Bill Would Ban Sale of Products Made in Sweatshops

by James Parks, Jan 28, 2007

Workers in a factory in Jordan hold pictures of products they make for export to U.S. retailers.

For some companies, “free trade” means finding the cheapest labor, forcing people to work long hours for little or nothing in sweatshops to produce products that are exported to department stores in the United States and around the world.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) wants to stop this exploitation of workers by taking away the sweatshop owners’ profits. He has introduced legislation that would ban the U.S. sale of imported products made in sweatshop factories.

In an innovative enforcement twist, the legislation not only would impose a $10,000 fine for violating the ban, but also would give those who sell legitimately produced products the right to sue to recover damages from the ban violators.

The legislation, known as the Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act (S. 367), has bipartisan support. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) joined Dorgan to co-sponsor the bill, along with Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

A similar bill was introduced by Dorgan last year, but it failed to pass. However, with a new Congress, working families are optimistic the legislation will succeed this time.

Dorgan says the bill would help workers both here and overseas:

There is no reason for the United States of America to allow the sale of products made in slave labor-like conditions. This bill would help put an end to it. It would also stand up for American producers and American workers and tell them they don’t have to compete against those who cut corners at the cost of human health, dignity and even human lives.

Graham said many U.S. firms are trying to foster fair labor practices abroad and those that encourage sweatshop production should be punished:

Believe it or not, there’s a world out there where people are exploited—sometimes literally to the point of death—just to make a buck.

If you’re a business person engaged in exploiting people to build up markets share, I hope you get fined. I hope you get sued. That’s not the way to build up an economy. That’s not the way to have global trade, and it’s not in the best interests of America.

If it becomes law, the legislation could have a major impact on large U.S. retailers such as Wal-Mart, the nation’s biggest importer of products from China, which has a history of using sweatshop and forced labor.

Labor practices in Jordan offer a chilling example of why this legislation is needed. The U.S. trade agreement with Jordan included workers’ rights provisions that were supposed to prevent gross violations of workers’ freedoms. But these provisions weren’t enforced, and last year the violations were so extreme that the AFL-CIO and the National Textile Association (NTA), which represents U.S. textile producers, filed a workers’ rights case against Jordan with the U.S. Trade Representative.

The Bush administration has done little or nothing to enforce the workers’ rights part of the agreement, according to a report, Justice for All: The Struggle for Worker Rights in Jordan by the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center, which has maintained an office in Jordan for almost a decade. The report details the scope of workers’ rights violations across industries in the country, including violations of the rights of migrant workers, obstacles to freedom of association and collective bargaining, as well as a rise in child labor and forced labor.

A National Labor Committee (NLC) report, U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement Descends into Human Trafficking & Involuntary Servitude, was picked up by The New York Times, which found that some foreign workers in Jordan’s factories that produce garments for Wal-Mart and other American retailers say they are forced to work 15- to 20-hour days with no pay and are physically abused when they ask for their wages.

The NLC report cites the following examples in plants in Jordan, some of which produce clothes for Wal-Mart:

• Workers in the Western factory received no wages for six months, despite being forced to work 109 hours a week, including 20-hour shifts, according to the report.
• At another factory, there were 24-, 38- and even 72-hour shifts. The workers were paid an average wage of two cents an hour. Workers were slapped, kicked, punched and hit with sticks and belts.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, in a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, said the two reports show that Jordan has failed to live up to its obligations under the trade agreement:

Jordan’s labor law and current practice appear to fall short of the ILO (International Labor Organization) core labor standards the parties have committed themselves to respect and enforce…. The time has come for the United States to investigate this situation and then take action to help its trading partner bring about meaningful change with respect to worker rights in Jordan.

		Become a Fan on Facebook			Follow Us on Twitter			Subscribe to YouTube			Subscribe to Blog RSS

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (0)