Quality Knitting Limited

Quality Knitting Limited of Toronto, Canada is a 51 year old family run business that employs over 100 UFCW cutters and seamstresses. They produce excellent knit products and jobs, providing a living wage, pension, and 8 paid holidays per year. The company is committed to having a diverse, inclusive, and positive work environment that is completely sweatshop-free. As a proud member of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 175 the employees have access to dental, health, and life insurance, as well as to unique skill-building initiatives that combine elements of leadership, education, and communication. These workers make No Sweat’s women's yoga pants, cami tank tops, women’s long sleeve tees, vintage tees, the pigment dyed crewneck sweatshirt, and the heavyweight hooded full zip and heavyweight quarter zip sweatshirts.

 
No Sweat™ Staff Visit to Quality Knitting, Ltd
November 2006       Toronto, Canada
Reported by Jeff Ballinger

The Quality Knitting shop is a throwback in every good sense of the word. From the welcoming “Visitor Parking” space (in downtown Toronto!) to the creaking wooden stairs and the union rep with satiny jacket covered almost entirely with union insignias and slogans, I felt myself transported back thirty years to a time when I worked for the Clothing and Textile workers and regularly visited such workplaces. On a walk-around, I saw no workers in grim hyper-stitching mode, furtively stealing a glance up to see who was patrolling the aisles; I got a few friendly nods but was blithely ignored by most. (Speaking of being ignored, this was my first real look at posted “codes of conduct”. I studied rather carefully the one for “Jones Apparel” – there were several – and could not imagine workers seeing them as anything but ethereal promises.)

The sight of many idle machines always reminds one of the parlous state of this industry in developed countries. Something like the creeping threat of a steadily swelling creek amidst a weather forecast predicting “No end in sight” to the rain. This shop had hundreds more workers in the 1970s, Bob Kleinman explained to me, but never dipped below 250; the shop that he and his brother took over from their dad, the founder, never seriously considered closing because of declining margins, or sending assembly work off-shore after the 80s’outsourcing tsunami hit the rag trade.

Cynic that I am, I felt that it was a good thing that Sidney (Bob’s brother and the guy who regularly deals with No Sweat and “union” questions) was tending to other business that morning of my visit. Bob had to dispatch various office staff to dig out the union contract and separate benefits agreement. Then, we had to painstakingly search out answers to my questions about maternity leave, severance and the like. In contrast to the typical eight-paragraph “code of conduct”, these were legal documents with sub-clauses, qualifications and sixty-odd pages of union- guaranteed rights and responsibilities, enforced by a team of experts.

There was further encouragement (again, tinged with nostalgia) derived from the fact that QK had an entire line of clothing dubbed “Union Made Apparel”; the company clearly sees an advantage in the conscious-consumer market and this fact serves to further solidify the union’s position there. Overall, a partner such as Quality Knitting gives No Sweat rock-solid proof that the “No Sweatshop” promise is no pipe-dream or mere hype, disconnected from reality.