For 74 years, the Irish government and the Catholic Church imprisoned as many as 30,000 women as young as nine in slave labor camps known as the Magdalene Laundries, locking them up for years for such “crimes” as not paying a train ticket.

The last of these abhorrent “laundries” only closed in 1996 – and for part of that history, Guinness used that cheap slave labor to fatten its profits.

Subject to physical and sexual abuse, those who tried to get away were locked in asylums before being carted back by local police. None of those forced to work knew when or if they would get out – and those who were released, after years in bondage, lived in constant fear of being sent back.

Tell Guinness: Provide Compensation For The Magdalene Laundry Girls!

While survivors fight for retrograde compensation and health and housing services from the government and the Catholic Church, Guinness Global has done nothing to make amends for its own part in the laundries.

As a staple of Irish culture and business, Guinness can help wipe this stain from Ireland’s past by helping these women have a better future.

We’re calling on Guinness to issue an official apology for their role in the Magdalene Laundries, and get them to pledge to work with the government to start a compensation fund for the survivors and their families.

But if we want to gather enough support, we need to do it while the Magdalene Laundries are back in the press, and before coverage of the Church’s role overshadows the corporations that also profited from this slave labor and abuse.

Tell Guinness: Provide Compensation For The Magdalene Laundry Girls!

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More reading:

The Magdalene Laundries: http://americablog.com/2013/02/magdalen-laundries-catholic-ireland-irish-apology.html