Thai, Argentine textile workers unite against slave labor

Textile cooperatives founded by former slave laborers from Argentina and Thailand will jointly launch a new brand of clothing in June to raise awareness about exploitation and promote decent jobs in the garment industry. On June 4, La Alameda from Argentina and Dignity Returns from Thailand will start selling thousands of T-shirts bearing several different designs under the "No Chains" trademark. They ultimately plan to produce additional clothing items in association with other cooperatives. "It's a cry of support for decent work and a way to prove that high quality clothing can be produced without having to enslave workers," one of the initiative's promoters, Gustavo Vera of La Alameda, told IPS. La Alameda first emerged as a community kitchen in 2001, during Argentina's severe economic crisis. It served many undocumented Bolivian workers who had escaped the garment industry sweatshops that had mushroomed in Buenos Aires. La Alameda's repeated complaints about the dismal working conditions, in addition to a tragic accident at one of the sweatshops in which six people died -- five of them children --, finally focused public attention on slave labor, which in Argentina largely involves undocumented immigrants.