The Women's Sewing Cooperative, the Fair
Trade Zone in Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua, is
now seven years old and is the first worker-owned free trade zone in
the world! The cooperative sews organic and fair trade cotton clothing
for export to the U.S. and Europe.
What is organic clothing? It’s made from cloth using organically certified cotton, which is important for the environment since cotton is the second most pesticide-laden crop in the world (non-organic coffee is number one). [To find out more about organic cotton]
What is fair trade clothing? It has been made in a factory where the workers receive fair wages, benefits, have good working conditions and are not exploited.
We've all heard about the closing of the textiles in the U.S. to go to Third World "sweatshops," places of pitiful wages, horrible labor conditions, long hours, rapes, murders of organizers, and the horrid list goes on.
But when workers own their own business these abuses are not
possibilities, because there is no "boss" to force these conditions on
anyone. The workers are the owners, and they alone decide how they
themselves are treated. With the CDCA
providing capital for building and machinery, the women members of the
co-op worked for two years with no pay to construct their future work
site. It was their choice to make that sacrifice to set up
their business, and that sacrifice has paid off.
Still, co-op members struggle day-to-day with little capital for an inventory. Their permanent work is not yet secure (it's either feast or famine) and they are still learning. Many of these women come from no formalized education and they've had to scrape and scratch to survive. Now they are struggling to learn cooperativism, management, accountability, administration, quality, marketing, and import/export laws. They are learning, but it’s a long process.
The co-op started off making t-shirts, and
those are
still their bread and butter. In fact,
they sell 75,000 organic tees per year to the Presbyterian Church, USA,
through
the Enough for Everyone Program. They have really honed their sewing
skills,
however, and now make garments such as elegant cross tops, camisoles,
pants and
baby onesies for Maggie's
Organics, their largest client and maker of
the video
produced about the co-op. They also do custom orders for clothing
designers such as René Geneva of Faernyn’s Grove, for whom they make
organic corsets, kimono blouses and western dresses. Their t-shirts can
also be bought from Mission
Playground and North Country
Fair Trade.
You can help. Order shirts from them. Visit
their
website: FairTradeZone.jhc-cdca.org.
Spread the word. They want work, not pity.
If you would like to know more about the formation of the Women's Sewing Cooperative and how it became the world's first worker-owned free trade zone, the Fair Trade Zone, this information is available in English and Spanish online, with color photos. A black and white printable version is also available.
English Version: Give It Your All
Spanish Version: Que Le Eche Ganas
Write the Fair Trade Zone an email to purchase a black and white printed version
In 2002 the co-op's main client, Maggie's Clean Clothes, brought a film crew to Nicaragua and made an 11 minute video on the women and their relationships with the CDCA and Maggie's Clean Clothes. To view the video click on the link below.
Ants that Move Mountains