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Mary-Kate, Ashley: No Sweat |
9/02/2005
eonline.com |
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen really do care about the kiddies.
The high-powered teen titans have pledged to make sure their
signature clothing line for Wal-Mart will not be produced in
sweatshops.
The former child stars were targeted by the National Labor
Committee and student activists from the twins' college, New
York University, who sent an open letter Wednesday to the Olsens
asking them to sign a petition to force Wal-Mart to guarantee
female workers who make the clothing in factories in Bangladesh
the "legal right to maternity leave with benefits."
The letter claimed the twins' company, DualStar Entertainment,
refused hundreds of appeals over the last seven months to
disclose the names of the Bangladesh factories where the
Mary-Kate and Ashley brand is being manufactured so the NLC can
ensure the women working there are aware of their legal rights.
"It is only through this simply and doable step that the women
in these factories can be alerted that their legal maternity
rights will now be respected, and that a system can be
established to verify compliance," wrote Charles Kernaghan, the
NLC's director.
Stating that the letter is in no way meant "as a personal
attack" against the Olsens, Kernaghan urged the superstars to
"do the right thing by standing up to defend the rights of other
young teenage women across the developing world who are sewing
their garments."
Kernaghan cited statistics showing that exploited workers in
certain factories work 14 hour days, seven days a week, while
making a sweatshop wage of just 13 to 18 cents per hour without
being able to take three months paid leave to care for their own
children, a benefit that they are entitled to by law. Many of
those female laborers are often fired or harassed until they
quit should they attempt to do so.
To get their point, Kernaghan and the NYU chapter of United
Students Against Sweatshops decided to make the Olsens the focus
of Thursday night's march and candlelight vigil at New York's
Washington Square Park.
"The NYU students and I would like to invite Mary-Kate and
Ashley Olsen to attend tomorrow's events to sign the pledge, at
which point the banners will be rolled up, the demonstration
will be canceled and we will hold a brief celebration to thank
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen for doing the right thing," the
letter continued. "This could be a win-win situation for the
Olsens, the NYU students and for young women garment workers
across Bangladesh."
NYU's student paper, Washington Square News, also called on the
actresses to get involved in affording garment workers maternity
leave, citing Wal-Mart's dubious track record as the world's
largest retailer in using sweatshops and routinely intimidating
and firing workers who tried to organize labor unions.
"It would be scandalous for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who are
held up as examples of successful, independent, young women, to
deny this most basic right to the women producing their clothing
line," stated the paper.
Looking to avoid becoming the next Kathie Lee Gifford, the
Olsens decided to play ball.
The sisters' rep, Michael Pagnotta, told E! Online that the
Olsens were never aware of the group's petition, but he was
confident their company's retail vendors "were being asked to
adhere to the most rigorous standards."
"Signing it was never an issue for us," said Pagnotta. "I think
what [the labor activists] were suggesting is that Mary-Kate and
Ashley refused to sign a petition. But they had never seen it."
Pagnotta said DualStar reps had been in talks with the NLC since
Wednesday, and once Mary-Kate and Ashley took a look at the
maternity-leave pledge and evaluated it, they readily signed.
The pledge reads: "On behalf of the DualStar Entertainment Group
LLC, I Mary-Kate Olsen hereby sign this pledge that to the best
of our abilities we will guarantee that any woman sewing our
garments in Bangladesh will be afforded her legal maternity
leave of at least three months with full pay." It was signed by
Mary-Kate and dated Dec. 9.
Earlier Thursday, the twins' attorney, Stanton L. Stein, replied
to Kernaghan with a letter stating that the Olsens were
"immediately responsive upon learning of the issue," but due to
"serious security concerns," they would not be able to attend
tonight's gathering.
He also called on the NLC to honor its promise to cancel the
demonstration and instead hold a brief celebration announcing
his clients' support and thanking them.
In his letter, Stein also defended the Olsens, arguing that
while Kernaghan stated that his group was not personally
admonishing them, the resulting media coverage had framed it as
a "personal attack" on the girls, whom he said are "completely
blameless."
"Still, they have chosen to raise their voices to help improve
the lives of workers and their families and should be
appropriately recognized for doing so," he added.
By Thursday evening, the NLC released a statement reading in
part, "The Olsen twins have done the right thing. Now it is up
to Wal-Mart to either support Mary-Kate and Ashley’s commitment
to women’s rights, or tragically to shut them down."
The Olsens aren't the first celebs to get schooled by labor
activists. Last year, the NLC accused rap mogul Sean "P. Diddy"
Combs's Sean John fashion line of using sweatshop labor in
Honduras, claims which were later denied by government
officials.
In the '90s, the group was also successful in holding Gifford
responsible for labor abuses against Salvadoran workers who made
the former talk show queen's signature Wal-Mart clothes under
horrible conditions.
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