WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) today joined her colleagues
in calling for a federal investigation of U.S. corporations that import
goods manufactured by slave labor in China. Schakowsky, Representatives
Sherrod Brown (D-OH), David Bonior (D-MI), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and others
made their demand following the release of a report showing widespread
labor abuses by major U.S. companies doing business in China.
The
report entitled Made in China: The Role of U.S. Companies in Denying Human
and Worker Rights was prepared by the National Labor Committee. It
found that prominent U.S. companies are paying slave wages or no wages
to workers manufacturing products in China to be sold in the United States.
The companies include Nike, Wal-Mart, Timberland, New Balance and Huffy.
Below
is Schakowsky’s statement.
“American
companies claim that they wish to spread democracy and labor rights in
China. They say that they will lead by example. But the facts
belie that assertion. The truth is Wal-Mart is paying Chinese workers
2 cents an hour to make Kathie Lee Gifford handbags. Chinese footwear workers,
who are making Nike, Reebok, and other shoes, get paid 3% of what U.S.
workers make.
“Just
because these companies operate in China, they should not be given a free
pass when it comes worker rights. That is why anything less than
a full investigation by the federal government into these violations would
be unacceptable.
“The
American people have a right to know the truth about U.S. companies using
Chinese slave labor. The American people have a right to know that
for a few cents an hour, 16 year-old Chinese girls, working for a U.S.
shoe company, are applying toxic glue with their bare hands. They
have a right to know that working 14-hour days, seven days a week, while
surrounded by barred windows and barbed wire fence, is the norm for Chinese
slave laborers. And the American people have a right to know that young
workers are forced lie to inspectors about working conditions, because
if they complain or tell the truth, their lives would be made even worse.
“We
can’t look the other way when we have solid proof that companies are trampling
on workers’ rights in the name of the all-mighty dollar. No human
being should be forced to work in these conditions, no company should be
allowed to abuse its labor force, and no country should be rewarded for
exploiting its people.” |