Interfaith Group Delivers Sweat-free Holiday Shopping Guide
Nationwide, People Seek to Give Consciously

Chicago– Last Christmas, Kim Bobo, executive director of the Chicago-based Interfaith Worker Justice faced a dilemma: she was swamped with calls from consumers and reporters wanting to know how to purchase products not produced in sweatshops.

This year, the National Interfaith Committee responded by producing a four-page resource, Conscious Giving: Steps toward sweat-free holiday shopping, to help consumers make informed choices.

"During a time of holiday cheer, many people of faith have a holiday fear that people are unconsciously giving gifts produced in or under sweatshop conditions by companies that ignore the principles of good will towards others," said Kim Bobo.

Dismal information continues to emerge about the circumstances of workers who produce many of the products and services we use and enjoy. These products include clothes, food, toys, and other products for our homes. These services also include restaurant service, in-home cleaning, elderly care and child care. The committee plans to distribute close to 12,000 Conscious Giving guides before mid December to help heighten awareness.

"We are unwilling to accept the existence of sweatshops as the inevitable and intractable result of the globalization of manufacturing," said Ms. Evely Laser Shlensky, co-chair of the Los Angeles Jewish Commission on Sweatshops and board official of the committee. Ms. Shlensky helped produce the committee's Challenging Sweatshops: A Guide for the Religious Community.

Challenging Sweatshops educates people on what a sweatshop is and, along with the religious community, it informs college students about how they can adopt codes of conduct for companies that produce licensed goods for the college.

"It seems that most of our common purchases support systems relying on sweatshop working conditions. A gift of love does not have to be expensive, nor does it have to come at the expense of low-wage workers, children, or immigrants," said Ms. Shlensky. "People of faith and good will must be able to give gifts without taking on that burden."

The Interfaith Worker Justice and its 45-member network help lead the way in getting the religious community to support low-wage workers' efforts to end sweatshops and maintain dignity in the workplace.

Download a copy of Conscious Giving: Steps toward sweat-free holiday shopping.

For more information on Conscious Giving, or Challenging Sweatshops: A Guide for the Religious Community call the Interfaith Worker Justice at (773) 728-8400 or e-mail info@iwj.org