Asia Times: The Gap targeted over Saipan workers' rights



	March 06, 1999	atimes.com

Oceania

The Gap targeted over Saipan workers' rights
By Farhan Haq

NEW YORK - Labour rights activists are targeting themajor U.S. clothing retailer The Gap in their effort to step uppressure against the labor practices of some U.S. companiesoperating in the Pacific commonwealth territory of Saipan.

Several rights groups, including the California-based GlobalExchange and Sweatshop Watch, planned to kick off a campaignagainst The Gap's conduct in Saipan on Saturday by picketingthe retailer's outlets in New York, Boston, San Francisco, NewOrleans and Washington.

The Gap's New York store also would be picketed the same dayby the Wetlands Preserve Environmental and Social JusticeActivism Center, which accused the retailer of damaging forests.

''The working conditions in factories making Gap clothing areintolerable and abusive,'' said Medea Benjamin, co-director ofGlobal Exchange. ''The company needs to clean up its operations inSaipan by complying with federal labor laws; abolishing the useof contracts that deny basic worker rights; and establishing anindependent monitoring system."

Benjamin accused The Gap of egregious conduct in Saipan,The San Francisco-based retail firm was one of 18 U.S.retailers named in January in a $1 billion lawsuit filedby 25,000 Saipanese workers over alleged labor violations.

The workers contended that they were never paid overtimedespite working more than 40 hours a week, and many workers havecomplained of poor health conditions in Saipanese factories.

The Gap has previously emphasised that its code of conduct compels subcontractors to pay overtime and ensure health and safety standards.

''We hope that consumer pressure on The Gap will force thecompany to reform its business practices in Saipan, and then othercountries will have to follow,'' argued Nikki Bas, director ofSweatshop Watch. ''The U.S. retailers that purchase $1 billion of garments from Saipan every year are responsible forliving and working conditions on the island."

Saipan, one of the islands in the U.S. Commonwealth of theNorthern Marianas in the Pacific Ocean, has drawn attention inrecent months as labor groups underscored the lower minimum wagesand lack of oversight Saipanese workers face compared to their U.S.counterparts.

U.S. firms enjoyed advantages in Saipan unvailable to them onthe mainland, including a low minimum wage - only $3.05 anhour, compared with $5.15 - and total freedom from U.S.import tariffs and quota restrictions. Lax immigration laws alsoallowed firms to benefit from cheap labor from nearby Asiancountries, especially China, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

Many of Saipan's laborers, including 40,000 immigrants, often sign contracts waiving their basic labor rights,including the right to join a union, labor rights groups say.

In recent months, some members of the U.S. Congress have criticizedSaipan's labor standards, and one Democratic representative,George Miller of California, last month introduced a billdesigned to raise Saipan's minimum wage and give U.S. laborofficials greater power to monitor conditions there.

''That the U.S. Congress has tolerated these practices beneaththe American flag is inexcusable, and diminishes our standing inthe world community,'' Miller argued last month.

President Bill Clinton's administration has a particularpolitical incentive to pursue the cause of improved labor rightsin Saipan: His main nemesis in Congress, House Majority Leader TomDeLay of Texas, has been reported to have significant financialdealings in Saipanese factories with poor labor records.

The U.S. Department of Labor recently stepped up its ownactivity in enforcing labor rights in Saipan, but was dealt asetback in February when a federal judge blocked inspectors fromthe Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fromentering a factory where dozens of workers had reported illness.

''OSHA almost always has a difficult time trying to inspect thefactories in Saipan,'' said Carmencita Abad, a former Saipanesefactory worker who was fired for trying to form a union. ''Manylocal officials turn a blind eye to the regular abuses thatworkers face. If the judges and other officials there won't doanything, it's up to the retailers here to pressure the factoriesto clean up their act."

The campaign to pressure The Gap is the first one to target asingle U.S. retailer over Saipan's conditions, although many othermajor firms - including Nordstrom, Sears, Wal-Mart and Express - also retail clothes manufactured on the island.

The Gap has shown its responsiveness to consumer protests andlabor rights allegations before, when the New York-based NationalLabor Committee charged the retailer in 1995 with purchasingorders from a factory in El Salvador, Mandarin International,where child laborers worked for low pay in locked rooms.

After a number of demonstrations, Gap Vice President StanRaggio signed an agreement with the National Labor Committee andtwo religious groups that would prod Mandarin to rehire firedunion leaders and explore independent monitoring of The Gap'sSalvadoran subcontractors.

The Gap promised to resume production with Mandarin only whenit was ''confident that its orders will result in humane andproductive employment in El Salvador,'' Raggio pledged in theagreement. Yet Salvadoran workers last year argued that laborrights violations, including harassment of union leaders,continued at Mandarin even after the agreement.

(Inter Press Service)