MyNewMoney

The fact is that there is no single, overall body that sets definitive legal rules and regulations for ethical trading for Promotional Merchandise or any other Marketplace.

Every nation has their own employment and trading laws but as can be seen on a daily basis many countries ignore these laws and even turn a blind eye to appalling practices within their own borders. Corruption is endemic in many places around the globe and not just in underdeveloped nations, ethical trading is not confined to the factories and sweatshops where Promotional Clothing is often manufactured, there is as much of it going on in the boardrooms and offices as there is on the factory floor.

A company that decides to pay a bribe to win a promotional Gift contract is as unethical as the workshop owner who employs child labour to make Corporate Clothing. In general it is fair to say that the more developed a nation is, the more likely it is that their standards in relation to working practices will be higher. Although it is certainly not unheard of for stories to appear from some very developed nations in relation to poor working conditions. There is also the question of the degree of ethics. Is it fair to impose the rules and regulations of developed nations onto those countries who cannot ever hope to attain the standards and wealth that other countries enjoy?

In the 1990’s a story broke regarding the manufacture of leather footballs used as Promotional Items in India where young children were found to be stitching footballs in their village homes. The world’s press descended upon the region and within days all production had stopped with orders cancelled and manufacturers shut down. Whilst all the developing nations went home patting themselves on the back for doing such a great job the families whose entire livelihood depended upon this work began to starve. Even today some 10 years after this event there are still stories in the press relating to the same Promotional Gifts in the same regions. This perfectly demonstrates the need for co ordinated action to be taken to help factory and farm owners in assisting them towards improving the conditions under which workers carry out their duties rather than depriving them of an income.

Currently there are not many good sources of information relating to Ethical trading. Organisations such as the Economic & Social Research Society have been awarded grants to research the subject and some investment companies now offer clients the opportunity to invest in what they terms as Ethical Funds. Apart from the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) there are virtually no other authoritative sources of information for organisations that wish to begin the process of trading ethically.

By Nona Nixon

Do you believe that child labor is wrong? Do you believe that children should be in school as compared to a shop making clothes that people wear? If you answered yes, to both of these, you are not alone. There are many educational institutions nationwide within our country whom have a “Sweat free Policy” with their curriculum materials as well as certain apparel. These particular institutions have adapted a “Code of Conduct for the Manufacturer of Apparel”. The apparel industry has been exposed to rampant worker abuse. A man by the name of Andrew Ross reported back in 1997 the following, “The textile and apparel industries are a showcase of horrors for the labor abuses sanctioned by the global free trade economy, where child labor, wage slavery, and employer cruelty are legion.” ~ NO SWEAT: Fashion, free trade, and the rights of garment workers, Andrew Ross, editor, 1997.

The following is some examples of apparel made in sweatshops: Sports uniforms (This includes gym uniforms); school uniforms; shoes, athletic shoes or sneakers; sweatshirts, caps, and other imprinted clothing with school’s logos; academic regalia; lab coats and staff uniforms.

What is a sweatshop? A sweatshop is a workplace which consists of systematic violations of one or more of the fundamental workers’ rights have been violated according to international law and site-of-production laws and regulations. The rights include:

Workers receiving a fair wage and benefits; Children not being subjected to working conditions that could harm them physically, psychologically, or intellectual development; Freedom from excessive work hours and forced labor, freedom from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, and protection of workplace health and safety hazards.

A code of conduct is utilized to hold companies accountable. Most companies of today have adapted their own “Code Of Conduct”, unfortunately, company codes are often inadequate to protect the workers.

The following is a list of CEO’s and their compensation for year 1998, do keep in mind all of these CEO’s are employed by companies whom do indeed utilize sweat shops.

Millard Drexler, GAP $660 million

Michael Eisner, Disney $177 million

Floyd Hall, Kmart $ 23 million

Phil Knight, Nike $ 3 million

Paul Charron, Liz Clairborne $7 million

David Glass $ 40 million

The following are samples of starvation wages around the world.

Guatemala 37 cents an hour

El Salvador 60 cents an hour

Nicaragua 23 cents an hour

Honduras 43 cents an hour

Haiti 30 cents an hour

Mexico 50 cents an hour

China 28 cents an hour

Indonesia 20 cents an hour

Burma 4 cents an hour

Bangladesh 13-20 cents an hour

These wages are called “starvation wages”. I use to be one of those people that constantly stated that our economy can not be compared to other countries, I was innocently stating this believing that what US Companies were paying workers within these countries were fair wages within their economies, but after viewing the evidence of what the company CEO’s are making and knowing that in countries such as El Salvador as well as others, these families are not making enough to even raise their families, I have definitely sustained a change of heart.

I do feel our own economy needs a serious face lift, but why can we not be humane about it? I feel that consumers have more power than they even know. I feel that consumers should hold corporations accountable to respect the rights of workers, but not only as workers, but as human beings and they need to be paid a “living” wage, not a “starvation” wage.

I do not feel we should boycott these corporations, for why should we? We enjoy their products, the reality here is that we enjoy purchasing these items, besides, boycotting these corporations would only hurt jobs in developing countries. I support jobs for developing countries, but I feel that consumers should want the people of those countries to have jobs with dignity and fair wages. I believe the CEO’s of these huge corporations could spare some money to ensure the people whom are indeed aiding in their wealth can work with dignity and support their families, and if the CEO’s refuse? The consumers should demand fair wages. What if these children were our own children? Our own families? This places a different perspective on things for every child performing these tasks is someone’s son/daughter or someone’s mother/father. This truly places a realistic perspective on this most often ignored epidemic.

For those of you whom are truly passionate about this issue, I have included some links that will educate you on this topic as well as direct you to organizations whom are striving to end “starvation wages”.