of the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in China. But workers in China producing Speedo sporting goods are drowning in abuse. Toys ‘R’ Us and Carrefour are also implicated in this sweatshop scandal.
Surely among the qualities characterizing a great Olympic athlete are dedication, endurance, focus and constant perseverance, especially in the face of adverse conditions. As Lance Armstrong put it, "Pain is temporary, while quitting is forever." But even with these high standards and commitment, how many Olympic athletes could endure what China’s sweatshop workers suffer day in and day out?
"What lies in front of us," one worker said, "is a blanket of darkness. We have no hope."
"Because of Charlie' s crusades... we're beginning to learn the awful truth about workers around the world who are slaving away their lives in sweatshops, who are denied the right to join or form a union in order to fight back a provide a better life for their families."
-- AFL-CIO President John Sweeney
Wednesday August 13, 2008 -- 6 PM
Chichester Avenue, Linwood, PA
Invited Special Guests Include Several Local Elected Officials and Candidates
Confirmed Attendance:
PA State Representative Bryan R. Lentz
PA State Representative (and Kossack) Mark B. Cohen
PA State Senate Candidate John Linder (9th Senate District)
Directions To Union Hall:
From Philadelphia and North:
Take I-95 South to Exit 2 (Route 452). Make a left at the end of the exit on to Rt. 452 (Market St). Follow Market Street to first traffic light and make a right on to Laughead Ave. At the first stop sign, make a left on to Huddel Ave. On Huddel Ave, go straight through first traffic light at Chichester Ave. Immediately after the light, you will come to a stop sign. Make a left at the stop sign on to Palmer Drive (Palmer Drive is an alleyway). The Union Hall will be the stone building on your right at the end of Palmer Drive.
From Wilmington and South:
Take I-95 North to Exit 1 (Chichester Ave). Make a right at the end of the exit on to Chichester Ave. Follow Chichester Ave to the first traffic light and make a right on to Huddel Ave. Immediately after making the right, you will come to a stop sign. Make a left at the stop sign on to Palmer Drive (Palmer Drive is an alleyway). The Union Hall will be the stone building on your right at the end of Palmer Drive.
If you're not from the Philadelphia area and yet would like to help Charlie's crusade, you can write your Representative or Senators and ask them to co-sponsor our Anti-Sweatshop Legislation, "The Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act." I am pleased to announce that every Democratic U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania has already joined Senator Casey in co-sponsoring the Act.