From: Charlie Hoyt (obrerist@ptd.net)
Date: Tue Nov 06 2001 - 07:38:19 EST
Amber,
It might be ok, but I'd be skeptical. I always thought that the term
"socially responsible business" is a contradiction in terms. I also
remember reading about union-busting at Ben and Jerry's a couple years ago.
It seems that their basic business plan is to sell sweat-free
products to college students and union members. We are a movement, not a
market, and we can't end up being just some other lifestyle choice with
brands marketed to us.
Maybe if we could find a worker co operative going on somewhwer to
hold up as an "example". I don't know how much is going on in the US, but
I know that the FAT has set up co operatives in Mexico.
I'm not saying we should definitely rule out the Hot Fudge idea,
but we should be wary.
Charlie Hoyt
Moravian COllege
At 12:00 PM 11/7/01 -0500, you wrote:
Hi USAS -- Ok, the attachments are actually here this time -- apologies --
amber
----- Original Message -----
USASistas -->
As you may recall, Bhumika Muchhala forwarded (from another list) a message
to *this* list last week from Bruce Gould of the Nicaragua Solidarity
Committee. In a nutshell, his email put forth the idea of raising money to
START a college clothing factory somewhere, and run it according to the
principles that anti-sweat activists struggle to propagate, and sell the
output to U.S. colleges -- a "demonstration" factory to show that a
workplce could function and thrive on fair economic principles.
The following message is from a progressive businessperson named Pierre
Ferrari and a team of people that is engaged in doing something quite
similar. The attachments mentioned within the message are included
here. Let them know what you think.
(forwarded message below)
*****************************
Dear progressive activists,
I thought you might be interested in the fact the our group is actually
pursuing a similar idea to the one floated by Bruce. Attached for your
review and comments are a summary of the venture we are in the process of
executing...And also attached is Hot Fudge's mission statement.
Hot Fudge Social Venture Fund emerged out of the sale of Ben and Jerry to
Unilever (I was on the board). We are now investing in a series of
progressive ventures according to the mission statement.
On our venture in the garment business, we are quite far along: We have a
team of experienced garment entrepreneurs with the correct social
values. We have found a factory that offers all that is needed to run a
safe and pleasant environment. We will be signing a lease shortly. We are
doing all this in Los Angeles. Our calculations show that we can be
competitive with foreign sourced basic garments. As noted in Bruce's
e-mail we are attempting to demonstrate that this can be done fairly for
all involved. Organizationally, we are setting up an employee owned coop,
we will pay livable wages, benefits and the plant will be unionized.
We should be in production early next year. Let me know what you think,
comments, views are all welcome, we intend to operate with full transparency.
Peace.
Pierre Ferrari
85 Peachtree Circle
Atlanta, Ga. 30309
tel: 404-255-5667
Cell: 404-431-8265
Home: 404-888-9650
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