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 Editorials | Issues | November 2007 
Just Stop It: Nike, Gap Sweatshops Exploit Third-World Citizens
 Belize Lane - The Campanile
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| | Bienestar International manufactures union-made footwear & casual clothing under the brand name No Sweat. Their gear is produced by independent trade union members in the US, Canada, and the developing world. They believe that the only viable response to globalization is a global labor movement. Check 'em out at NoSweatApparel.com |
Behind the bright, colorful labels of the fashion world, there hides a less attractive truth about the clothes we wear. Workers hunch over sewing machines in sweatshops, kept awake by forced amphetamine ingestion on 72-hour shifts. Child laborers work in sub-standard health conditions, receiving pay far below minimum wage in factories that distribute to mainstream clothing retailers. Impoverished and desperate people work behind the closed doors of sweatshops where verbal, physical and sexual abuse are commonplace.
A sweatshop is a factory that disregards more than one of the fundamental U.S. labor laws, which include paying minimum wage, paying overtime and respecting the workers' right to organize independent unions.
"I spend all day on my feet, working with hot vapor that usually burns my skin, and by the end of the day, my arms and shoulders are in pain," Alvaro Saavedra Anzures, a Mexican worker, said to the Global Exchange. "We have to meet the quota of 1,000 pieces per day. That translates to more than a piece every minute. The quota is so high that we cannot even go to the bathroom or drink water or anything for the whole day without risking our jobs."
Anzures is just one of millions of cases in which workers are taken advantage of because they have no other choice. They are considered to be production units, and are treated likewise. The competitive atmosphere of leading brand names leaves no room for moral values in the race for the lowest prices.
The United States' consumerist culture lays its worst wear on those "production units" that are spending their lives in substandard health conditions trying to earn a living wage, which the Global Exchange defines as a wage that can support the basic needs of a small family.
Today's teenagers fall under the spell of flashy brand names and their catchy advertisements and logos, filling the pockets of companies that know how to work magic over America's youth. Although the truth behind the labels has finally become public, it is far from common knowledge, and is easily disregarded by teenagers who are caught up in the highly consumerist culture that America's economy thrives on.
"Well, obviously, sweatshops are terrible," Palo Alto High School junior Rosalie Bergen said. "I don't really know which stores endorse sweatshops, or I guess I wouldn't shop there." This attitude is reflected by teenagers across the country. Not only is the information well-concealed, but it is easily brushed off.
No one wants to hear that his or her favorite stores make clothing through illegal means, or that he or she owns clothing that was made by an impoverished child under terrible conditions in a third-world country.Hence, clothing companies' utilization of sweatshops to reduce prices remains commonplace and profitable, despite the efforts of anti-sweatshop groups worldwide. In addition, this unetical practice often goes unnoticed. Students, in particular are in the dark about the means of clothing production.
"I know a lot of stores that I shop at have done some illegal stuff, but they have great clothes, and I figure one person won't make any difference anyway," junior Jordan Lai said.
Teenagers are the main source of profit for many popular clothing stores, and the mindset that one person cannot make a difference is exactly what the companies want to hear. For instance, the Gap, a main beneficiary of sweatshop labor, urges teenagers to buy its clothing, omitting from their cheery advertisements that a Global Exchange investigation revealed that workers in Mexico for the Gap earn as little as 28 cents per hour making jeans that later sell for over $100.
Nike, a name that many associate with famous athletes and high merit, is haunted by its infamous connection to sweatshop labor. A leading brand name for shoes and clothing, this prestigious company is tainted by a history of noncompliance with health, wage and age standards.
Today, the issue has been brought to light by the media, causing a torrent of activist involvement that has increased both wages and minimum age limits for factory workers for Nike factories. The photograph of a child sewing a Nike soccer ball in a Pakistani factory that was made public in 1996 has been burned into the memory of the public as the quintessence of sweatshop labor. This increase in awareness has since faded, but has not yet been defeated; the terrible treatment of factory workers in third-world countries continues.
The present global economy allows sweatshops the mobility and flexibility to conceal themselves in areas of extreme poverty, giving the companies every advantage over the impoverished people and keeping their costs in check. Today, millions of dollars flow daily into the hands of corporations with leading roles in the sweatshop industry. These companies include the Gap, Forever 21, Old Navy, Target, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Sears and J.C. Penney. These retailers are supplied by a number of sweatshops, with documented abuse, dispersed around the world.
The WINS Facilities are located in such close proximity as San Francisco. They were charged with withholding months' worth of pay from a group of laborers, the majority of whom were Chinese immigrant women. Although this mistreatment was uncovered in 2001 and the facilities are now in bankruptcy, WINS supplied clothing to Sears, Wal-Mart, K-mart and J. C. Penney before the discovery was made.
Only last year, a Filippino newspaper exposed Anvil Ensembles as a leading factory in worker abuse. They uncovered that Anvil management had been giving workers amphetamines to keep them awake for 48-and-72 hour shifts, failing to pay minimum wage and providing sub-standard health conditions.
Sweatshops continue to taint the world of fashion as America's youth turns a blind eye. The attitude that no one person can make a difference continues the tragic cycle of poverty and disadvantage for factory workers trying to earn a living wage. Teenagers in America will finally be able to end to end the cycle only by educating themselves about the terrible mistreatment of sweatshop laborers and by giving their money only to companies that do not endorse such treatment. |
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