The longtime firebrand labor rights activist Charlie Kernaghan has died at the age of 74. He spent decades exposing how corporations sold products made in overseas sweatshops. His investigations exposed the sweatshop practices of numerous companies, including Gap, Microsoft, Disney, Nike, Target, Kmart and Levi Strauss. In 1996, Kernaghan made national headlines when he revealed a clothing line by TV host Kathie Lee Gifford was being made by girls as young as 15 in Honduras who worked up to 70 hours a week for 31 cents an hour. Charlie Kernaghan appeared many times on Democracy Now!

Charlie Kernaghan: “We found documents in a garbage dump for Nike, and it was children’s sweatshirts. And the sweatshirts sold for $22.99. This was in the Dominican Republic, and we bought it in Macy’s in New York City. Do you know what the workers got paid to make that sweatshirt? Eight cents. So, the workers’ wages in the Dominican Republic were three-tenths of 1% of the retail price. This is what’s going on. They’re just crushing people and sucking really the blood out of people. Eight cents to make their garment. What would happen if they tripled it to 24 cents? That would be less than 1% of the retail price for the garment. In other words, there’s plenty of room here. But this is the science of exploitation and misery. And we have to stand up and push back against these corporations.”