Kho Yong Xiang, Sherwin Lau, Lee Shien Yang, Kenneth Koong, Koh Han Quan, Seah Ying Cong

Why the NLC was set up

Dehumanization of global

workforce

Extent to which companies seek

cheap laborIn sweatshops

… has led to

A moral crisis of the 21st century...

“The struggle for rule of law in the global economy--to ensure respect for the fundamental rights of the millions of workers producing goods for the U.S. market--has become the great new civil rights movement of our time.”

Mission

“As [the workers] fight for the rights to work in dignity, in healthy and safe workplaces and to earn a living wage, we will work with them to provide international visibility and backing

for their efforts--and to press for international legal frameworks with effective enforcement mechanisms that will

help create a space where fundamental internationally recognized worker rights can be assured.”

Views on a worker’s right

“The National Labour Committee views worker rights in the global economy as

indivisible and inalienable human rights and we believe that now is the time to secure

them for ALL on the planet.”

To help defend the human rights of workers in the global economy

Public education, research and popular campaigns

Empowers U.S. citizens to support the efforts of workers to learn and defend their rights

InvestigationsExposes human and labour rights abuses committed by U.S. companies producing goods in

the developing world

Mission

Work

Result

NLC

20000 DATABASES

494 AGENCIES

40 Countries

218 COMPANIES

Why we support the National Labor Committee

• Clear and justified stance• Highly focused scope: Foreign

factories supplying American goods• Principle of enabling self-help by

fighting to set up self-monitoring organisations

• Suitable modus operandi – Direct collection of information in situ– First-person sources such as interview with workers

and documents smuggled out from the factories

Criticism of NLC“Big on anecdotes,

low on stats”

Ideological biases

Selective biases

“Claims workers earn a take-home wage of US$57 in one report and claiming that workers are “being paid $84.48 per month rather than $112.64” in another report”

“legal minimum wages... does not come close to meeting subsistence-level needs”. But how close?

“Allegations of human rights infringements by computer peripherals manufacturer in Dongguan”

“US$57 is almost 400 RMB, not that low for an unskilled worker in China”

WHAT CELEBRITIES DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE PRIUS WILL SHOCK THEM

• Transnational Companies, with their sprawling international empire, is difficult to regulate

• Even if headquarters are willing, enforcing worker rights in developing countries, is a tall order.

Challenges

• But TNCs are only the tip of the iceberg• Many sweatshops are operated by small-time

operators with little incentive for accountability

• For these small companies, profit is purely determined by output, not its brand

• No incentive to improve working conditions even after media exposure

Challenges• Inadequacy of media• Media coverage can only expose that many factories• Explains its focus on TNC (maximize the bang for the news)• Actual problem of workers exploitation is much more rampant

than the news would have us believe

“In 150 countries around the world, over 2 million people, many of t hem young women and teenagers, work in garment sweatshops producing for American retailers. About 80 percent of apparel workers producing clothing for U.S. retailers are working under conditions that systematically violate local and international labor law.” US Retailer Report

• What NLC has done has merely scratched the surface

Sumon is a junior machine operator at the Harvest Rich factory where he sews Hanes underwear and pajamas.

If he does not make 120 pieces of Hanes underwear an hour, he is subjected to physical abuse.

He is paid just 15 cents an hour. $1.21 a day.

If we make any mistakes, they beat us, they scold us.

We cannot go to the bathrooms when we want to go.

I can go (to the bathroom) 2 or 3 times a day… they will monitor how long we take.

I brush my teeth with ashes

Walt Disney – Violated workers’ rights?

• Work 7 days/week• 10 hours daily• 17 cents/hour• In 2002, 200 female

workers hospitalized due to exposure to acetone.

• Workers stitch Aladdin t-shirts for 28 cents hourly

• Other sweatshops offer child workers lower salaries.

NLC’s actionsCampaigned to improve

Disney’s production facilities worldwide &

Raise awareness of this issue

American Congress asked to ban/procure products

made with sweatshop labour

Appeal failedGained media and government attention

People started to boycott Disney’s products Criticize Disney

Govt. actions

D.K Garments

• 150 foreign workers with- 14-15 hours of work daily- 7a.m. to 10p.m- receiving one day off every four months- 3.3 minutes given to sew each bikini, for which they are paid 4 cents

2007 2009Heavily publicized

this issue,causing a huge

uproar

Jordanian and US Government cracked down on the brand

by force

Working

conditions

improved

Number of

production

facilities in

Jordan halved.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/HolidayTheme/story?id=3989096&page=1

How can Americans be part of the action?

Local government

BoycottIncrease

public awareness

References http://www.nlcnet.org/index.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Labor_Committee http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-tasini/victorias-secret-slave-_b_

74261.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweatshop http://abcnews.go.com/Business/HolidayTheme/story?id=3989096&page

=1 http://ihscslnews.org/view_article.php?id=67

THANK YOU