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News :: Miscellaneous |
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A dialogue with Target |
Current rating: 0 |
by Nick Berveiler
Email: naberve (nospam) ilstu.edu (unverified!) |
27 Aug 2001
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Festival ISU brought a diverse crowd of student organizations as well as corporations, eager to get the attention of students walking around on the quad between classes. United Students Against Sweatshops had a table providing information about local anti-sweatshop campaigns and the Indy was there looking for sweatshop companies that were on campus. We found two: Disney and Target. Disney was quick to have no comment about any sweatshop practices or what they think about it, but unsuspecting Target provided us with an interview, giving information about what a Target employee thinks about their company and the sweatshop abuse their company is associated with. |
Indy: So you guys are from Target. What are you doing here on campus?
Target: We’re here promoting the Target guest card, it’s our Target credit card and if you sign up today you can save 10% on your next purchase.
Indy: Great, now I’ve got a question for you. Over the last couple of years there was a factory in American Samoa that was making clothing for Target. The Department of Labor went over there and investigated the situation and determined that it was like a sweatshop. People weren’t being paid right and the workers weren’t being treated right. What do you think about situations like that? I’m a customer and I see that sweatshops are going on like that. What do you think?
Target: I think that situations like that are horrible, but I believe Target is a really good company to work for and I’m sure they are doing everything they can to prevent situations like that from occurring.
Indy: Do you think that people should be aware of that in the stores? Don’t you think that you guys should say what’s going on, like factory disclosure? You guys are getting your clothes from all over the world, what do you think?
Target: I don’t really have anything to say about that. I don’t really know.
Indy: Are you not allowed to say anything? Did a manager say “don’t talk about this” or “don’t make Target look bad”?
Target: No, I just don’t have that kind of information myself.
Indy: Do you think you should? There is a table on the other end of the quad for United Students Against Sweatshops that does investigative work on things like this. There was a Post Amerikan issue last month that I wrote a story about the American Samoa issue. Do you think this sort of information is important since you work at Target?
Target: I do think it is a very important issue in our society today. I also know that Target gives a lot of money to the communities and tries to support the community in as many ways as it can. I try to focus on the positive things Target does for the community.
Indy: So what has Target done for the local community lately?
Target: Target donates 1% of all their expenses to the local schools and they also donate 5% to United Way.
Target: Do you think that profits made overseas from sweatshop abuse might be more than what you are giving to local communities?
Target: I don’t really have any information that could back up an answer I could give to you.
Indy: Thank you very much.
for more information about the American Samoa sweatshop abuse issue, check out: www.nlcnet.org/samoa |
