Sweatshops aren't just "overseas" or "across
the Border." The federal government estimates that
over one-third of New York's 6,500 garment manufacturing and production workplaces are
sweatshops, usually run by subcontractors.
In Los Angeles, up to 4,500 of the 5,000 garment
production operations are sweatshops, and a $1 hourly wage is the norm in parts of the
city. In Miami, the U.S. General Accounting Office concluded that 80 percent of the
garment manufacturers are sweatshops, as are many others in cities such as Portland and
Philadelphia.
"In 1992, Michael Jordan earned $20 million
for endorsing Nike's running shoes, more than the combined wages of the 30,000 Indonesian
workers who made them. Another Michael, Disney CEO Eisner, received $97,600 an hour in
salary and stock options in 1996: 325,000 times the 30-cent hourly wage of the Haitian
workers who made Pocahontas, Lion King and Hunchback of Notre Dame T-shirts and pajamas
and who sewed on Mickey Mouse's ears."
From November 1997 America@Work. |