Rose Espinola | A living wage for factory workers

These are the words I was anticipating: I was a student activist. As I let these words fall onto paper, I know something has changed.

I am in the Dominican Republic, with the people who work at Alta Gracia — the only factory in the developing world that produces living-wage, union-made college apparel.

Alta Gracia is a profit-seeking venture. It is an initiative of Knights Apparel and the idea is that consumers — especially students and professionals — prefer to buy clothes that were made in factories where a living wage and dignified treatment can be guaranteed. Knights Apparel has decided to absorb the extra labor costs at the Alta Gracia factory, which means we alumni and students pay the same for a living-wage, union-made Penn sweatshirt, but workers can now build a home.

Now I am a Penn alumna, but I realize I am forever connected to Penn. Therefore, I make the humble suggestions that a larger percentage of the bookstore stock come from Alta Gracia, and that we do our part as alumni, students and Penn supporters and make our next Penn t-shirt an ethical one.

Lucrecia is a thoughtful speaker. She told the story of how she began factory work in Villa Altagracia’s Free Trade Zone when she was 16. For 23 years, the money she made was never enough to do anything except pay for food for her and her two kids.

Then there was Alta Gracia, named for the town and for the Dominican Republic’s Virgin of Altagracia. Alta Gracia opened in the Free Trade Zone, in a building that once belonged to a Nike-supplying factory. Earning a living wage of $2.80 per hour, Lucrecia earns 3.5 times the free trade zone’s minimum wage and is able to buy a little more than food. In December she will begin to build a house and home.

At Alta Gracia, workers smile and the radio sings happily while their sewing machines buzz. Their power comes from having a union that is allowed to freely organize and resolve issues with management.

Alta Gracia has also set the bar with respect to health and safety. A fan breathes cool air over each workstation, and workers’ bodies breathe in ergonomic office chairs while their fingers toil at the sewing machine.

No other factory that produces university apparel can come close to the standard that Alta Gracia has set. Alta Gracia allows the Workers Rights Consortium — founded in part due to the efforts of fellow Penn alumni — to visit its living wage, union-made apparel factory and audit its books.

In spring 2000, Penn United Students Against Sweatshops occupied then-President Rodin’s office for nine days with music, hope and the bravery to be leaders. As the result of the sit-in at Penn, the WRC was founded.

Another result of the sit-in was the Code of Workplace Conduct for Penn Apparel Licensees. The Code reads, “The University is strongly committed to the employees of licensees receiving a ‘living wage,’” and sets standards for freedom of association, collective bargaining, health, safety, overtime, child labor and benefits.

Penn students, pushed by instinct and education to struggle for what is moral, led the way in demanding living-wage, union-made apparel. If we want to ensure the code of conduct standards that we as a Penn community have set, are not only met but exceeded, we can only buy Alta Gracia.

The Alta Gracia brand is new, but it’s based on two old ideas: profit and that it’s important to do the right thing. Alta Gracia must survive and then grow. This will allow its socially-responsible business model to be replicated at other factories, and more people in Alta Gracia and around the world (including in the United States) will earn a living wage and be treated with dignity.

I trust that we as a Penn community will support the project. Next time you buy from the Penn bookstore (online or on 36th and Walnut Streets), let your money speak a singsong chorus in support of Alta Gracia. Let the bookstore know that you want a larger percentage of its stock to be Alta Gracia. Alumni and students, let’s keep working together to make the world a place of good.

Look out for an Alta Gracia worker event at 8pm on Sunday, Sept. 11, at the Christian Association, hosted by the Penn Student Labor Action Project, a USAS affiliate.

Rose Espinola is a 2011 College graduate. Her email address is espinola.rs@gmail.com.

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