STUDENTS & WORKERS TELL THE GAP: "BUY LOCAL – SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY STARTS AT HOME!"

Posted 7/28/06

Unemployed garment workers, students and community and labor groups in San Francisco are calling on The Gap to "buy local" and to support the community in their corporate hometown. They want The Gap to commit to more garment orders in San Francisco because this is their social responsibility.

In 2005, The Gap Inc., which includes Old Navy, Banana Republic, Gap and Fourth & Towne, made a total of 12 billion dollars. However, since the early 1990's, major fashion corporations like The Gap have continually outsourced manufacturing jobs overseas to take advantage of lower wages and labor standards abroad.

In turn, garment jobs in the U.S. and San Francisco are shrinking daily, creating more sweatshops and an unemployment crisis in the San Francisco, as the unemployed garment workers increases. Over the past decade, globalization and corporate greed has dislocated over 15,000 garment workers in San Francisco, most of whom are immigrant women workers.

There will be an action, organized by the Chinese Progressive Association, on Saturday, July 29th to hold The Gap accountable for plant closures and unemployment in the San Francisco area.
For more information, contact Alex Tom at the Chinese Progressive Association or go to their website.