Labour
Mountain Co-op's corporate slant

Trenton-based hosiery company J.B. Fields has been socking it to 33 women who've been on strike for more than six months after being asked to take a wage cut and a hefty quota raise.

But Tom Patterson, a spokesperson for Friends of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees Local 1764, a group organizing a nationwide boycott, says it's more disappointed with the response of the usually labour-positive Mountain Equipment Co-op to their boycott efforts.

They've joined the likes of Eaton's, Club Monaco, Moore's and Jack Fraser, who (surprise) are refusing to ban Fields-produced socks from their Toronto outlets. Not even a recent picket in front of the King Street store has managed to sway Mountain management.

Assistant manager Ed Horner says they've heard contradictory information from both sides in the dispute. So for now, the outlets are just posting signs to notify customers there is a labour dispute.

"It's a cop-out," says Megan Park, a Mountain member and customer. "People go there because they think this store believes in corporate responsibility."

-Leah Rumack