HELP STOP LABOR ABUSE at Garment Companies in Saipan
- von: Joshua M. dailyeco@peacemail.com
- empfänger: U.S. Congresswoman, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi
Dear Petition Signers,
First let me add that this issue is very important to me, and I plan on delivering this petition as soon as I can get the needed signatures. If you are part of Care2, you can add to my friends list so I can send you more information about future actions. To all who read this, Please PASS this on TO your FRIENDS, and friends of friends. Thank YOU!!
I took a trip to the Island of Saipan in 2005. On that Island, I discovered a billion dollar garment industry that supplies clothes products mainly to large corporations in America, with a "made in the USA" label. This industry is a constant violator of basic human rights, and perpetrator of labor abuses. This discovery led me to create the film I posted, that is about Saipan Sweatshops. The garment industry in Saipan represents a microcosm for all that is wrong with how our world treats the poor and less fortunate. So to stop this atrocity, will be a domino effect, that will change the way companies can treat the people that work for them, everywhere. Humans are not to be kept in barbed wire compounds to work all through the day. Especially young girls, who have their whole lives ahead of them.
Reasons to Sign this Petition:
- The labor practices on this island are very poor, with little regard for human rights.
- The minimum wage is set at $3.05 currently, and President Bush just signed a law that will make it go up to $3.55 on July 24 and only .50 cents a year after that. Saipan is an American Commonwealth, and bills like this one, H.R. 2066, go to show, the politicians cannot hide the influence they have over this island. This island also uses American Currency. There is no reason to have a minimum wage so low in a place that also recruits for the armed forces.
- Poverty and crime are a problem in Saipan, and higher wages would fix this. Saipan should have a minimum wage equal to the United States which is at $6.25, now. This will also be included in the petition.
- Garment workers are imported to Saipan from Asia. These are mainly young girls who are under the impression they are coming to America. Recruited from mainly poor countries and villages, they send money home to their impoverished families. (if they get paid) These are not greedy people.
- On the island, they find themselves working and living in the same building.
- All the garment workers stay in gated compounds, surrounded by barbed wire, that are guarded by security at the front.
- They sleep in barracks, so they rarely have privacy, and many investigations done by news agencies such as ABC News, have exposed terrible conditions inside these operations.
- Some of these girls are forced to pay up to $8000 dollars before they can even start receiving a profit. This forces the girls to have to work off their huge debt. So the better part of their young lives are spent working.
- Then it is common for these companies to shut down, without paying their employees, and move on, when they have reached their quota. Only to start the operation again on a similar island, like American Samoa. There are always lawsuits trying to collect unpaid wages from these garment companies.
- This leaves many of these girls, unpaid, and wondering the island, with no money, which leads some of them to the large prostitution operation on the island. This also is kept secret, though, many outside news agencies have reported that this is forced prostitution, with young girls who are also minors.
- If these girls try to leave the garment industry, to get a regular job on the island, they are forced by the Department Of Labor to return to their old job at the garment factory. So these girls are treated like cattle to be herded into a pen.
- However, they are real people. We must help them receive the conditions they deserve.
- They must be paid a proper wage, they must have rights, that are protected.
- There must be laws that insure they get paid.
- There must be regular inspections ensuring a descent quality of life.
- The girls must be aware of the situation they are getting into, through an awareness campaign, before they enter the island, or at Customs.
- The garment companies must be accountable to laws that protect human rights, and the garment shops must be transparent, allowing inspectors from the outside to oversee the operation.
- I stopped to take a photograph at one of these gated operations, and was approached by two armed guards that tried to intimidate me.
- Most of us in the free world can quit a job whenever we want. These girls are far away from home on an island, and don't have the luxury of quitting and going home.
Thank YOU !!
Some news reports on this issue...
"We the undersigned", hereby petition for new and stricter laws forcing the garment industry in Saipan to abide by international human rights standards.
- No longer can we allow the garment workers of Saipan to be kept a secret, forced to work for $3.05 an hour, while living in compounds surrounded by guards and barbed wire.
- Saipan is an American Commonwealth, and therefore should be protected by our laws.
- Saipan should also abide by our labor laws and our standard of living. The law H.R. 2066 sets the minimum wage to go up .50 cents a year. Please accelerate this to a level more equal to the $6.25 found in the U.S. to help lower crime, and make it harder for the girls in the garment industry to be taken advantage of.
- A law must be passed preventing employers from charging the girls a fee as high as $8000 dollars, just for the girls to have the right to work for the garment company.
- We must make it mandatory for these girls to be aware of the situation they could be getting into at the airport of origin, or at Saipan Customs. This can be done through handouts of information.
- Please pass a law that forces the garment industry on Saipan to be transparent, and subject to regular inspection. The quality of life for many young, female, Asian garment workers is in your hands,
Thank YOU so much for reading this!!!
And, Thank YOU in advance for helping this cause!!
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