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‘Confessions of a Sweatshop Inspector’ Shows Need for Standards in Trade Deals |
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Both Democratic presidential candidates and a majority of the American public believe U.S. trade deals should include assurances that workers’ basic rights are respected. But until such provisions become part of trade agreements and are enforced, private corporations who contract with foreign suppliers hold the reins.
In response to press reports and demands by consumers, workers, students and human rights groups, many major companies created voluntary codes of conduct to try to ensure their products are produced “ethically.” But do those codes really work?
In this month’s Washington Monthly magazine, T.A. Frank, a former sweatshop inspector or “corporate social responsibility monitor,” describes what it’s like on the ground for those who are charged with enforcing codes of conduct.
In 2002 and 2003, Frank inspected foreign factories for clients such as K-Mart, Ann Taylor and Home Depot to see the extent to which suppliers were complying with codes of conducts and local laws. In the process, he says he learned the tricks local factories use to get around the inspection system and how to spot which corporations want their products to be made ethically.
Frank, now a fellow at the New America Foundation and a consulting editor for Washington Monthly, says his experience convinced him that standards are critical:
We are, like it or not, profoundly affected by the labor standards of our trading partners. If their standards are low, they exert a downward pressure on our own. That’s why monitoring and enforcement have such an important role to play.
We don’t expect developing nations to match us in what their workers earn. But when a Chinese factory saves money by making its employees breathe hazardous fumes and, by doing so, closes down a U.S. factory that spends money on proper ventilation and masks, that’s wrong. It’s wrong by any measure. And that’s what we can do something about if we try. It’s the challenge we face as the walls come down, the dolls, pajamas, and televisions come in, and, increasingly, the future of our workers here is tied to that of workers who are oceans away.
Click here to read the entire article, “Confessions of a Sweatshop Inspector.”
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My grandfather started the steel union movement in Beaver Falls, Pa in what was then Moltrup Steel. He organized steel from B&W to J&L steel mills.
His dream was simple- a fair’s day pay for a fair’s day work. PERIOD. His dream died after NAFTA shut the steel industry down in this country. His sons lost their jobs to foreign interests.
I remember sitting on his back porch looking at the mill telling me the stories of how back in the day state police sided with the companies.
In one story he talked how the state police fired a tear gas canister into the picket line killing the man next to him. You could see his eyes water up as he told the story.
Our family has and always will be union. We have not forgotten who signed NAFTA into law. Now, we find out his wife chief strategist, Mr. Penn, has been demoted after trying to expand NAFTA to Columbia. All those union workers who voted and supported her will see an expansion to NAFTA that will take more jobs than the first NAFTA agreement signed by President Clinton
Her promises mean nothing to blue collar workers. Ask yourself questions when you go into that voting booth. Why was Mr. Penn only demoted and not fired? Does she really support re-structing of NAFTA after she foughht hard to bring NAFTA into power.
Vote for Change- Vote Union-
MICHAEL MARTINO
Grandson of John B Martino- Local 1002
1st Steel Union Organizer in Pennsylvania