Sweatshops are making crucifixes, group claims

Sweatshops are making
crucifixes, group claims

NEW YORK — A labor rights group alleged Tuesday that crucifixes sold in religious gift shops in the U.S. are produced under “horrific” conditions in a Chinese factory with more than 15-hour work days and inadequate food.

“It’s a throwback to the worst of the garment sweatshops 10, 20 years ago,” said Charles Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee.

Kernaghan held a news conference in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral to call attention to conditions at a factory in Dongguan City where he said crosses sold at the historic church and elsewhere are made.

Spokespeople for St. Patrick’s and another New York landmark, the Episcopal Trinity Church at Wall Street, said the churches had removed dozens of crucifixes from their shops while they investigate the claims.

“I don’t think they have a clue where these crucifixes were made — in horrific work conditions,” Kernaghan said.

Kernaghan said the factory’s mostly young, female employees work from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. seven days a week and are paid 26 cents an hour with no sick days or vacation. Workers live in filthy dormitories and are fed a watery “slop.”

Kernaghan said factory workers took photos and smuggled out documents detailing practices there. While none of the crucifixes sold in New York were identified as made in China, they bore serial numbers matching products made at the factory in question, Kernaghan said.

Polygamist leader
sentenced to prison

ST. GEORGE, Utah — A judge sentenced a polygamous-sect leader Tuesday to two consecutive terms of five years to life in prison for his role in the arranged marriage of teenage cousins.

Warren Jeffs, 51, was convicted of two counts of rape as an accomplice for his role in the marriage of a 14-year-old follower and her 19-year-old cousin in 2001. It will be up to the Utah parole board to decide how long he actually stays behind bars.

Jeffs’ attorney, Wally Bugden, asked the judge for concurrent sentences but lost the argument.

“This was all about religion,” Bugden said outside court. “The foundation of this case was the prosecution of Mr. Jeffs because of placement marriages.”

Jeffs is head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose members practice polygamy in arranged marriages that have often involved placing young girls with older men. Most FLDS members live in the twin communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., about 350 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

Astronauts wire up
station’s newest room

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Two spacewalking astronauts wired up the international space station’s newest room Tuesday and, to NASA’s delight, kept the next shuttle visit on track for early December.

Commander Peggy Whitson and Daniel Tani spent hours hooking up power and heater cables and fluid lines between the space station and the Harmony compartment that was delivered by the shuttle last month. It was tedious, hand-intensive work.

“Yay! Got it,” Whitson exclaimed after making a particularly difficult connection. “Those were hard.”

Not long afterward, Tani commented on how strong Whitson looked.

“She’s the king of the world,” Tani shouted. “Queen,” replied the space station’s first female skipper, sparking laughter between the two.

The fluid lines — for carrying ammonia, a coolant — were in an 181⁄2-foot, 300-pound tray. The spacewalkers removed the tray from its storage location on the space station, then lugged it over to Harmony and bolted it down on the adjacent lab module.

Associated Press