AMERICAN SAMOA

Walking skeletons produce for J C Penney

From New York Times, 6 February 2001

Daewoosa, a Korean-owned clothing factory, was closed in January after officials were forced to admit routine abuse, including bonded labour, violation of the minimum wage, wage arrears, sexual abuse, physical violence, curfew, withholding food, and abominable food that left some workers looking like the living dead according to one inspector.

The government report was dated 14 December 2000, but officials did nothing until the report was leaked to the USA by a human rights activist.

Commenting on routine violence, the report said, “... incidents ... indicate a trend of institutionalised workplace violence and corporal punishment by the owner ...”

Instead of seeking to improve factory conditions, J C Penney in routine TNC style cut and run, attempting to distance itself from the scandal. This merely compounded workers’ problems as it resulted in the company going bankrupt, and unable to pay wages.

The company boasts a code of conduct but, as usual with such window dressing, did not enforce it.

Workers earned about US$400 a month, but after ‘deductions at source’ often saw only half that, reducing net pay to about US$1.00 an hour, making it almost impossible for the Vietnamese women to repay ‘fees’ of between US$2,000 – 7,000 to secure the job and pay travelling expenses. Many are now stranded without income in Samoa.