Advent campaign targets unjust conditions

BY violating the human rights and dignity of their employees, and by paying inadequate wages, these corporations reap immense profits. How can a pair of Nike sneakers that only cost $1.20 in labor to produce actually sell for $90? Why do Haitian workers sewing garments for Disney get paid so little that they would have to work 156 years to make the $102,000 that Disney CEO Michael Eisner makes in just one hour?

Nike's Indonesian, Chinese and Vietnamese subcontractors employ girls as young as 13. They work 60 hours per week, making $1.60 to $2.25 a day. Workers for Disney's contracted factories in Haiti say that 58 cents per hour would enable them to occasionally purchase meat and stop raising their children on coffee and sugar water. Many workers live in slum with no sewage systems, running water or electricity.

Many workers, including children, toil in sweatshops for outrageously long hours, which often include mandatory unpaid overtime in unsafe and unsanitary conditions. Their exposure to dirty and dusty air, poor lighting, hot buildings, dangerous machines, and poisonous chemicals leads to many health problems, ranging from damaged vision to lung disease. They are not allowed adequate breaks to take a drink or to go to the bathroom.

One South Korean contractor who was making clothes in Honduras for a major American retailer forced its women workers to take birth control pills. If they refused and became pregnant, they were forced to have -- and pay for -- an abortion.

In other sweatshops, workers face emotional and physical abuse. Supervisors yell, hit and sexually abuse them. When workers enter the factories, they must pass by armed guards through gates in barbed wire enclosures. They are then subjected to body searches to make sure that they do not bring any food that could damage the products. As they leave, they are searched again to ensure that they are not taking any of the products with them.

Children as young as six may spend 12 to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, either hand-stitching soccer balls or hand-knotting carpets. They suffer physical damage, which makes it difficult for them to work as adults. They are denied education and recreation, and are subject to abuse and malnutrition. If they do not meet their quotas, they are beaten. They are also paid only a fraction of what adult workers are paid.

Workers in the developing world usually do not have the means to change these conditions. Many fear the loss of wages or getting fired if they speak out against the company. This actually happened to Haitian workers making Disney clothing: Three of the four factories have pulled out and the fourth is expected to go, probably due to the spotlight on them.

Some governments have outlawed the organization of unions, as in Indonesia, where Nike has more than 100,000 workers and independent labor unions are not permitted. There, a person can be imprisoned and possibly face the death penalty for trying to win better conditions and basic rights for fellow workers.

In China, some factories make workers pay a deposit of one month's wage to get a job. If they should leave before the year is over, they lose their deposit. Some Chinese factories prevent their workers from quitting by keeping their identification papers. If workers are caught without papers, they can be thrown into a detention center.

When external human rights monitors bring these abuses to the attention of the American public, corporations claim that they are not responsible because these sweatshops are being run by subcontractors and not the corporation. Yet, when child labor was uncovered in the hand-stitching production of soccer balls in Pakistan, Nike financed "Stitching Centers," where child labor was not permitted. Nevertheless, Nike still refused to allow independent, external monitoring.

Multi-national corporations search for places where they can continue these unjust practices. When Guess was cited for labor law violations in the U.S., it moved its production to Mexico.

Catholic social teaching emphasizes that "all people must be concerned about how the concrete outcomes of their economic activity serves human dignity," and obviously these multinational corporations are not concerned. By bringing these unjust practices to the attention of consumers during the Christmas season, they become more conscious of the efforts and conditions that were present during the production of their purchases.

(Editor's note: Debra Steinroeder is a senior economics major at Siena College in Loudonville and an intern at the diocesan Commission on Peace and Justice.)

(11-27-97) [[In-content Ad]]