Sussan Action

The Fair Wear protest on the 8th February outside the Sussan store in the Pitt Street Mall drew public attention to the lack of commitment Sussan and other clothing retailers have demonstrated to the No Sweat Shop clothing accreditation and labelling system.

The theme was 'This Goes with That - Sweat Goes With Clothes at Sussan' in response to comments made by the Sussan corporation stating that they can't see a role for themselves in the No Sweat Shop labelling process.

Sussan retail chief, Amanda Brook, claimed in The Australian during January that their existing clothing contracts require manufacturers to use legal labour sources, so they don't need to be part of the monitoring system. In fact, many outworkers have reported sewing clothes sporting the Sussan label for well below award rates of pay. We told two outworkers' stories during the action. They were both making clothes with the Sussan label for significantly below award rates of pay.

We distributed our new run of postcards to send to retailers who have not yet shown support for the No Sweat Shop Label. Contact the Fair Wear office about obtaining them.

The action also commemorated the two year anniversary of Premier Bob Carr's pre-election promise to "stop the exploitation of women and children working in the textile, clothing and footwear industries in NSW". We are pleased to report that, as of 25th March, the government has announced that the promise will be kept. Stay tuned for more details as they are made public.

The exploitation of outworkers has been receiving a lot of media interest and exposure in recent weeks which has lifted the profile of the issue amongst consumers and voters alike. We are heartened by the NSW government's announcement of action on the issue, and hope that this will be paralleled by headway with recalcitrant retailers.

Thanks to everyone involved for their work and support.