May 2001, New report from the National Labour Campaign, Worker Rights in the Americas?
A Rare Inside Glimpse

It describes the situation at suppliers in El Salvador producing a.o. for Nike, the Gap and Walmart and supplying the National Basketball Association in the US.

you can find the press release below and the full report at the NLC site at
http://www.nlcnet.org/elsalvador/0401/index.htm

Download a PDF version of the report (2000kb!!)

Press Release of the NLC:

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION USES SALVADORAN SWEATSHOPS

Leading Labor Rights Watchdog Cites Major US Retailers for Forced Pregnancy Tests, Low Pay, Long Hours, Unsafe Conditions

JOINS CONGRESSIONAL OPPONENTS OF BUSH FAST TRACK/FTAA INITIATIVE

At a press conference on Capitol Hill today, leading labor rights watchdog, Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the National Labor Committee for Human Rights (NLC), released an 84-page report documenting extensive, systematic sweatshop practices in Salvadoran factories that supply apparel to the National Basketball Association, Nike, the Gap, Wal-Mart, and universities including Ohio State, Duke, North Carolina, Michigan, Arizona, and Georgetown.

"At one factory, young women are paid just 29 cents for each $140 Nike NBA shirt they sew-which means that their wages amount to only two-tenths of 1% of the garment's retail price. They can't even feed and clothe themselves, much less their children, on these wages. What is [NBA Commissioner] David Stern thinking?" said Kernaghan, holding up Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks basketball jerseys.

"I'll bet none of the players know that their names are on NBA jerseys that are made by young women who face mandatory pregnancy tests, are forced to work 11-hour shifts in 90-100 degree heat, six days a week, often without overtime pay, and are fired when they try to defend themselves. Many of the players are enormously generous with contributions of time and money to their communities. I'm sure they'll be shocked to discover this," he added.

The National Labor Committee's report, "Worker Rights in the Americas? A Rare Inside Glimpse," identifies a pattern of serious labor rights violations in twelve Salvadoran garment factories based on the organization's own research in El Salvador as well as a suppressed Salvadoran government investigation of working conditions in that country's four largest free trade zones. The Salvadoran report was funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Conditions cited by the Salvadoran Labor Ministry report include:

• Below-subsistence wages, leaving families mired in "abject poverty."
• Forced overtime: "on a daily basis…under threat of firings." "On some occasions the workers find themselves obligated to sleep in the factory facilities…"
• Excessively high production goals: "If the worker does not reach the production goal during the regular work day, she is under the obligation to work overtime on her own account." This requires overtime work without pay. Abusive working conditions: "The majority of workers…are subjected to
• mistreatment by managerial personnel."
• Unsafe working conditions: "Excessive heat…poor ventilation...excessive lint….In many cases workers do not receive safety equipment…such as masks, gloves, respirators for the handling of chemicals."

The National Labor Committee had drinking water samples from several factories tested by a Salvadoran laboratory. Samples from one Nike factory contained human and animal fecal matter as well as bacteria levels at 429 times those advised by international health authorities. The water was deemed unsafe to wash with, let alone to drink. It can produce serious respiratory, urinary tract, eye, ear and stomach infections. [See p.16, NLC report]

At the press conference, Kernaghan joined U.S. Representatives David Bonior (House Democratic Whip), Sherrod Brown, Ciro Rodriguez, Bernard Sanders, Jan Schakowsky, Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich who called for extensive and enforceable labor rights protections as a condition for Congressional approval of any trade agreements, including President Bush's proposal for Fast Track authority to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). Kernaghan observed, "El Salvador is now covered by a free trade agreement like the one that President Bush is now proposing. It doesn't have enforceable labor rights protections. This is the result. Knowing what we know, let's not make this mistake again. We support trade and the much-needed jobs it brings to El Salvador, but they must be jobs with dignity and respect for fundamental human rights."

Copies of the NLC Report and the USAID/Salvadoran Labor Ministry report will be available-in Spanish and English-at the press conference.