Tom Morello is arrested at a Guess? Jeans protest

____Fight the power! RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist TOM MORELLO joined members of UNITE (Union of Needletraders, Industrial and Textile Employees) in a protest against GUESS? apparel. After a march through Santa Monica, Calif., Morello and 32 demonstrators were arrested when they blocked the entrance to a Robinsons-May department store. UNITE alleges that Guess? uses sweatshop labor in Los Angeles to produce its clothes. "Most of the workers are making only minimum wage, if that," say UNITE spokeswoman HILLARY HORN. "It is a gross violation." Guess? spokesman BILL BARNES disputes UNITE's claim, saying that "the company is 100 percent sweatshop-free." Still, the NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD has filed a formal complaint against Guess?, with a trial scheduled for February. "The people who listen to Rage are the same people that Guess? is trying to sell their clothes to," Morello says. "[Guess?] is counting on the fact that people are too stupid to figure out the exploitation that goes on."

Matt Hendrickson

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