[Shadow_Group] Chinese Sweatshop

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

THE China SYNDROME: MAJOR US RETAILERS EXPLOIT
SWEATSHOP LABOR IN CHINA

FROM:
http://www.metrojustice.org/news98/May98/Chinese_Sweatshops.html<http://www.metrojustice.org/news98/May98/Chinese_Sweatshops.html>
Excerpted from Behind the Label: Made in China by
Charles Kernaghan. A special report prepared for the
National Labor Committee.

Major U.S. retailers are hopping the globe in an
effort to find ever-cheaper sources of labor to
exploit. In previous issues, we have reported on U.S.
retailers that sell clothing manufactured by children
working in sweatshops in Haiti, El Salvador and
Honduras. The retailers do not own the sweatshops;
instead they use contractors and sub-contractors to do
their dirty work. In Nicaragua, these foreign-owned
plants are referred to by the Spanish word for bird,
with the implication being that they are not expected
to be there for long.

ndeed, these vultures have now lit in southern China,
where clothing workers receive as little as thirteen
cents an hour. Young women, ranging in age from 18 to
their mid-twenties, are working 60 to 96 hours per
week for thirteen to twenty-eight cents per hour with
no benefits. Overtime is mandatory, with severe fines
for any worker who refuses. Migrant workers are housed
in dirty cramped dorms with as many as twelve workers
to a room. They are fed a thin rice gruel for
breakfast and often have to dip into their own money
in order to have enough food to survive.

U.S. companies may even be lowering the wages and
working conditions of clothing workers in China. Work
is being shifted from large, publicly owned and
regulated factories in the north, to a growing sector
of private, foreign-owned, low-wage, unregulated
factories in the south. In the north, wages average
about 50 cents an hour. In the south, workers not only
toil longer hours for less money but are denied work
contracts as well. A worker without a work contract in
China basically has no legal rights.

You may be surprised to learn which U.S. designers and
retailers are benefiting from such conditions: Liz
Claiborne, Wal-Mart, Ralph Lauren, Ann Taylor, J.C.
Penney, Esprit, Casual Corner, Sears, Structure, Nike
and our old friend Kathie Lee Gifford. What is
especially galling is that after it was brought to the
attention of Ms. Gifford that her clothing line was
being manufactured by children working in Honduran
sweatshops, she pledged never to let it happen again.
Now, it comes out that her handbags are being made in
Chinese sweatshops. Adding, insult to injury, Kathie
Lee handbags are sold in Wal-Mart, the store that
brags about its "Made in the USA" policy in its
commercials.

Having learned a lesson (the wrong one) from the
successful Gap campaign, some of these retailers are
now employing a for-profit consulting firm,
Cal-Safety, to check conditions in their contractor's
facilities. Cal-Safety's job is to protect the
reputation of their clients, not to expose human
rights violations. To illustrate, the owner of
Cal-Safety, Carol Pender, publicly stated that it was
the sweatshop workers in California who were violating
wage laws, since "some workers are requiring the
factories to keep double sets of books." It is Ms.
Pender's belief that workers resent having to be paid
according to federal overtime laws.

Here is what you can do:

Write to: David Glass, CEO
Wal-Mart Home Office Headquarters
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716

Tell him that you are appalled that Kathie Lee
handbags, which are sold exclusively at Wal-Mart, are
made in China under substandard and illegal
conditions. Demand that Wal-Mart use a truly
independent human rightsmonitoring group, such as Asia
Monitor Resource Center or the Hong Kong Christian
Industrial Committee, to immediately review factory
conditions to guarantee respect for internationally
recognized human and worker rights. Ask that Wal-Mart
join with other North American companies in assuring
that wage rates are tied to the actual cost of living
in each society as established by local, respected,
religious and human rights non-governmental
organizations. Ask for a reply to your letter.

With sales of over $113 billion during a twelve month
period, and profits of over $3.3 billion, Wal-Mart can
afford to pay a living wage in China, which human
rights groups in Hong Kong was estimated to be as low
as 87 cents an hour.

Here is what else you can do: do not shop at stores
sell apparel made in sweatshops. If you have a credit
card from one of these stores, send it back and tell
them why you are doing it. Local stores include
Wal-Mart, J.C. PENNY, Sears, Esprit and Structure.
Also, do not buy Anne Taylor, Liz Claiborne, Ralph
Lauren, Ellen Tracy, Bugle Boy, Nike, Adidas or
Reebok.

Metro Justice, 36 St. Paul Street, Room 112,
Rochester, NY 14604 716-325-2560
May 1998 Index
Metro Justice Home Page
http://www.ggw.org/MetroJustice<http://www.ggw.org/MetroJustice>



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