| Asian
TNCs and supply chainsSOMO Bulletin on Issues in Garments & Textiles
Number 2, July 2003 The SOMO Bulletin on Issues in Garments & Textiles
is a bi-monthly on-line publication of the Centre for Research on Multinational
Corporations (SOMO) that presents critical issues of interest to those working
to improve conditions and empower workers in the global garment and textile industries.
Each edition of the bulletin focuses on one specific topic. Unless otherwise indicated,
information presented is drawn from SOMO research. All editions of the bulletin
can be found at the SOMO <www.somo.nl>
and Clean Clothes Campaign <www.cleanclothes.org> websites. Content of the
bulletin may be freely reproduced or distributed, with appropriate attribution. Asian MNCs in Global Supply Chains The
role of multinational corporations (MNCs) in Asia has been well-documented. Many
North American and European garment and footwear MNCs have had operations in Asia
for decades, with governments in the region often seeking to attract foreign companies
and investors to their countries. Such MNCs paved the way for international economic
restructuring around the world. More recently Asian MNCs are playing an important
role in international supply chains in these industries, with Asian companies
investing in production operations not only in the region but as far away as Africa
and Central America. These Asian MNCs generally are focused on manufacturing,
serving as subcontractors for brand-name garment and footwear MNCs. While they
have lower global name recognition than their customers Nike, for example Asian
MNCs such as Pou Chen and Nien Hsing, with turnover of more than US $1 billion,
are crucial links in these supply chains. While Western MNCs draw their own huge
profits from the development, marketing, and retail of items such as clothes and
sports shoes, these Asian companies have shown that the lower-profile business
of producing these goods can be equally and in some cases more profitable. There
are some notable examples of Asian MNCs that are involved in the marketing and
retailing of their own highly-branded goods, for example the Japan-based Asics,
an athletic-footwear company with 2002 sales of approximately US $972 million,
and Mizuno, also a Japanese sportswear company, whose sales in 2002 exceeded US
$1 billion (www.hoovers.com;
www.mizuno.com). And there
are large Asian trading companies that play an important role as supply
chain managers, such as Li & Fung, the Hong-Kong based trading group
(2002 turnover approximately US $4.8 billion) that facilitates the sourcing of
garments and footwear (Li & Fung, 2003:3). This edition of the bulletin however,
specifically focuses on the less-documented role of what have been referred to
as production MNCs that are based in Asia.
| ASIAN MNCS: EXAMPLE #1: POU CHEN The
Taiwanese-owned Pou Chen Corp., the worlds largest supplier of branded sports
shoes (16% market share), started out with one factory in central Taiwan in 1969.
The family business grew, and in 1980 received its first contract to produce for
adidas. By 1988, labor costs had increased and the Taiwan dollar had appreciated
in value. Pou Chen moved its factories to China. Today Pou Chen employs a quarter
of a million people worldwide, and has factories in China, Indonesia, Vietnam,
and the United States. With a turnover approaching US$ 2 billion, the companys
first quarter profits in 2003 nearly tripled to US $92 million. Pou Chen holds
a majority share (49%) in the Hong Kong-based Yue Yuen Industrial, itself a branded
sports shoe manufacturing giant with subsidiaries in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Yue Yuen also operates approximately 100 footwear and apparel stores in mainland
China. In 2001 Yue Yuens net profits were higher than those of its customers
Reebok and adidas. In the first six months of this year, the company posted a
turnover of US $1.24 billion. Recently, Yue Yuen announced it would spend US $10-20
million later this year to acquire two new projects relating to its shoe and apparel
businesses, possibly moving production lines back to Hong Kong, where they produced
in the 1980s, in light of a pending new free trade pact between Hong Kong and
China (Wu, 2003; Hoovers Online, 2003; Reuters, 2003; WGSN Daily, 2003;
Merk, 2003). | INCENTIVES FOR GOING MULTINATIONAL Asian
MNCs ranging from small, medium, to large companies have been drawn to invest
or set up operations in other countries for the same reasons that Western companies
have: cost factors, the regulatory environment, possibilities for growth, and
access to markets. Incentive packages from host governments and trade agreements
can help facilitate relocation to other countries. For example, recently the Vietnamese
province of Hung Yen granted a foreign direct investment license to South Koreas
Beeahn company, which plans to build a US $1.2 million garment factory for export.
The agreement includes a seven-year exemption from land rental fees and an exemption
from corporate income tax until the venture has been profitable for four years
(Just-style.com, 2003). In Africa the African Growth and Opportunity Act
(AGOA), which went into effect in 2000, authorizes the duty and tariff-free export
of garments from 36 sub-Saharan African countries to the United States. This preferential
access to the U.S. market, as well as low labor costs, and access to European
Union (EU) markets under the Cotonou Agreement, have been a powerful lure for
investors, particularly from Asia. Researchers report that southern Africa has
drawn Asian investors mainly from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka (De
Coster, 2002). In Swaziland, for example, new investment in the garment
and textile industries was once primarily South African, however now investment
predominantly comes from Taiwan. Investors say that it is not only the AGOA provisions,
but also tax incentives (such as five-year tax holidays) that bring them to Swaziland.
Further south in Lesotho, there has also been a similar increase in Asian (mostly
Taiwanese) investment in the garment industry during the 1990s. Access to
the North American market and the absence of quota restrictions or easy access
to new quotas due to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Caribbean
Basin Initiative encouraged Taiwanese and South Korean investment in Central
| ASIAN MNCS: EXAMPLE #2 TRI-STAR In
1979 when Deshabandu Kumar Dewapura set up his first garment factory just outside
of Sri Lankas capital city of Colombo he had only 10 machines and 15 employees.
That modest unit was the beginning of Tri-Star Apparel Exports, a group that boasted
some 30 factories in Sri Lanka. Following the reduction in quota entitlements
in 1995 and citing financial pressures, the company sold off eight of its factories
in 2002. Tri-Star set up operations in Kenya, Botswana, and most recently, in
January 2003, in Uganda. Producing in the past for such name brands as Ralph Lauren,
Gap, Guess, and Victorias Secret, Tri-Star recently signed an agreement
with Grasshopper Holder in the UK, one of the European Unions largest garment
suppliers, to produce up to two million pieces of baby wear and childrens
wear per month (www.lankae.com,
undated ; The Island, 2002; De Coster, 2002; Bharattextile.com, 2003, Sunday Observer
Magazine, 2003). | America in the 1990s. In Cambodia, access
to the U.S. market via a Bilateral Textile Agreement signed in 1998 with United
States, as well as low wages, has drawn Chinese, Malaysian, Singaporean, and Taiwanese
investors (Chen, 2003; Postlewaite, 2001). In some cases, Asian MNC home
countries also give companies incentives to set up operations overseas. The Taiwanese
government, for example, provides financial support and tax rebates to companies
that invest in Central America and Africa. At a Swaziland factory producing jeans
and other garments for U.S. brands such as Basic Edition and Bugle Boy, researchers
were told that the Taiwanese parent company, which also had operations in Cambodia,
received reimbursement from the Taiwanese government for 15 20% of wages. When
Taiwanese denim and jean giant Nien Hsing invested in Nicaragua in 1993, the
company received more than US $370,000 in support from the Taiwanese government,
reports Chen Yi Chi, editor of the Asia Pacific Labour Update. In addition to
trade agreements that grant favorable market access, Chen explains that the political
situation contributes to the Tawainese governments willingness to support
overseas investment. By subsidizing overseas investment elsewhere, the government
hopes to discourage an overdependence on investment in China, which they see as
jeopardizing national security. He also reports that because Taiwan is politically
marginalized due to its relationship to mainland China, it uses Taiwanese investment
as leverage to establish official diplomatic ties with other countries (Chen,
2003).
| ASIAN MNCS: EXAMPLE #3 RAMATEX Ramatex
Berhard, Malaysias largest integrated textile and garment manufacturer,
started out in 1982 with one small textile manufacturing plant in Batu Pahat,
Malaysia. By 1989 the company had expanded from dyeing and knitting mills to yarn
manufacturing, and then in 1992 into fabric finishing and printing. Today the
company, with profits in 2002 of approximately US$ 18.9 million, has direct subsidiaries
in China and Namibia and offers a wide range of textile and garment products.
According to Executive Director Albert Lim Poh Boon, clients on the west coast
of the United States are served by Ramatexs Chinese operations, while the
Namibian subsidiary caters to European Union, Middle East, and east coast U.S.
buyers. At their annual general meeting this month, Ramatex announced that they
will spend US $10 million to buy several medium-sized garment factories in Cambodia,
Indonesia, and in Africa (Ramatex.com.my, 2003; Musa, 2003). |
CONCERNS REGARDING SOURCING POLICIES AND LABOR PRACTICES During the
past decade, organizations such as SOMO and the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) have
documented violations of labor rights at Asian-owned garment, textile, and sport
shoe factories both in Asian and in other parts of the world. For example: --
A study carried out by the Urban Community Mission (UCM) in Jakarta and published
by the German Clean Clothes Campaign in 2000 documented ongoing labor rights violations
at PT Tuntex, a Taiwanese-owned garment factory producing for Nike, adidas, Gap,
and others. Researchers found forced overtime, wages below the legal minimum,
long working hours that violated local law, physical and verbal insults. A UCM
researcher testifying during a November 2000 European Parliamentary hearing on
labor conditions spoke in detail about the serious rights violations at the Indonesian
factory. Follow-up research carried out in 2001 and 2002 showed that significant
labor rights violations continued to occur at Tuntex. Meanwhile, Tuntex Textile
is one of the leading Taiwanese investors in Swaziland, having invested more than
US $10 million since it came to the country in 1998 (Wick, 2002; Du Ling, 2003).When
researchers visited one Tuntex facility in Swaziland in 2002 interviews with workers
revealed a variety of problems, including forced overtime, low wages, and unhealthy
and unsafe conditions (including locked exits). Though management told researchers
they had signed a collective bargaining agreement with the union, workers reported
that management had in fact refused to recognize the union even though membership
exceeded the 50% mark necessary for recognition. -- In 2001 workers at the
Kuk Dong factory in Puebla, Mexico went on strike to protest a variety of labor
rights abuses (forced overtime, low wages, verbal abuse, failure to give legally
mandated benefits). The factory, which produced for Nike and various U.S. universities,
was owned by Kuk Dong International, a Korean-based company with large factories
in Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico. Labor disputes had also been reported at the
companys Indonesian facility, including failure to pay the minimum wage.
The Mexican Kuk Dong workers entered into a difficult nine-month struggle to form
an independent union. The Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), Verite, and a Mexican
labor lawyer were each called in to investigate conditions at Kuk Dong surrounding
the alleged rights violations, generating considerable evidence to support the
workers claims. An international campaign to support the Kuk Dong workers
was mounted, with organizations in North America, such as United Students Against
Sweatshops, the Maquila Solidarity Network, the Campaign for Labor Rights, and
the AFL-CIO putting enormous pressure on Kuk Dong clients Nike and Reebok to take
responsibility for improving conditions and settling the dispute at their Mexican
supply facility. The Korean House for International Solidarity, a Seoul-based
NGO, put pressure on Kuk Dong in the companys home country. European organizations
and consumers participating in the Clean Clothes Campaign network also responded
to the appeal to help the Kuk Dong workers, putting pressure on Kuk Dongs
European clients, such as Pierre Cardin, to push their supplier to settle the
dispute in Mexico. Finally, in September 2001 the workers succeeded in gaining
recognition of their union. A collective agreement was signed by the union, known
as SITEMEX, and the company (by then operating under a new name, MexMode). Campaigners
continued to pressure Nike and other Kuk Dong clients to continue to place orders
with the factory now that workers were represented by the union of their choice.
This was a precedent-setting victory for the Mexican maquiladora sector, where
independent unions had not been able to operate. The KukDong/MexMode victory is
said to have had a positive spillover effect on worker organizing in the Puebla
region (Maquila Solidarity Network, 2001-2002). -- In American Samoa, where
garments bearing Made in USA labels enjoy tariff-free entry to the
U.S. market, South Korean factory owner Lee Kil-soo was found guilty of human
trafficking in the largest such case ever brought to court in the United States.
Lee employed 251 workers from Vietnam and China in appalling conditions that were
described by the US attorney general as nothing less than modern-day slavery.
Beaten, deprived of food and wages, and forced to pay (illegal) recruitment fees
to get their jobs, the workers who were making garments for US retailers Sears
and JC Penney successfully pressed their claims in court. In April 2002 they were
awarded a total of US $3.5 million by the High Court of Samoa (Fickling, 2003;
Greenhouse, 2002). -- In Saipan, an island that is part of the Commonwealth
of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory located in the Western Pacific,
garment factories received more than 1,000 citations for violating U.S. Occupational
Safety and Health Administration standards, many of which were characterized as
"capable of causing death or serious injury." These manufacturers, predominantly
Chinese, South Korean, and Japanese-owned, as well as the well-known U.S. retailers
they were producing for (such as Gap, Levi Strauss, The Limited, and Target),
were charged with using indentured labor -- predominantly young women from Asia
-- to produce their goods. The immigrant workers (30,000 participated in the class
action suit) alleged that they had to sign contracts that denied them their basic
human rights; pay exorbitant recruitment fees that keep them in a state of indentured
servitude; work up to 12 hours a day, seven days a week, often without overtime
pay; and live in overcrowded housing in unsanitary conditions. After more than
four years, a U.S. Federal judge approved a settlement in the Saipan cases in
April, establishing a US $20 million fund to pay back wages to the workers and
create an independent monitoring system of Saipan garment factories (Branigan,
1999; Sweatshop Watch 1999-2003). Drawn by trade agreements and other incentive
programs to countries desperate for foreign investment and jobs, investors, including
Asian investors, have been able to circumvent local labor laws (for example, minimum
wage and social security requirements) as well as the standards for good labor
practices set out by the International Labor Organization (ILO). In Swaziland,
for example, where violations documented at Asian-owned factories include forced
overtime, verbal abuse, sexual intimidation, unhealthy and unsafe conditions (including
locked doors), unreasonable production targets, and union repression, the department
of labor admits that in an attempt to keep investors happy it does not pursue
labor law violations to its fullest ability. They say they cant push
investors too hard, but instead are very gentle and persuasive.
While investors see profitable returns on their investments, critics wonder if
workers and their communities really benefit when wages and conditions are substandard
and tax abatements and subsidized infrastructure mean little money goes back into
the community. Asian investors in the garment and textile industries have
proven to be as mobile as Western investors, cutting and running from
one location to another as suits their interests. For example, Mauritius developed
a significant clothing export industry directed to the EU, fueled by investment
from Hong Kong companies. Now that wages in Mauritius have gone up, this location
is less attractive to investors (De Coster, 2002). When confronted with
labor rights violations or with a workforce that increasingly demands the enforcement
of labor rights, companies sometimes suspend or cut their orders to factories
in the spotlight to distance themselves from such negative publicity. Companies
that own factories embroiled in labor disputes sometimes close down their operations,
either temporarily or permanently, to put an end to worker organizing efforts. In
El Salvador for example, when workers at the Taiwanese-owned Tainan factory organized
a union, the company responded by suspending workers and diverting orders to other
factories. The workers had faced forced overtime, harassment, and low wages. When
they sought a collective bargaining agreement in 2002, Tainan (which owned factories
in China, Cambodia, and Indonesia) said they would have to close the factory due
to a lack of orders (Campaign for Labor Rights, 2002). In Indonesia, increased
worker organizing since independent unions became legal in 1998 is said to contribute
to the exodus of investment out of the country in search of an environment where
workers are less able to voice their demands, for example China and Vietnam. In
2002 eight garment factories (six owned by Korean investors, one Chinese, and
another Japanese-Indonesian) shut down leaving thousands of workers jobless and
without sufficient compensation. PT Elaine, a garment factory in East Jakarta
abruptly shut down this February, relocating to Taiwan, leaving workers without
jobs or income (Simanjuntak, 2003; Asia Today International, 2002).
| ASIAN MNCS EXAMPLE: #4 ESQUEL In
2002 Marjorie Yang, chairperson and chief executive officer of the Esquel Group,
was named one of the most powerful businesswomen in the world by Fortune magazine.
Yangs Hong Kong-based family-owned multinational has 47,000 employees, with
17 plants in nine countries. The companys vertically-integrated operations
span cotton farming, spinning, weaving, knitting, garment and accessories manufacturing,
exporting, and retailing. Esquel's garment manufacturing facilities are located
in Malaysia, Vietnam, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, and China. Customers include Abercrombie
& Fitch, Brooks Brothers, Marks & Spencer, Nordstrom, Ralph Lauren, and
Tommy Hilfiger. Esquel, which reportedly makes more mens cotton shirts than
any other company in the world, had revenues of more than US $500 million (Fortune,
2002; Esquel.com). | ASIAN MNCS AND CAMPAIGNS TO IMPROVE
WORKING CONDITIONS: NIEN HSING The Taiwan-based Nien Hsing Textile Co.,
a denim and jeans manufacturing giant, reported US $56.3 million profits in the
last year period, up from the year before. Nien Hsing, which is reportedly the
worlds biggest jeans supplier, has just two small factories in Taiwan, employing
approximately 700 people, however in factories in Central America and Southern
Africa the company employs many thousands more. Nien Hsing has come into the spotlight
in recent years due to high profile cases linking the company to serious labor
rights violations. In both cases, organizing efforts at the factory level were
coupled with sustained international pressure to successfully pressure Nien Hsing
to make concessions to workers demands. First in 2000 management at
Nien Hsings Chentex factory, in the Las Mercedes Free Trade Zone in Nicaragua,
was charged with union repression and illegal dismissal of union members. A year-long
campaign ensued to press for reinstatement of the fired unionists and an end to
the companys anti-union stance. Activists throughout the United States,
where the jeans produced at Chentex were sold, carried out more than 400 actions
to protest conditions at the factory. In Taiwan a coalition of organizations came
together to form Taiwan Solidarity for Nicaragua Workers, to put pressure
on Nien Hsing in their home country. The Taiwanese activists held rallies and
spoke at Nien Hsings shareholders meeting, drawing media attention
to the reality of working conditions at the Chentex factory, where mostly young
single mothers were earning an average of 20 cents per pair of jeans that retailed
for US $30. Legal battles were launched in Nicaragua and lawsuits against Chentex
and Nien Hsing were filed in the United States, while in Europe CCC activists
and others also took up the case. A trade union leader from Lesotho, where Nien
Hsing also has factories, came to Nicaragua to express solidarity with the Chentex
workers. In 2001, the Chentex union signed an accord with management and the union
leaders and workers were reinstated. This precedent-setting victory reportedly
was instrumental in encouraging union organizing drives at other factories in
the Las Mercedes zone. In 1991 Nien Hsing had opened its first jeans factory
(C&Y) in Lesotho. With the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) opening
up more possibilities to access the U.S. market via Africa, a second factory was
opened 10 years later right across the street. By 2002 Nien Hsing employed approximately
7,500 people at its Lesotho facilities which produced jeans for U.S. and Canadian
clients, including Kmart, Sears, Gap, and Cherokee. A third facility, a textile
mill, was under construction at a cost of US $8.6 million. In September 2004,
those seeking to take advantage of the provisions of AGOA requirements, fabric
will have to be sourced from southern Africa; with this new mill supplying fabric
to their factories Nien Hsing will be in compliance with the AGOA requirements. A
variety of problems were reported at the Nien Hsing facilities: taking advantage
of Lesothos high unemployment rate workers were employed on a casual
basis, at a lower minimum wage. This is legal for casuals employed for less than
six months, however at C&Y some workers had been employed as casuals for ten
years. Workers also reported verbal harassment, physical abuse, unsafe conditions
(including locked emergency exits) and non payment of benefits. The Clean Clothes
Campaign took up the case, as did unions and NGOs in the United States and Canada.
In July 2002 the ITGLWF-Africa and the Lesotho Clothing and Allied Workers Union
(LECAWU) started an organizing campaign at the two Nien Hsing factories. With
increasing pressure on all these fronts, LECAWU and Nien Hsing signed a memorandum
of understanding in mid-July that committed the company to recognize the union
and enter into collective bargaining negotiations once the union recruits a majority
of workers at each facility (just.style.com, 2003b; Chen, 2003; CLR, 2001; de
Haan and Philips, 2002; Workers College and ITGLWF Africa, 2002). LABOR
RIGHTS CAMPAIGNING IN RELATION TO ASIAN MNCS Pressuring Asian garment,
textile, and footwear multinationals to take responsibility for their role in
respecting workers rights can present special challenges. Because many of these
companies are not brand name companies they are less visible. This
means that labor rights advocates will get less leverage from the threat of tarnishing
brand image (something which holds considerable value for brand name companies
-- one 2002 survey attributed 71% of a companys worth to intangible
assets such as reputation) (Ethical Corporation, 2002). However, pressuring
manufacturing multinationals via their relationship with the companies they produce
for can yield results. Some Asian manufacturing MNCs however have a broad base
of clients and therefore are less susceptible to pressure or threats of canceled
orders made by individual buyers. Campaigns, as in the Kuk Dong and Nien
Hsing cases mentioned above, that have utilized an approach that mobilizes stakeholders
at the various levels of the garment industry supply chain for example, where
the clothes are produced, where the production multi-national is based, and where
the garments are sold have demonstrated a potential to open up space for workers
to successfully voice their demands. A challenge to workers rights
advocates will be to raise awareness of the role of these less-visible multi-national
corporations and develop strategies for pushing them to take up their responsibilities
for improving working conditions in the industry and respecting workers
rights. Because these Asian production MNCs occupy a space in the production chain
that is often closer to workers then the brand name companies they produce for
(ex. sometimes they are direct employers of garment workers) they have an important
role to play in implementing workers rights. Attempts to seek better compliance
with labor laws, international labor standards, and voluntary codes of conduct
will need to consider the role these important actors play in shaping labor practices
throughout global garment supply networks. Monitoring Asian MNCS Increasingly,
more research is being done to understand and assess the role of Asian MNCs in
global supply chains and in the regions where they operate. Acknowledging
the growing importance of manufacturing multinationals from such countries as
Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, the CCC, at their March 2001 international
evaluation and strategizing meeting, concluded that there was a need for more
information on (including tracing production chains) and campaigns on such manufacturing
multinationals, based on links between regions. The CCC network agreed to address
this need in planning future activities (Ascoly and Zeldenrust, 2001, 48). In
2001 Asia Monitor Research Center (AMRC), a Hong-Kong based coalition advocating
for workers rights for more than 25 years, launched Asian Transnational
Corporations Monitor (ATNC Monitor) to focus attention on such companies, both
in the region and beyond. ATNC Monitor brings together organizations from Hong
Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand
that are examining the way Asian companies, including garment and textile companies,
operate overseas. The group notes that apart from a small number of well-known
and powerful brand-name companies, such as Sony, Toyota, and Samsung there are
many other Asian MNCs that are small and medium-sized firms that play a supplier
or subcontractor role to North American or European companies. Their role in the
supply chain often puts them in immediate contact with workers as their employers,
therefore NGOs and trade unions should be monitoring their activities. Through
a program of research, education, training, exchange projects, and solidarity
action ATNC Monitor hopes to build awareness of labor practices among these companies. Although
TNCs from Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong are violating labor rights and environmental
law in the region, the public awareness of this in Asian countries is very low.
Even workers and labor groups show almost no interest in domestic capital investment
overseas
Home countries protectionist stand has to be broadened to
international solidarity, according to ATNC Monitor (2002). Other
initiatives focusing attention on Asian companies in this sector include the International
Textile Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF) investigations into Asian
multi-national companies operating in southern Africa. RECOMMENDED READING
& REFERENCES Ascoly, Nina and Ineke Zeldenrust (2001) Clean
Clothes Campaign International Meeting 2001, July, 66-page report, CCC International
Secretariat, Amsterdam. Available at the CCC website <www.cleanclothes.org>. Asia
Today International (2002) Investors walk as assets are seized, Special
Online Report, Oct/Nov, <http://www.asiatoday.com.au/jakarta.htm>. ATNC
Monitor (2002) Introduction. Includes general information on Asian
MNCs and the motivation for forming this network. <http://daga.dhs.org/atnc/introduction.htm>.
Also available on this site, which is hosted by Documentation for Action Group
in Asia (DAGA), is the ATNC 2002 Annual Report, which includes the
networks plans for the next three years. BharatTextile.com (2003)
President Yoweri Museveni officially launches Apparels Tri-Star (Uganda)
Limited, January 27, <www.bharattextile.com/newsitems/1981179>. Branigan,
William (1999) Top Clothing Retailers Labeled Labor Abusers: Sweatshops
Allegedly Run on U.S. Territory, Washington Post, January 14. Chen,
Yi Chi (2003) Taiwanese Suppliers:
Supporting the Big Brands, Clean Clothes Newsletter, no. 16, February. CLR
(2001) Chentex Accord Signed An update
on this unprecedented, anti-sweatshop victory, Labor Alerts, Campaign
for Labor Rights, May 11, CLR (2002) Tainan Gap Factory El Salvador,
Labor Alerts, Campaign for Labor Rights, June 27, <http://campaignforlaborrights.org/alerts/2002/juneindex.html#1_1>. De
Coster, Jozef (2002) Africa attracts Asian investors, Textile Asia,
September, pgs. 8-9. De Haan, Esther and Gary Phillips (2002) Made
in Southern Africa, SOMO, Amsterdam. Includes information on Asian investment
in several countries, as well as profiles of Asian-owned factories in those countries.
Also available at the CCC website <www.cleanclothes.org>. Du Ling
(2003) Taiwanese Investment in South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho: A Case
Study by Ambassador Du Ling, speech given by Taiwanese Ambassador Du Ling
to the African-Asian Society, Balalaika Hotel, Sandton, June 12. Roberts,
Sarah, Justin Keeble, and David Brown (2002) Reputation Management and the
Business Case for Corporate Citizenship, Ethical Corporation, March 1. Fickling,
David (2003) Misery of rag-trade slaves in Americas Pacific outpost,
The Guardian, March 1. Fortune (2002) Global Most Powerful Women in
Business, October 14. Greenhouse, Steven (2002) Apparel Maker
in Samoa is told to Pay Workers $3.5 Million, New York Times, April 20. INB
(2001) Major Garment Manufacturer Tri-Star Apparel Opens West Coast Headquarters,
September 10, <Internet News Bureau.com>. Just-style.com (2003a) Vietnam:
Koreas Beeahn Co to Build $1.2 m Garment Plant, February 7. Just-style.com
(2003b) Taiwan: Denim Giant Nien Hsing Says FY Profit Up, March 26. Li
& Fung (2003) Li & Fung Limited Annual Report 2002, <http://www.lifung.com>. Maquila
Solidarity Network (2001-2002) various appeals and updates posted on the Maquila
Solidarity Network website. Other resources include the two WRC reports on Kuk
Dong, as well as the Verite report on Kuk Dong that was commissioned by Nike and
Nikes remediation plan for Kuk Dong <http://www.maquilasolidarity.org/campaigns/nike>.
See also the Clean Clothes Campaign website <http://www.cleanclothes.org/appeals>
for information on the CCCs involvement in this case. Merk, Jeroen
(2003) The International Production of Branded Athletic Footwear,
paper presented at Sussex Conference on Global Regulation, Centre for Global Political
Economy, University of Sussex, Brighton, May. Musa, Zazali (2003) Ramatex
to expand globally, The Star online, July 2, <http://thestar.com.my>. Postlewaite,
Susan (2001) As Unions Grow, an Industry Booms, BusinessWeek online,
October 22, <http://www.businessweek.com>. Ramatex.com.my
(2003) Reuters (2003) Shoemaker Yue Yuen may consider HK production
unit, June 17. Simanjuntak, Tertiani (2003) Shortchanged workers
face uncertain future, The Jakarta Post, March 26. Sunday Observer
Magazine (2003) Tri Star signs up with Grasshopper, March 23, <
http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2003/03/23/bus22.html>. Sweatshop
Watch (1999-2003) updates on the three Saipan lawsuits can be found at the Sweatshop
Watch website <www.sweatshopwatch.org>.
Sweatshop Watch was one of the organizations that took legal action against the
U.S. retailers for their role in rights violations in Saipan garment factories. WGSN
Daily (2003) Hong Kong: Yue Yuen to grow through acquisition, June
17. Workers College and ITGLWF Africa (2002) Organising to End the Slave
Trade: Building Organising Campaigns in the Lesotho Garment Sector, Workers College
Research and Pulications Union and ITGLWF Africa Region, Durban. Wick, Ingeborg
(2002) Labour rights violations
at PT Tuntex, Indonesian garment supplier of adidas-Salomon 1999-2002,
April 24, <http://www.cleanclothes.org/companies/adidas02-04-24.htm>. Wu,
Tiffany (2003) Newsmaker Taiwans shoe king stays out of the limelight,
Reuters, June 9. ****** © 2003 SOMO Centre for Research
on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) Keizersgracht 132 1015 CW Amsterdam
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