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Published on 12/08/1999 All articles from this issue

LAHS environmentalists see 'Gap' in labor, environmental practices

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Town Crier Staff Report

The Los Altos High Environmental Club has engaged in a full-scale protest against The Gap Inc., citing unchecked labor and environmental abuses.

The Gap Inc. is the American parent company of Banana Republic, The Gap and Old Navy clothing chain stores. The products are favorites among many high school students.

The campaign, led by seniors Olya Milenkaya and Ryan Buckley, targets the clothing company's alleged involvement in the clearcutting of coastal redwoods and explotation of foreign labor. Such charges gained even more attention last week during World Trade Organization talks in Seattle, when protests over labor practices and compromised environmental policies captured national headlines.

The Los Altos High club posted banners in the school's hallways and quad area, all of which featured slogans inciting students to boycott the company. They also asked students to take action by cutting the tags off of their Gap, Banana and Old Navy clothing.

Los Altos High students, among those in a Bay Area Action Schools Group, also led a protest in front of the Stanford Shopping Center Gap store Nov. 26, stopping shoppers who tried to enter the building.

The protest at the high school, however, has not been as successful. The Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy are all popular with teenagers, and many students at Los Altos admit that they own many clothes from the stores.

"This issue is so important to me because I have always had a passion for nature and this issue," Milenkaya said. "It becomes very disturbing, personally, after learning about the exploitation of workers and the clearcutting, and then walking down the hall to class and seeing 30 Gap sweatshirts, one after the other."

The clearcutting refers to Gap owner John Fisher and his family purchasing 220,000 acres of timberlands in Mendocino County. Fisher resigned his post as president of the company on Oct. 29.

Milenkaya said the club's goal is to be educational and "hopefully impact, in the long run, what people see as reasonable practices."

This is not the first time that The Gap has been under fire for its alleged dodging of U.S. labor laws. In January, The Gap, along with other major companies like Sears, Wal-Mart, and Tommy Hilfiger, was accused of engaging in a "racketeering conspiracy" in which they employed workers in Asian countries under deplorable conditions. The companies were sued for "sweat shop" practices in Saipan. Gap officials responded they were "deeply concerned" by the lawsuits. "We simply do not, and will not, tolerate the type of conduct alleged in factories where we do business," the company stated.

Though the Gap and its associated companies have been repeatedly accused of labor and environmental exploitation, officials at the San Francisco-based firm tout high-minded principles with regard to both issues. The Gap's web site (www.gap.com) includes lengthy guidelines on environmental principles and a "code of vendor conduct" applying to factories that produce goods for the company. "The textile and apparel industry has not stepped lightly on the environment," their statement acknowledges. "Gap Inc. is committed to changing that."