*Haitian workers earn only 6 cents for every pair of Disney “101 Dalmatians” outfit that Disney sells for $20. Disney pays its workers in Haiti about 28 cents an hour. A woman in Salvador working in a sweatshop makes 12 cents sewing a GAP T-shirt that sells in the US for $20. (Sources: In These Times; National Labor Committee; Jobs with Justice) *Almost half of all toys sold in the US are produced in China, Thailand, and other Asian countries. “China is the champ in the low wage sweepstakes. With minimum wages that hover around 80 cents a day, China is forcing a further decline in the already hideous working conditions in neighboring countries. Naturally, Western executives are flocking to China to do business.” (Bob Herbert, The New York Times) *In 1995, Mattel CEO John Amerman made $7 million and held an additional $23 million in stock options - more than the combined annual salary of the 11,000 Mattel workers making Barbie dolls in China. (Eyal Press, The Nation) *There are sweatshops in the US, too. One worker at a Los Angeles garment factory making clothes for Guess was paid 40 cents for his labor on a blouse that sold in a New York department store for $58. (Source: American Teacher) *Myth: It’s OK to pay workers in poor countries lots less than workers are paid here because living expenses are so much less. Milk: in Haiti, 75 cents; in NY, 65 cents; eggs: in Haiti, $1.50, in NY, $1.39; cereal: in Haiti, $1.90, in NY, 1.69; gas: in Haiti, $2.20, in NY, $1.26. (Source: Newsday) *In Indonesia, the minimum wage is $2.36 per day. The Suharto dictatorship admits that in Jakarta and other urban centers it takes $4 a day to meet subsistence needs. If Nike took just 1% of its annual advertising budget ($280 million), it could raise the income of all its Indonesian workers above the poverty line. (Source: Counterpunch, Global Exchange) *Almost all soccer balls used in the US are imported. Major soccer ball manufacturing countries: Pakistan, China, and Indonesia. Between 1985 and 1995, the soccer ball industry greatly increased production in countries where children make leather hand-stitched balls. In countries like Pakistan, children may work 12 hour days for very little pay. (Source: International Labor Rights Fund) *Nike CEO Phil Knight is the sixth richest man in the United States. He owns 100 million shares of Nike stock. His dividend income alone for the third quarter of 1996 was $80 million dollars. More than 75% of Nike's shoe production occurs in countries where it is illegal to form independent trade unions. (Source: Counterpunch, Press for Change) *Throughout the world, 250 million 5 to 14 year olds are employed; one half of these work full-time. Many children work in industries where they are exposed to harmful chemicals or other dangerous conditions. In Sri Lanka, more children die from pesticide poisoning than from a combination of childhood diseases including malaria, tetanus, and whooping cough. (Source: International Labor Organization) On the other hand... *75% of US consumers say that they would boycott stores selling goods from sweatshops, and 85% say they would be willing to pay 5% more for legally made products. (Source: Marymount University) *The Bonded Labor Liberation Front in Pakistan has opened 240 free primary schools for poor children. Since 1980, the South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude has freed over 29,000 children from forced labor. (Source: Sydney Schanberg, Life) *Students from Monroe High School in Los Angeles organized to get a resolution passed by the school board committing the district not to buy soccer balls from countries that allow child labor. Students in LA have formed Students Against Kid Exploitation. (Source: LA Times) *At the end of April 1997, 10,000 workers went on strike at a Nike factory in Indonesia, despite the fact that free trade unions are banned there. During the same week, 1,300 workers went on strike at a Nike factory in Vietnam, and workers there have staged dozens of wildcat strikes protesting low pay and abusive working conditions over the last few years. (Source: Associated Press, Far Eastern Economic Review) *On April 13, 1997, the largest, most diverse farm worker demonstration in history, including 20,000 people, was held in Watsonville, California. It was part of a United Farm workers union drive to organize strawberry workers who labor in “sweatshops in the fields” for an average of $8,000 a year. (Source: The Nation) *In February, North Olmsted, Ohio (pop. 35,000), a working class suburb of Cleveland, became the first US city to ban municipal purchases of sweatshop made products. It also covers US sweatshops and allows no exceptions. The city is aggressively enforcing the new law. Says Mayor Ed Boyle, who thought up the law, “Government should not be party to the exploitation of children and adults anywhere in the world.” (Source: The Progressive) Disney in Haiti: IPS) NEW YORK -- For U.S. companies, the best deals are made in Haiti. In a country where the legal minimum wage is a meager $2.40 a day, more than half of the 50 assembly firms operating in Haiti are not paying even that, according to a recently released report by the New York-based National Labor Committee (NLC), a human rights and labour group. From Disney's Pocahontas pajamas to Hanes underclothes, Haitian workers are making pennies an hour producing items for the U.S. market. For each Pocahontas pajamas priced at $11.97 in Wal-Mart, a Haitian worker receives only 7 cents, according to the report titled "The U.S. in Haiti: How to Get Rich on 11 cents an Hour." The report details how major U.S. corporations like Disney, Wal- Mart and J.C. Penney are profiting from the exploitation of Haitian workers. Calling the report's allegations a "misunderstanding," a Disney spokesman said: "We care very deeply about the conditions in which our products are made." He added that Disney requires any factory producing its products to obey local labor laws. Many of Haiti's assembly factories are clustered in industrial parks along the road to Haiti's national airport. The average factory is hot, crowded, and poorly ventilated. Workers labour as much as 70 hours a week in these conditions. And a worker lucky enough to be paid the minimum wage earns only $14.40 in a six-day work-week, the report states. Approximately 10 plants in Haiti produce for Disney, though the contracting may have several layers. Disney contracts out to L.V. Myles Corp., a sleep-wear company, which sub-contracts out to Haitian-owned companies. According to the NLC report, the company owned outright by L. V. Myles does pay the minimum wage to its employees, but companies that L.V. Myles subcontracts with, do not. Paul Miller, president of L.V. Myles, contends that his company complies with all Haitian laws. He said it is the company's understanding that the Haitian contractors are paying the minimum wage, but: "Of course it is very hard to police the pay of an unrelated company." Eric Verhoogen, a labour researcher who authored the report, said it would not be difficult for L.V. Myles to investigate abuses by its subcontractors. One such Haitian-owned company producing Disney pajamas pays its workers 12 cents an hour. It is located just 200 metres from the company owned by L.V. Myles. "Disney should get down there and police its own factories," said Verhoogen. "All it would take is one phone call from Disney and the conditions would be improved." In May, 1995, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide raised the minimum wage in Haiti to 2 dollars and 40 cents a day. Many companies, resentful of the increase, bypassed the law by raising the quota of factory piece-rates. Under this system, workers are paid per item that they sew. As a result, workers are unable to meet their quotas, and continue to receive less than the minimum wage, according to the report. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which has long tried to promote assembly industries in Haiti which rely on cheap labour, was not enthusiastic about Aristide's decision to boost the minimum wage. USAID, which fervently promoted foreign investment in Haiti during the years of the Duvalier dictatorship, abruptly halted its support when Aristide became president in 1991. Today, with a government somewhat captive to the foreign forces in the country, USAID has again been pushing to open the country to foreign businesses. It has also pressed hard for the privatization of state-owned industries such as the telephone and electric companies, claiming that these policies will bring more jobs to Haiti. "This is what privatisation means for Haitian workers," said Verhoogen referring to the worker abuse documented in the report. "It's not a pretty sight." Since September 1994, when a U.S.-led multinational force intervened against the military regime, Washington has spent $596 million assisting U.S. and Haitian businesses, according to the report. While the U.S. has poured money into Haiti to help private businesses, such funding has rarely been used to assist the grass- roots movement, it says. "The U.S. has spent all this money to restore democracy to Haiti, but has done nothing to investigate the legal violations of basic workers' rights in Haiti," said Verhoogen. Some analysts say that if wages are not kept at a "competitive" rate in Haiti, companies will pack up and move their production plants elsewhere. But others argue that even if companies were to simply pay Haiti's paltry minimum wage, these wages would still be much lower than those they could find anywhere else.
