Comments on: Taking the Sweat Out of University Logo Apparel

By: Sweatshops on Trial in North Carolina

Sweatshops on Trial in North Carolina — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:54:11 +0000

[...] Phil Mattera | In April, I wrote about the efforts of my son Thomas and other students at the University of North Carolina to get [...]

By: Sweatshops on Trial in North Carolina | Dirt Diggers Digest

Sweatshops on Trial in North Carolina | Dirt Diggers Digest — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:25:16 +0000

[...] April, I wrote about the efforts of my son Thomas and other students at the University of North Carolina to get [...]

By: CounterCorp

CounterCorp — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:03:41 +0000

Phil, you should be justifiably proud of your son — a lot of children (perhaps understandably) react to their parents’ view by taking a different tack; the fact that he’s following in your footsteps indicates that your work resonates with him, and that he has great respect for the work you do, as do many of your peers …

By: Phil Mattera

Phil Mattera — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:45:40 +0000

Jim,

Thanks for your message and your correction. I meant to say “Nike claims to have cleaned up its act.” I’ll pass along your supportive words to my son.

Phil

By: Jim Keady

Jim Keady — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:35:04 +0000

Phil,

First let me say that you should be very proud of your son. I have been working on the sweatshop issue for the past decade of my life and it is students like Thomas that keep me going. Second, I just wanted to offer a minor correction regarding your post. Nike has NOT cleaned up their act. They have done a great job in convincing the public they have through their PR efforts, but their products are still being made in sweatshops. I was in Indonesia with Nike workers a few months ago. They have less spending power now then when I first started doing my research/activism in 1997 and the level of fear that workers have of reprisals for organizing is off the charts.

If you want to check out some of the work I have done on this issue, you can see some video news stories and a short film at http://behindtheswoosh.org/category/videos/.

I hope this finds you well. Please let Thomas and his friends know that they have one more supporter out there.

In solidarity, Jim Keady