| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JULY 19, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| THE WORKPLACE
Commentary: It's Europe's Turn to Sweat about Sweatshops The charges were explosive. Girls as young as 14 were forced to toil for 70 hours or more each week. They could go to the toilet only two times a day, with a day's wage deducted if they stayed more than three minutes. Management conducted regular pregnancy tests and dismissed expectant workers. Union supporters were fired. When German members of the Clean Clothes Campaign learned last summer that the El Salvador factory produced clothes for sportswear giant Adidas-Salomon, they leaked the news to a German television station. In response, Adidas pressured the factory's owner, Taiwan-based Formosa Textile, to not hire workers under 16, cut mandatory overtime, and end the pregnancy tests. ''Our brand is associated with high ideals such as commitment and honesty, and consumers need to be sure that these words apply to our supply chain as well as the sports arena,'' says David Husselbee, Adidas' director of social and environmental affairs. Husselbee himself is a Save The Children veteran who fought child labor production of soccer balls in Pakistan before Adidas hired him in January to negotiate with Clean Clothes. PANGS OF CONSCIENCE. For years, European apparel makers such as Adidas have gotten away scot-free while Nike (NKE) and other U.S. rivals have been pounded by sweatshop charges. Now, activists are mounting the same kind of campaigns against European brands. As in the U.S., the pressure comes from exposure of dangerous working conditions, both in Asia and closer to home in Eastern Europe. The European movement is a welcome development. As Europe opens its doors to global goods, consumers are buying clothes made in sweatshops from Mauritius to Moldova--and feeling pangs of conscience when they hear about it. Their growing concern heightens the odds that labor standards will improve. Together, the U.S. and Europe account for some 40% of global apparel consumption, according to the European Textile Assn. If both adopt similar standards, it could slow the cutthroat competition that keeps wages and working conditions at rock bottom around the globe. Moving in that direction, on July 7, Adidas joined the Fair Labor Assn., a U.S. anti-sweatshop group. So far, most European apparel companies have vacillated between conciliation and confrontation. Several are adopting new codes of conduct for minimum labor conditions--and demanding that their subcontractors adhere to them. But most employers also are resisting demands for independent monitoring and big wage increases, which they fear could price them out of the market. ''We must be responsible, but also pragmatic,'' says John Greene, the head of codes of conduct for C&A in Brussels, one of Europe's largest clothing retailers. The Clean Clothes Campaign started in 1990 with a drive against C&A but only gained momentum in the past year or two. Since 1997, human rights, labor, and religious groups have formed a loose alliance under the Clean Clothes banner and have opened nine branches across Europe. VULNERABLE. The alliance's primary tactic is to pressure companies through exposes. In 1998, Clean Clothes organized a ''people's court'' in Brussels that put C&A on the hot seat for allowing a Zimbabwe supplier to suppress unions. Greene dismisses the episode as a kangaroo court. Swedish activists have homed in on their country's hippest--and therefore most vulnerable--retailer, Hennes & Mauritz, which has 550 stores in 12 countries. Clean Clothes also helped Italian journalists to uncover charges that Benetton subcontractors in Turkey used child labor. The Italian garment maker denies the charge. Clean Clothes hopes to ratchet up the pressure with high-profile protests at next year's European soccer championships. It also is investigating subcontractors in Romania and Bulgaria. Such initiatives can be painful for executives. But if the anti-sweatshop movement takes hold in Europe as it has in the U.S., employers may find they're better off if they all sign on to higher standards. By William Echikson _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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