CNN - Gifford, Clinton unveil anti-sweatshop plan

August 2, 1996
Web posted at: 6:35 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Some of the best-known clothing labels plan to begin placing disclaimers on their garmets to assure buyers that children were not exploited in their manufacture.

President Clinton announced the plan Friday at a Rose Garden event attended by TV talk show host Kathy Lee Gifford.

Clinton said clothing industry executives had agreed to develop ways to ensure that the products they make and sell are manufactured under humane working conditions.

"We believe everyone should work but no one should have to put their lives in jeopardy to put food on the table for their families," Clinton said.

The president praised Gifford for "reacting quickly, decisively and responsibly" and "not burying her head in the sand" when she realized that a line of apparel bearing her name was being made in poor working conditions in New York and Honduras.

Gifford said she was committed to ensuring that whatever had her name on it would be made with "integrity and with great respect for not just the American worker but any worker anywhere in the world that toils and labors and we reap a profit from it." (276K AIFF or WAV sound)

Gifford said she believed the only to do away with exploitative labor practices was to curtail greed. "As long as there is one dollar to be made on the back of somebody else's work, somebody will try to make it."

Clinton made the announcement Friday after meeting with executives of L.L. Bean, Liz Claiborne, Warnaco, Phillips-Van Heusen, Nike, Tweeds, Patagonia, Nicole Miller, Karen Kane, Lucky Brands and representatives of labor unions.