F.y.i.
Please send items for F.Y.I. to: F.Y.I. Editor, AGENDA, 220 S. Main St., Ann Arbor, Ml 48104.
Gypsy Moth Forum
Gypsy moth expert, John Frame, on Sunday Sept. 7 at 2 pm will discuss this year's local infestation, what the options are for controlling it and what is being done to curtail further outbreaks.
With their voracious appetites, gypsy moth larvae can kill trees, devestating neighborhoods and parks. Frame will explain how city and county officials plan to address the issue. He will also talk about environmental health and safety concerns. The forum is sponsored by City Council candidate, Parma Yarkin, a Democrat from the 2nd Ward. It will be held at the home of Barbara Bach, 2061 Day Street.
For more information about this Neighborhood Education Forum cali 332-0207.
How to Have Productive Sexual Orientation Communication
Do you find yourself getting into arguments when you try to discuss sexual orientation with someone who disagrees with you? Or maybe just backing off? Turn those verbal battles and tense silences into opportunities for productive dialogue by attending "Toward Understanding," a workshop which teaches a nonviolent approach to communication about sexual orientation.
The Michigan office of the American Friends Service Committee, an independent Quaker organization committed to peace and justice issues, will be offering this workshop Oct. 18-19 (Sat. 9 am-5 pm; Sun. 1:30-5 :30 pm) at a Detroit area church. For more info, or to pre-register, call Jan or Dawn at (313) 761-8283. (From Aug/Sept P-FLAG Newsletter.)
Repression Pays
Nike CEO Phil Knight can turn sweat into gold. By paying Indonesian workers less than $2.50 per day to produce $90 Nike shoes, he made himself the sixth richest man in the U.S. According to Forbes he is worth $5.3 billion.
If Not Nike, Who?
After alerting you to Nike's abuses to its workers and the advantage the company takes of University of Michigan students (AGENDA, March 1997), here are some options to purchasing their shoes.
Any shoe made in the U.S. is a safe bet. Both New Balance and Saucony are made all or partly in the U.S. (And these shoes often cost a fraction of what you'd pay for the Indonesian-made Nikes, taking the wind out of the argument that transfer of U.S. jobs to low-wage countries benefits the consumer with lower prices.)
Be sure to check country of origin however, as both New Balance and Saucony produce in China and other countries notorious for human rights abuses. If you don't see "Made in the U.S." shoes, buying shoes made in S. Korea or Taiwan, while not guaranteeing a unionized work force and respect for all basic rights, at least Iets you know the workers were paid a living wage.
If the label says your shoes were made in Vietnam, Indonesia or China, you can be assured that the people who stitched them together don't earn a living wage, and at best eke out a living by working excessive overtime. (From Press for Change, Volume 3, No. 1, July 1997.)
Meaning Matters
The Foundation for Ethics and Meaning is beginning a campaign for a new constitutional amendment and for the passage of parallel local initiatives challenging the idea that corporations' only social role is to maximize profits while promoting selfishness, materialism and narcissism. The proposed amendment demands that corporations in the U.S. with annual revenues of the equivalent of $20 million must receive a new corporate charter every 20 years. To receive this charter the company must prove that it serves the common good, gives its workers substantial power to shape their own work conditions and has a history of social responsibility to the communities in which it operates, sells goods and/or advertises. Social responsibility will be demonstrated through Ethical Impact Statements prepared by the corporation, workers and community members.