sweatshop

SWEATSHOPS...

...in Southeast Asian nations

What are sweatshops?

• Sweatshops are processing zones, usually in third world countries, where workers work in stuffy and hot conditions.

• Workers are usually women and children who are exposed to extreme exploitation.

• Human rights are always not recognized and not practiced.

• These human rights violations serve as the distinction of sweatshops from factories.

Where are sweatshops?

• It is present in almost every poor country, usually in the third world.

• The poorer a country is, the more exploitable its people are.

• There are also sweatshops in developed countries using illegal immigrants’ labor.

What multi-companies are involved?

What are the violations?

• Use of child labor• Paying of workers under the minimum wage or non-

payment at all• Non-payment for forced overtime work• Unsafe and horrible working conditions• No benefits given• Sexual harassment• Verbal abuse• Illegal firings• No forming of unions• Physical abuse

Women and sweatshops

• 90% of all sweatshop workers are women.

• Uneducated women are usually hired as workers for sweatshops.

• They are not given maternity leave.• They are forced to yield to abortion and

to use birth control.• Some are sexually harassed.

How does this happen?

• Some governments are aware, but they fail to stop them or tolerate them because of the economic potential of sweatshops.

• Large corporations almost always use contract manufacturing firms to produce their goods.

• Corporate greed because of globalization• International trade policies favorable for multi-

national companies• Workers being unaware of their rights.

SWEATSHOPS

THAILAND

THAILAND

2000 garment firms, 250 weaving workshops and 150 spinning companies

1 million workers

Campaigning for improved labour policies-higher minimum wages, increased social security, unemployment insurance and betters labour relations legislations

THAILAND

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the children of migrant workers, some as young as 10 years old, have replaced Thai minors

although Thailand has made considerable progress in abolishing child labor, human traffickers still managed to “trap” many child laborers

THAILANDDisney Sweatshops

Disney Sweatshops

Includes countries like Vietnam, Burma and China

employs children to make Disney toys fired adult workers for child laborersChildren work for less money and

unlikely to organize or protest

Par Garment

Produces garments for brands such as GAP, Wal-Mart, Nike and Tommy Hilfiger

Factories were dismissed from their jobs—with compensation, salary and overtime unpaid

SWEATSHOPS

LAOS

LAOS

Many Lao women have gone to Thailand

Fallen victims to abusewomen have been rescued by Lao

Authorities from sweatshops and repatriated to Laos

LAOS

Lao Women's Union and the Youth Union

offered educational programs designed to educate girls and young women regarding the schemes of recruiters for sweatshops

SWEATSHOPS

VIETNAM

VIETNAMNike

When Nike started moving its production sites to Asia, it also moved away from owning factories outright

90% are women ages 15 and 28There is widespread sexual harassment

and abuse

Nike

Workers put in 11 hours a day, six days a week

Workers have to work in inhuman paceThreatened by abuse and physical

punishmentDon’t provide adequate medical

facilities

Nike

Vietnamese workers make $l.60 a day1,300 workers at the Sam Yang factory

went on strike to demand a one cent per hour raise in wages

Other issues include excessive and illegal overtime and compensation for working with hazardous material.

VIETNAMKeyhinge Toy Factory

makes toys for McDonald's-Disney numerous human rights abuses including

mandatory 14-to-15 hour workshifts, seven days a week, working under unsafe conditions, including chemical poisoning

reject all appeals from local human and labor rights organizations to improve the ventilation systems

McDonald's and Disney must intervene :

1. correct unsafe working conditions, especially with regard to poor ventilation and exposure to chemicals.

2. monitored by respected local non-governmental human and labor rights organizations to verify compliance with fundamental human rights

3. address workers suffering under sub-subsistence wages and move toward paying at least subsistence-level wages

4. McDonald's and Disney should join and work with the White House Task Force to end sweatshop abuses around the world

SWEATSHOPS

CAMBODIA

CAMBODIA

it employs 265,000 people, and its $1.9 billion in exports represent roughly 80% of the country's total export earnings

depends as much on its garment industry

United States buys two-thirds of the shirts, trousers and jackets made here.

Chea Vichea president of the Free Trade Union of Workers was shot

Cambodia was benefiting from exports to the United States while failing to enforce the rights of workers

signed a new bilateral trade agreement, giving Cambodia increased access to the vast U.S. clothing market for enforcing its own labor laws and having the UN International Labor Organization monitor compliance

Report on I LO latest inspection of 61 garment factories:

Sexual harassment and other forms of abuses against women have largely disappeared.

Child labor, which once plagued the industry, has also almost completely disappeared.

Compulsory overtime has diminished.

SWEATSHOPS

PHILIPPINES

Cavite Export Processing Zone Garment factories

Bataan Gap

Manila Sweatshops

Working conditions

anti-union In Bataan, workers were dismissed when

they were found organizing a unionLow wages

Nike workers still receive wages below statutory minimum

Maternity discrimination against women who have

given birth benefits are not given

sexual harassmentForced overtimeunpaid or underpaid overtime

Over contractingHome workerschild laborLocked exits

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines

Anti-Sweatshops Campaign Project Asserting Worker’s Rights in Philippine

Sweatshops

SWEATSHOPS

INDONESIA

Textile and Garment Industry

NikeReebokMattel

ResearchTo monitor working conditions in

Indonesian sweatshops and Export Processing Zones

July 2004Factories in Jakarta and Tangerang

(Banten Province)

PT. Detta Marina Cimanggis (East Jakarta) PT. Dwi Sukses (Pasar Kemis Tangerang) PT. Panarup (Sangiang Tangerang) Cakung Export Processing Zone North

Jakarta. PT. Goldindo Menawan PT. Harapan Busana Apparel PT. Rismar Daewoo Apparel

Progress for Sweatshops

There have been much struggle for worker’s rights in Indonesia

Women, in particular, are at the forefront

Tong Yang Indonesia (TYI)

Shoe factory Improvements were made by President

Jung Moo Young at the behest of Reebok International Ltd.

SWEATSHOPS

MALAYSIA

Electronic Firms

Intel in Penang Malaysia

Poor working conditions Overwork Blacklisting Taking advantage of non-American

employees Discrepancies in wages

Impactt

In 2006, was commissioned to work with a supplier factory using agents in Malaysia.

Discovered:

agents were using illegal foreign workers agents did not know about their legal

obligations towards these workers conditions for workers provided by agencies

were worse than for other workers in factory. no employment contracts between the agents

and the workers.

excessive hours - 16 hours common with instances of 25 hour shifts.

labour providers had weak ID checks and age verification.

Cleaners had not been paid for 3 months, many of them were starving

Developing a strategy to improve conditions…

agents had different competencies and attitudes to change

very little discussion between the procurement department at the factory and the HR team.

Contracts had been negotiated on price with very little regard for the needs of the agency labourers.

Outcome

Workers hours were reduced to 12 hours per day

Workers were paid the legal overtime premiums for the last 4 hours of the 12-hour shift

Contracts between the factory and the agencies were re-negotiated based on new cost structures

worst performing agency is no longer used

cleaning agency is no longer used

SWEATSHOPS

MOVEMENTSAGAINST

19TH CENTURYABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT

Earliest sweatshop criticsAgainst chattel slaveryFocused on working conditions and

inspired Marxist movementsFocused on the continued slave trade

and involuntary servitude

FACTORY ACT OF 1833

Passed in UK First significant law addressing sweatshops During the industrial revolution

No children workers under 9 yrs. old Employers should give medical or age certificate

for child workers Children 9-13 y/o should not work more than 9

hours a day 13-18 y/o not more than 12 hours 2 hrs schooling for children per day No night work for children

INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION

Under the League of Nations and United Nations

1919Sought to address the plight of workers

all over the world

ANTI-GLOBALIZATION MOVEMENT

Also addresses sweatshop problemsAccused many companies of using

sweatshops Wal-Mart

“race-to-the-bottom”

NATIONAL LABOR COMMITTEE

Brought sweatshops in the mainstream media in 1990

Exposed the use of sweatshops and child labor to sew Kattie Lee Gifford’s Wal-Mart label

CLEAN CLOTHES CAMPAIGN

Active in 11 European countries Austria, (North and South) Belgium,

France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom

UNITED STUDENTSAGAINST SWEATSHOPS Student organization with chapters at more

than 200 colleges and universities in US and Canada

Active in college campuses Conducts sweat-free campaigns opposing Taco Bell's wages to farm laborers

("Boot the Bell") protesting sweatshop conditions at New Balance

in New York and Forever 21 in San Francisco organizing anti-sweatshop groups in high schools

UNITED STUDENTSAGAINST SWEATSHOPS

protesting Coca-Cola's policy towards union organizers in Colombia

supporting local labor campaigns increased minimum wage campaigns in several

states and localities Issued Students against sweatshops

A book that tackles the battle against sweatshops Together with Lisa Featherstone

University apparel should be made in designated sweat-free factories, where workers have a voice on the job to stop sweatshop abuses and earn a living wage

SWEATSHOP WATCH

A coalition of individuals and organizations committed to eliminating the exploitation that occurs in sweatshops

Inform consumers of the true situation of the worker behind the clothes they wear

INTERNATIONAL LABOR RIGHTS FUND

Filed a lawsuit on behalf of workers in China, Nicaragua, Swaziland, INDONESIA and BANGLADESH against Wal-Mart

Price and delivery time that are impossible to be met by workers

AFL-CIO

Supports the anti-sweatshop movements

Concerned with the welfare of people or workers in the developing world

CATHOLIC FUND FOROVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT

Released a report in 1998, saying that 1/3 of all clothes in UK high street stores are made in sweatshops in Asia

FIVE-YEAR MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

Signed in 1995 by UNICEF and ILO with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association

Provided schooling and income support for more than 27,000 former child laborers

The no. of exporting factories using children dropped from 43% to 5%

Allowed more Bangladeshi adults to do the jobs previously held by children

DEPARTMENT OF STATE ANTI-SWEATSHOP INITIATIVE Under the Clinton-Gore Administration Provides $3.9M to support private sector efforts to

eliminate abusive working conditions of workers overseas Social Accountability International

$1M to promote human rights in workplaces The American Center for International Labor

Solidarity$962, 801 to implement projects for the

promotion of and adherence to labor rights and standard in Central America and the Philippines

DEPARTMENT OF STATE ANTI-SWEATSHOP INITIATIVE

The Fair Labor AssociationCoalition of apparel and footwear

manufacturers and consumer, human and labor rights groups

Awarded $750,000 The International Labor Organization

$496, 974 for research on the management systems used by multinationals to assure compliance to their company’s labor standards

DEPARTMENT OF STATE ANTI-SWEATSHOP INITIATIVE

The International Labor Rights Fund$152, 880 to raise awareness and promote

viable solutions to sexual harassment in the workplace

RESOLUTIONS

Legal measures for strict complianceLocal and international advocacy and

information dissemination campaigns

Encourage the use of independent third party monitoring programs to conduct unannounced audits of factories and provide information on their findings to consumers.

Support initiatives to encourage manufacturers, including retailers who act as manufacturers, to take greater responsibility for contractor’s violations.

Commend industry programs that monitor production where independent monitors confirm that no sweatshop or child labor is being used.

Encourage the purchase of merchandise from those companies whose self-monitoring has been shown effective by independent companies.

Call upon federal and state governments to provide adequate staffing and funding to enforce existing worker’s protection statures

Encourage enactment of municipal, state and federal statutes or ordinances that prohibit government agencies from purchasing goods made under sweatshop conditions.

--internet-based information campaigns--expositions of harassment and

working conditions in sweatshops--aim to increase awareness on the

global problem

NO SWEAT CAMPAIGN Educate people on issues relating to

sweatshops: physical abuse, starvation wages, forced overtime, violation of workers’ rights, appalling working conditions, harassments…

WORKPLACE PROCUREMENT INITIATIVE Encourages and educates union leaders to

include no sweat purchasing in their collective agreements

UNITED STUDENTS AGAINST SWEATSHOPS

WORKERS RIGHTS CONSORTIUM

Organizations created by college and university administrators and union advocates that help enforce manufacturing codes of conduct by more than 100 colleges and universities.

THAI LABOUR CAMPAIGN Covers labor disputes, worker rights

campaign, as well as labor law in Thailand. Provides original research on migrant

workers and sweatshops in SEA.

Sweatshops

sweatshop

Documents