Dress codes and labour rules: full, corporate disclosure of apparel makers back in fold

Catholic New Times, May 4, 2003 by Kevin Spurgaitis

Big business of skirts, slacks and cardigans

The retail of school uniforms, alone, is a mammoth enterprise globally. It is a multi-million dollar practice in Canada, especially in Ontario, and continues to expand every year as institutions, both Catholic and public, secondary and now primary, adopt dress codes.

The market leader is R.J. McCarthy Ltd., which has almost exclusively procured and delivered uniforms to Catholic school systems across Canada since 1956.

Martin McCarthy, President of R.J. MacCarthy Ltd. insists his manufacturers in Canada, the United States, China, Mexico, parts of Europe and Egypt, abide by International Labour Standards, based on the principles of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After visiting his factories at least three times a year, he says he is "impressed" with current conditions on the floor.

"We would be fools to allow ourselves to use sub-standard factories. That would lead to sub-standard products, which would force the replacement of interior goods under warranty. Secondly, it is immoral. Thirdly, our customers would put us out of business.

Those companies who have been found guilty just didn't do their homework. It's very important."

McCarthy asserts the company's list of manufacturers is made available to "bone fide" groups who exercise the right to review it. However "trade secrets" are safeguarded--kept under lock and key--not uploaded onto a web site for the public to see. The enforcement of labour rules and regulations rests with the parent company, itself, says McCarthy. If conditions are not met by their contractors, R.J. McCarthy Ltd. claims it would suspend future orders or cease doing business with them altogether.

MSN demurs, maintaining substandard factory conditions can no longer be placated by what they see as superficial codes of conduct. Independent, third party monitoring, by NGOs and trade unions for example, is a privatized alternative.

The issue of full disclosure was raised within the Toronto Catholic District School Board before. Although it is the largest school board in Canada, it has yet to draft a purchasing policy for R.J. MacCarthy Ltd. and other apparel companies, according to Michael Del Grande, chair of Toronto Catholic District School Board,

The Toronto Catholic "No Sweat" Committee has laboured over their campaign for more than a year. Trustees, the chair of Religious Education Subject Association, members of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) and students--supported by Development and Peace and MSN, have raised awareness of sweatshops by proliferating leaflets, holding assemblies, as well as incorporating the subject within the classroom curriculum. Recently, the board passed a motion, directing a delegation to finally model a "No Sweat" policy, scheduled for release in June. The board will then decide whether or not to formatize the draft in time for the new school year.

"We can't preach Catholic social values on the one hand, and go down a different path on the other," says Del Grande. "Although no one is casting any stones at any particular manufacturer at this point, something needs to be changed to ensure labour abuses do not happen here and abroad."