To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion. Boycotts are a tool for holding corporations accountable for actions against workers, consumers, communities, minorities, animals and the environment.
Child labor
UNICEF defines child labor as work that exceeds a minimum number of hours, depending on the age of a child and on the type of work. Such work is considered harmful to the child and should therefore be eliminated.
Compliance agreement
An agreement between the manufacturer and Department of Labor that requires manufacturers to educate workers about their rights, allow for regular monitoring, only contract to those who comply with the agreement, and report back regularly to the Department about factory conditions
Debt bondage
The status or condition of a person who is in debt because of a pledge for labor or service. That labor or service needs to be applied to paying off that debt.
Department of Labor (DOL)
A department of the federal branch of government responsible for preparing the American workforce for new and better jobs, and ensuring the adequacy of America's workplaces.
Free trade
The act of opening up markets by bringing down trade barriers such as tariffs. Doing this allows goods and services from everywhere to compete with domestic products and services.
Global trade
Refers to the act of buying and selling goods and services between countries. Today these goods and services can travel further and faster so that - for instance - products from all over the world can be found at your corner shop. This can be anything from fruits and vegetables, to cars, banking services, clothing, and bottled water. The scale and pace of this kind of trade has only increased over time, and has become a very powerful tool. International trade is considered a prime driver of how well a country develops, and affects very much how well the economies of different countries are doing.
Human smuggling
Helping someone illegally enter a country, often without identification or papers, for financial or material benefit. Victims can be recruited in the same way as those who are trafficked. Often, those sneaking into a country are put at great risk, and some die.
Human trafficking
Recruiting, kidnapping, coercing or selling someone for the purposes of a commercial sex act or labor. Trafficking can occur within a country or across international borders.
Involuntary servitude
Forcing or keeping a person working through threats, harm, physical abuse, restraint or legal retaliation.
Labor Union
An organization of workers formed to promote collective bargaining with employers over wages, hours, fringe benefits, job security and working conditions.
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
Introduced in 1994, NAFTA calls for the elimination of tariffs on industrial products traded between Mexico, Canada and the United States by 2004. Guided by principals of free trade, it is understood to be the most important trade agreement affecting textiles and apparel.
Retailer
Firm that sells apparel and other goods (for example, department stores).
Sweatshop
A shop in which employees are subject to labor abuses, including long work hours, low wages and brutal suppression of labor organization.
Sources:
UNICEF
Merriam Webster Dictionary
World Trade Organization
Seattle PI
