The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“IN SUPPORT OF HONDURAN APPAREL INITIATIVES” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E2160-E2161 on Oct. 31, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
IN SUPPORT OF HONDURAN APPAREL INITIATIVES
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HON. EARL F. HILLIARD
of alabama
in the house of representatives
Friday, October 31, 1997
Mr. HILLIARD. Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring to your attention a recently published article by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs
[COHA]. The article is entitled: ``Scandal-Ridden Honduran Apparel Industry Seeks New Image.'' It appeared in COHA's biweekly edition of Washington Report on the Hemisphere on August 15, 1997.
The article brings to light the efforts of the Honduras Apparel Manufacturers Association to establish an industry-wide code of conduct as a constructive, proactive mechanism to prevent future labor relations problems. The aforenamed association is a nonprofit and nonpolitical organization from the private sector, created to promote and develop exports of apparel goods, and to serve its associates and represent them before public and private institutions, both nationally and internationally. Membership is mandatory under Honduran law for all exporting companies. This new code was approved by the association's board of directors in late July, at an industry-wide meeting.
Mr. Speaker, you will recall that the COHA is a locally based think-
tank policy institution. It is well established for its views on developments in Latin America. COHA monitors human rights, trade, growth of democratic institutions, freedom of the press, and hemispheric economic and political developments. I would like to place in the Record the full text of this article.
Scandal-Ridden Honduran Apparel Industry Seeks New Image--Embittered
Industry Manufactures Its own Code of Conduct
As major media revelations on child labor and sweatshop abuses in Honduras surfaced, deeply embarrassed local business interests, foreign firms operating in the country, and government authorities became increasingly concerned about the bad PR as much as conditions under which garments were being made there. At the end of July, the embattled Honduran Apparel Manufacturers Association (AHM) organized its first congress in San Pedro Sula in order to design a binding code of conduct for their industry. The AHM is a non-profit, non-political private sector organization established in 1991 to promote Honduras' exports of apparel goods and to serve as a foreign and domestic voice for the booming garments assembly industry. The sector consists of 180 plants, employing 87,000 workers. But its impact is far greater than it appears because in a country of approximately 5 million people, the industry accounts not only for its own workers and their almost 400,000 dependents, but for nearly 600,000 other Honduran laborers and their families in such related industries as shipping and packaging.
By drafting its own self-enforcing code of conduct, ``the AHM hopes to preempt any outside intervention that could lead to regulations mandated from above.'' This meeting of the Honduran maquladores was focused on addressing international humanitarian concerns such as harsh work site conditions and widespread labor abuses raised when the Kathy Lee Gifford scandal broke last year.
Working Conditions in the Factory
In June 1996, Charles Kernaghan, the executive director of the National Labor Committee, submitted a complaint to the House International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee accusing Honduran apparel manufacturers and Kathy Lee Gifford associate, Global Fashion (a South Korean-managed firm), of labor abuses. The foreign company was accused of employing approximately 100 minors under deplorable work conditions, which included prohibiting the use of restrooms, mandating that female employees take birth control pills, and forcing pregnant women to stand while working in unbearable heat. But, inspections of the company's facilities conducted by the Honduran Department of Labor and Social Security as well as the Episcopal Church, among others, failed to establish hard evidence of endemic abuse. However, the company did acknowledge that overtime work was compulsory and that there was a high employee turnover rate. In fact, Global Fashion may have been better than most of the tainted industry.
The government insists that its labor laws have been designed to protect its citizens. Under the most recent labor legislation, employees working 44 hours per week are entitled to 50 hours worth of wages, which adds up to 14 months of pay per year. While the official minimum wage in the country is
$0.31/hr., most apparel industry laborers earn as much as
$0.86/hr. Education is mandatory through grade six, and minors who are 14 or 15 years of age may work up to 36 hours per week, but only with permission from parents or legal guardians and from the Ministry of Labor. The AHM claims that
``there are no minors under the age of 14 working in Honduran assembly plants.'' Skeptics are not so sure.
Obstacles to the Code
Although the AHM's code of conduct now appears to be based on a real desire for progressive reforms, there are many cultural and political roadblocks to its progress. The Korean-owned segment of the industry creates a large culture gap that has resulted in many worker complaints. Approximately 18 percent of AHM's members are South Koreans who own about one-fifth of the 200 maquiladoras operating in the country. Complaints that Korean managers frequently commit verbal, physical and sexual abuse against female workers have led us to a expulsion of several Korean managers from the country. Due to the hard-line Korean business ethic that stresses ``the more you work the more you earn'' strategy, the AHM has had to provide Korean maquila mangers with special seminars on Honduran labor laws and appropriate workplace conduct.
Another obstacle hindering the efficacy of the new code of conduct is the omnipresent political corruption existing in the country. The recent scandal involving Chiquita Brand International executives and the deeply flawed Honduran court system demonstrates how the integrity of the judiciary can be compromised and manipulated by powerful and unethical foreign corporations. Complicating the AHM's task is the claim that some of the 33 plants that are unionized have tainted labor leaders who routinely demand payoffs. According to Arnoldo Solis, President of the AHM, ``the new code of ethics will be a healthy instrument if used properly to enhance protection of human and labor rights, but could become dangerous if used as a political instrument to `deteriorate' the industry.''
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