From Alexandra Klestadt, writer for the Trinity Tripod of Trinity University:

Current issues involving sweatshop labor in the United States go surprisingly unrecognized. On Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008 Carmencita (Chie) Abad, along with Campus Progress and the Global Exchange alliance, spoke to Trinity students about her experience working under such conditions. Abad was brought to Trinity by Campus Progress and Director of the Women & Gender Resource Action Center (WGRAC) Laura Lockwood, in conjunction with the Women, Gender, and Sexuality (WGS), International Studies, Public Policy and Law, Political Science Departments, and the Ivy Society.

Surprisingly, the job in which Abad was employed, and spent upwards of $5,000 to attain, was in a U.S. commonwealth. Despite fervent labor laws in the United States, commonwealth areas such as Saipan, in the Pacific Island region, go under the radar.

Abad knows firsthand what it is like to work in a sweatshop. She spent six years as a garment worker in Saipan. During that time, she endured wretched working conditions, frequently working 14-hour shifts in dangerous conditions. "If we were stitching, for example, an arm sleeve onto the main part of the shirt," she recalled, "the supervisor would say that we had to complete 100 an hour. But you knew, we knew, that this was not possible. You could make 90, on a good day. Then you had to do overtime to make up the 10 lost each hour - for free."

When one of these supervisors noticed that she could practice a relatively sophisticated level of math, she was immediately promoted. That was week two. Even as a low-level supervisor, however, she encountered the same challenges. The chain of command was organized such that each employee struggled to meet the arbitrary quotas of the Sako Corporation (the primary licensee of The Gap).

Workers lived in the equivalent of bunkers, with about 50 women to a room sharing just one hose as a shower. Abad explained that men and women were not permitted to fall in love, to get married, to become pregnant, or to join any religious organizations. Abad, understanding that there were venerable issues within what we know as a code of International Human rights, moved to unionize. The Gap, which she worked for primarily during her time there, quickly shut her down. Rather than return to her family and home in the Philippines, Abad has set forth to educate Americans of the injustices practiced on U.S. soil.

At the close of her talk, Abad called for change, citing a project she did with University of Connecticut students in a study of university bookstore merchandise. "Do you have Jansport backpacks? Champion sweatshirts?" she asked. "These are the things we made. We do not boycott at 'World Exchange,' but you must see that this is wrong."

She encouraged a cooperative to unionize Trinity's employees, including those working for Chartwells. Abad continues to work with American college and university campuses in order to offer rights to all workers.

Abad has come a long way since leaving Saipan. Upon her arrival to the United Sates she set forth to tell the world her story. Joining the World Exchange organization and approaching several other persons, she was able to file suits against many of the corporations who licensed products which were made under sweatshop conditions. Gaining a large settlement from companies like J.C. Penney, Sears, and The Gap, she pushed for medical benefits, subsidized wages, and has ensured personal and religious rights for employees in Saipan.

Leaving the Rittenberg Lounge, I did what Chie encouraged me to do during her presentatation; it turned out my shirt was made by one of the multiple companies Abad has named. Time to pay a little more attention on that next shopping trip or even the Trinity College Bookstore.