http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7543104430091001172&q=garme#
Saipan is the largest in a chain of fourteen islands in the Pacific Ocean known as the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The workers are brought to the island from China, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh and other Asian countries. These workers, mostly women, must sign to agree to pay off thousands of dollars worth in recruitment fees. Most of these workers come to the island for work to help pay off debt their family may contain back home.
“These workers have often been enticed by promises of high wages and quality employment into signing contracts demanding that they waive basic rights like the right to join unions, to date, and attend religious services. Instead, these workers find themselves trapped in 12-hour work days that run seven days a week, earning the minimum wage of $3.05 an hour, toiling incessantly to repay the recruitment fees that range from $2000 to $7000, all while laboring in working conditions condemned by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).(1) What sets this prototypical sweatshop environment apart from the many operating around the world, is that it is both operating on U.S. soil and currently being successfully challenged in three separate lawsuits.”
This passage comes from an article that was written by the Cultural Survival Group, http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/saipan-sweatshops-challenged.
In 2002 the settlement was approved for 26 retailers including, “Abercrombie & Fitch, Brooks Brothers, Brylane L.P., Calvin Klein Inc., Cutter & Buck Inc., Donna Karan International, Dress Barn, Gap Inc. (Banana Republic, Old Navy), Gymboree Corp., J.C. Penney Company Inc., J. Crew Group Inc, Jones Apparel Group, Lane Bryant Inc., The Limited Inc., Liz Claiborne Inc., May Department Stores Company, Nordstrom Inc., Oshkosh B'Gosh Inc., Phillips-Van Heusen, Polo Ralph Lauren, Sears Roebuck and Company, Talbots Inc., Target Corp. (Target, Mervyn's, Marshall Fields, Dayton-Hudson), Tommy Hilfiger USA Inc., Warnaco Inc. and Woolrich, Inc.” Only one refused to sign the contract, which was Levi’s. They were awarded $20 million for the settlement, which is the largest amount given to a international human rights case.
This is another article that explains the case written by the L.A. Times, http://articles.latimes.com/2002/sep/27/business/fi-saipan27.The working conditions that were held on this island are horrendous. These workers were being treated as slaves in that respect. Even their living conditions were unacceptable. Especially when you take inconsideration that these companies who are supplying these services are multi millionaires/ billionaire. The amount of funding should not be a question. The conditions for these workers are better than they were before, but there is always room for improvement.
You write, "The conditions for these workers are better than they were before, but there is always room for improvement" - how did they change? What sort of push for social justice resulted in these changes? What sort of power did the workers have? What were the obstacles they faced? How does this connect to other movements we have discussed?
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