Garment Workers Stop in Pittsburgh

The Bangladesh Workers’ Tour stopped in Pittsburgh on Saturday, October 16, on the national tour organized by the National Labor Committee (a US group) and the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) of Bangladesh. They’re touring the US to bring attention to the nearly 1.8 million women who work in the sweatshops of Bangladesh to produce apparel for export. The event was hosted by the Pittsburgh Anti-Sweatshop Community Alliance.

Workers from Bangladesh spoke to a group at Duquesne University, which recently joined the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), an independent sweatshop monitoring group. Carnegie Mellon and 127 other universities are affiliated with the WRC; activists at the University of Pittsburgh are encouraging Pitt to join as well.

Later Saturday afternoon, the workers held a rally on Freedom Corner in the Hill District. Representatives from labor, student, immigrant and civil rights groups offered their solidarity to the workers.

Numerous local organizations and unions co-sponsored the event.

Kenneth Miller, original organizer of the No Sweatshops Bucco! Campaign, said, “We view workers in Pittsburgh in solidarity, not competition, with workers in other parts of the world.”

- Matt Toups, Pittsburgh Indymedia

On the left is Mongezi Nkomo, a South African freedom fighter who has founded Azania Heritage International here in Pittsburgh, PA. In the center, holding the Willie Stargell Figurine is Sheikh Nazma, President of the Bangladesh Center For Workers Solidarity. On the far rights is Michelle Gaffey, an organizer with the Pittsburgh Anti-Sweatshop Community Alliance. (Photo by Matt Toups)