[Newspoetry] PROTEST SONG: Sweatshop Girls

[Paul Kotheimer]

Sweatshop Girls (to the tune of "Cotton Mill Girls")

I been a sweatshop worker since the age of fourteen.
The hours are horrendous and the pay is lean.
I work for Old Navy, GAP, and L. L. Bean.
It's a hard time everywhere.

It's a hard time, El Salvador girls.
It's a hard time, Taiwan girls.
It's a hard time, sweatshop girls.
It's a hard time, everywhere.

Now, I never will forget the smell of toxic glue
from when I worked on the assembly line at Nike Shoe.
My little baby sister is a-stitchin' there too.
It's a hard time everywhere.

It's a hard time, Vi-ET Nam girls.
It's a hard time, Pakistan girls.
It's a hard time, sweatshop girls.
It's a hard time everywhere.

Sweatshops create the profits in the textile trade.
The folks who make our clothing should be fairly paid.
My favorite fashion label reads "UNION MADE!"
Still, it's a hard time everywhere.

It's a hard time in a Free Trade Zone.
It's a hard time with a World Bank Loan.
Tommy Hilfiger is makin' out like Al Capone!
It's a hard time everywhere.

It's a hard time, sweatshop girls.
It's a hard time, sweatshop girls.
It's a hard time, sweatshop girls.
It's a hard time everywhere.


[special thanks to Sara Kanouse and all the friends at Sara and Sascha's
Sundays-at-Seven Sing-a-long for the assignment]
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THE HAND-MADE RECORD LABEL 
www.handmaderecords.com

c/o the School for Designing a Society
409 North Race Street
Urbana, IL 61801
217 384 0299 phone (no fax)