The Youth Labor Committee remains eager to work with Sears, to ensure that the following demands are addressed:
- All factory locations along the supply chain to be disclosed to the public
- All workers are guaranteed the right to free organization into unions without coercion or intimidation
- Guarantee legal rights of every worker as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as established by the United Nations which can be viewed here: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml (In particular we are focusing on articles 23-27)
- Every worker making Sears and Kmart products can properly house, clothe, feed and educate their families to a degree that will ensure for the continued health, well-being of all family members.
Our initial meeting, which took place on the 10th of December at Sears Holdings global headquarters in Hoffman Estates IL, was relegated to the parking lot and was demanded to be held in the cold. The Youth Labor Committee felt little regard was given to our efforts to open a productive dialogue with the company.
The second meeting, scheduled for the 10th of January, took place at Dundee-Crown High School. The YLC was eager continue our discussion with Sears concerning their Global Compliance Guidelines and to have the opportunity to present information that would show shortcomings of their program, information which can be viewed on our website at www.ylcnet.org.
Sears questioned if there would be a 3rd party at the event and were told that local media as well as one third party had been invited, however it was stressed that the chances of either being present was extremely remote, and indeed neither were present. Sears declined to attend the event on the grounds that outside parties had been invited, at which point the YLC decided it would be a disservice to the students not continue as planned. Roughly 350 students and staff and were provided with three speeches from YLC members Mike Kelly, Emily Voyles, and Nikolai Morse.
Upon the conclusion of the assembly, YLC creator and sponsor Bruce Taylor received an email from Sears stating that any future meetings would require school administrators to be present so his “true agenda” could be realized. The group took this no-show as a victory and is committed to not giving up as they are again planning to meet with Sears in the very near future. The YLC remain committed to giving a voice to the voiceless and urge anyone interested to join them!
You can join us on facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=101669536567691
Here is the presentation we would have provided to Sears if they had shown up:
