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See also: Indonesian sweatshops campaign Over 340 companies in the East End of London employ nearly 5,000 local people producing clothing for high street shops and local street market traders. Often these workers are afraid of joining trade unions, are made to work very long hours in the factory or at home, don’t know how much they will be paid week to week and suffer the threat of serious injury or bad health because of their working conditions. Many work in classic sweatshop conditions found in many other parts of the world. The GMB and No Sweat have teamed up with local people in the East End to campaign to put an end to sweatshop conditions in local factories. The campaign will be aimed at organising workers into a trade union, where we can, and raising awareness among local people, politicians and the press of the conditions suffered by our neighbours in the East End. If you want to help the campaign, please distribute the leaflet available at http://www.nosweat.org.uk/files/leaflets/WPM$1143.pdf (PDF download) on your estate, where you work or at your college or school. Ask anyone you know who works in the clothing factories to fill in the form on the other side and get it back to the GMB or to No Sweat. We will use this information to help us target our campaigning on the worst workplaces locally. We will be holding regular meetings in East London to discuss the campaign and agree what action to take. To find out about the date and time of the next organising meeting, call Martin Smith at the GMB on 0208 202 8272, or Mick Duncan at No Sweat on 07904 431 959. Email contact details: martin.smith@gmb.org.uk or admin@nosweat.org.uk GMB London Region,152 Brent St., London NW4. No Sweat, PO Box 36707, London SW9 |