00-06-22, U.S. Retailers Increase Use of Sweatshops in Burma as Imports Soar

Dear Friends,
Some information on U.S. companies producing garments in Burma. For more information, please contact the National Labor Committee.

National Labor Committee
Education Fund in Support of Worker and Human Rights In Central America

275 7th Ave.
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212-242-3002
Fax: 212-242-3821

June 22, 2000

U.S. Retailers Increase Use of Sweatshops in Burma as Imports Soar

Despite Brutal Dictatorship and International Sanctions, U.S. Companies Increase their Ties to Burmese Military Dictators and Drug Lords

U.S. government sanctions imposed in May 1997 bar new U.S. investments in Burma, yet major U.S. companies are rapidly increasing their ties to the brutal Burmese military dictatorship.

• In 1998 U.S. apparel imports from Burma grew by 49%.
• In 1999, apparel import growth was 45%.
• In just the first quarter of 2000, imports soared upward by 85%.
• Between 1995 and 1999, apparel imports were up 272%.
• This year U.S. companies will import more than $340 million from Burma
• Apparel constitutes 82% of total U.S. imports from Burma.

U.S. companies and brand-name labels cooperating with the Burmese regime include:

• Adidas
• Kohl's
• Warner Bros
• Bugle Boy
• Jordache
• Nautica

And, Perry Ellis, Karl Kani, Kasper ASL, Macy's, Sports Authority, Williams-Sonoma, Montgomery Ward, Dress Barn, Filene's Conway, Burlington Coat Factory and others. Wal-Mart's Canadian division also imports from Burma, however its totals are not included in U.S. import figures.

A significant portion of the increase in apparel imports from Burma comes from new production orders. A selection of new production lines follows:

• ·Imports of travel bags and sports bags increased from zero bags in 1997 to 1,003,492 bags in 1998 to 2,131,413 bags in 1999.
• Imports of non-lace bras increased from zero dozen in 1997 to 46,508 dozen in 1998 to 81,779 dozen in 1999.
• Imports of women's briefs and panties increased from zero dozen in 1997 to 18,658 dozen in 1998 to 136,950 dozen in 1999.
• Imports of knitted or crocheted jumpers increased from zero dozen in 1997 to 10,858 dozen in 1998 to 14,250 dozen in 1999.
• Imports of knitted or crocheted women's shorts increased from zero dozen in 1997 to 4,002 dozen in 1998 to 16,257 dozen in 1999.
• Imports of girls' cotton tank tops increased from zero dozen in 1997 to 6,767 dozen in 1998 to 17,995 dozen in 1999.
• Imports of shop towels jumped from zero towels in 1997 and 1998 to 1,977,777 towels in 1999.

Foreign companies are not allowed to operate independently in Burma, but are required to be in joint ventures with the military government. Apparel and textile firms in Burma are part-owned and controlled by the Burmese military government and the military itself. A portion of money earned from garment exports to the U.S. goes directly to the regime and is used to purchase weapons from China to repress the people of Burma.

"As of 1996, the number of textile and garment factories in Burma that were producing chiefly for foreign markets was said by sources close to the industry to have increased to about thirty. At least sixteen were wholly or partly foreign-owned, mostly by Hong Kong or South Korean firms. Of these sixteen, most were joint ventures either with Myanmar Textiles Industries, a [Government of Burma] parastatal firm, or with Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings (UMEH), a military holding company…" (American Embassy Rangoon. Country Commercial Guide: Burma, FY1998.)

Burma, renamed Myanmar by the current government, has for years been criticized as a military dictatorship. There are no democratic or worker rights in Burma. Torture and rape are commonly used by the military as a tool of social control. Forced labor is a daily occurrence and children are regularly forced to act as porters for the military. Wages are as low as 4 cents an hour for a 45-hour workweek or just $8 a month. Companies producing there count on the regime's military power to crush any labor uprisings or efforts to speak out against the dictatorship.

This year the International Labor Organization-a tripartite agency of the United Nations that represents business, labor and government equally-suspended Burma's voting rights as a sanction for its continued practice of forced labor. Last week, the ILO censured Burma for forced labor practices and encouraged national governments to apply economic sanctions, including trade and investment restrictions on Burma.

The U.S. government imposed sanctions preventing new U.S. investments in Burma in 1997. Clearly the U.S. companies that have increased their ties to the Burmese regime and rapidly increasing imports from the regime are violating the spirit, if not the letter of the law. Canada, the European Union and other countries also have imposed sanctions on Burma.

Methodology: The data in this report comes from the U.S. Commerce Department, Bureau of the Census and Office of Textiles and Apparel, the World Trade Atlas (1998, 1999), the Port Import Export Reporting Service database published by the Journal of Commerce (1999, 2000), Country Commercial Guide: Burma published by the American Embassy Rangoon FY1998 and from a series of informal surveys of products sold in more than a dozen major retail outlets in the U.S.