In a closely-watched human rights case, a U.S. District Judge in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands upheld the complaint in a class action lawsuit alleging sweatshop conditions on the Western Pacific Island of Saipan. This Oct. 29, 2001 ruling allows the case to proceed to trial.

According to the complaint, the more than 13,000 garment workers in Saipan often work 12-hour days, seven days a week, in unsafe, unclean conditions that violate U.S. labor laws and international treaties. In a 55-page decision, U.S. District Judge Alex R. Munson held that these allegations, if proven at trial, were sufficient to establish liability of both the factories and retailers for engaging in a "conspiracy" to use indentured labor in violation of racketeering laws.

"The Saipan workers are going to get their day in court," said Al Meyerhoff of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP and a lead attorney for the plaintiffs.

One of the primary claims in the lawsuit is that the Saipan garment industry employs foreign workers, primarily young women from China, who were required to sign "shadow contracts" waiving their basic human rights. These workers were also allegedly forced to pay "recruitment fees" as high as $7,000 just to come to the U.S., creating an indentured status that has been illegal in the United States since the U.S. civil war (1865).

In seeking to be dismissed from the suit, the retailers claimed they could not be legally responsible for the actions of factory owners since they were just "customers."

Since the case was filed in 1999, nineteen retailers have settled the claims against them and agreed to adhere to a rigorous system of independent monitoring at the Saipan factories of contractors who produce their clothes. The settlement provides for a multi-million dollar fund that will finance an independent monitoring program, as well as payments to workers, public education, administration costs and attorneys' fees. The settlement also requires that in future supply contracts, retailers will ensure that their factories comply with strict employment standards, including guaranteeing overtime pay for overtime work, providing safe food and drinking water, and respecting employees' basic human rights. Unfortunately, the factory owners, together with The Gap, Target, JC Penney, Levi-Strauss and others have blocked the other retailers' settlements by using delay tactics in the courts.

Also in October 2001 a decision was made in a separate but related action solely against the Saipan factory owners for requiring "volunteer work" to meet production quotas in violation of American overtime laws. In this action Judge Munson ordered that some 20,000 current and former garment workers in several countries be provided notice of their right to submit claims for back wages. Meanwhile, the complaint in a California state court case against The Gap and other retailers for alleged false advertising and fraud in claiming only to sell "sweatshop free" goods has also been previously upheld.

source: Sweatshop Watch. For more information on this case, please see the Sweatshop Watch website: http://www.sweatshopwatch.org/marianas