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2001:

China said to detain reporter for covering strike: Chinese police have detained a freelance Chinese journalist investigating a workers' strike [at the Huai Nan Textile Factory] over a cut in their wages (Reuters, 28 Dec. 2001)

Support where it matters [Burma]:...The lobby group claims that Triumph International [lingerie manufacturer] is supporting the brutal regime in Burma by paying rent for the plant direct to the military junta, responsible for Burma’s appalling record of human rights abuses and slave labour. They state that workers at the Triumph factory north of Rangoon are paid 70p a day, a level described as an "extreme poverty wage" by the United Nations. (The Scotsman [UK], 12 Dec. 2001)

Garment worker tells U.S. Congress of beatings, abuse in American Samoa: A former garment worker at Daewoosa Samoa in American Samoa has testified before a U.S. Congressional panel about alleged slave conditions and sexual abuse. The congressional panel was reviewing the implementation of the 2000 law to curb human trafficking and servitude in the U.S. Daewoosa Samoa owner Kil-Soo Lee, jailed in Honolulu, is facing federal charges under this law. (Fili Sagapolutele, Samoa News/Pacific Islands Report, 9 Dec. 2001)

Sweatshops threaten to relocate [South Africa]: The owners of 20 Newcastle textile factories are threatening to abandon up to 8 000 workers and relocate to Lesotho after being ordered to pay minimum wages and to eliminate dangerous working conditions. (Frank Nxumalo, Business Report [South Africa], 9 Dec. 2001)

• Newcastle workers put up with sweatshops for fear of losing their jobs [South Africa]:...The mainly Taiwanese owners of these factories have fed into this desperation and added to the general feeling of insecurity and powerlessness by summarily dismissing those workers who dare join a trade union (Frank Nxumalo, Business Report [South Africa], 9 Dec. 2001) 

Maquila Melée: Death threats and plant closings threaten workers rights in Guatemala - Just days after a year-long organizing campaign went public at two textile factories outside Guatemala City in July, union supporters were violently attacked and injured at work by a mob wielding rocks, bottles and other makeshift weapons in an assault that lasted for hours. (Tula Connell, editor of the AFL-CIO magazine America@Work, in In These Times, 7 Dec. 2001)

Shirts Off Their Backs [regarding apparel sweatshops, including those in El Salvador and USA] (Alisa Solomon, Village Voice [New York City], 5-11 Dec. 2001)

Reebok Announces 2002 Human Rights Award Recipients: Four Women to be Honored - The 2002 winners include the founder of the first independent labor union in Indonesia; an advocate for abused children in Zambia; a rescuer of young girls enslaved as prostitutes in India; and an activist at the forefront of a new generation of civil rights leadership in the United States. (Reebok, 3 Dec. 2001)

Report on Codes of Conduct in the Garment and Textile Industry Seminar, 26th-30th November 2001, Bangkok, Thailand [refers to Thailand, China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Korea, Bangladesh] (Chan Beng Seng [DAGA - Documentation and Action Group Asia] and Kelly Dent [TIE-Asia], Dec. 2001)

• Report on Codes of Conduct in the Garment and Textile Industry Seminar: Final statement (29 Nov. 2001)

Litigation Update: A Summary of Recent Developments in U.S. Cases Brought Under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Protection Act [includes updates on lawsuits against various U.S. apparel retailers & manufacturers of clothing produced in Saipan factories, including Gap] (Jennifer Green [staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights] and Paul Hoffman [civil rights attorney and editor of ACLU International Civil Liberties Report], in ACLU International Civil Liberties Report 2001 [American Civil Liberties Union], Dec. 2001)

Workers at a Mexican Maquiladora, a Nike Supplier of College Sweatshirts, Gain a Voice at Work (AFL-CIO, 30 Nov. 2001)

No evidence of child labour in Cambodian garment factories, UN reports: The United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) said today that its initial probe of working conditions in Cambodian garment factories found no evidence of child labour, forced labour or sexual harassment, but did reveal some problems related to over-time payments, hours of work and anti-union discrimination. (UN News Centre, 30 Nov. 2001)

• full report: First Synthesis Report on the Working Conditions Situation in Cambodia's Garment Sector November 2001 (International Labour Organization, Nov. 2001)

• ILO press release: First ILO Report on Cambodian Garment Industry  (International Labour Organization, 30 Nov. 2001)

• {···français} Une première pour le BIT Un rapport sur l'industrie de l'habillement au Cambodge

Internationally-recognised Core Labour Standards in Malaysia [refers to "serious problems of freedom of association, collective bargaining and discrimination, especially against migrant workers"] - In both the electronics and textile sectors, two of Malaysia’s largest export earners, workers have been dismissed or threatened with dismissal for their trade union activities. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 28 Nov. 2001)

Observer Comment - Anti-globalisation can not help the developing world. But the rich countries must ditch the hypocrisy and keep their promises to the south...Multinational corporations, finance capitalists and Northern Governments justify themselves in terms of free trade, but what they actually promote are their own interests, which is not the same thing at all. In trade the industrialised world imposes liberalisation on developing countries while protecting its own markets in agriculture and textiles through tariff barriers. (Michael Jacobs, Observer [UK], 11 Nov. 2001)

Bangladeshi Workers Inspire Strikers: In a country with scarce protections for speech or workers, the women [apparel factory workers in Bangladesh] are standing up against sweatshops that exploit desperately poor workers to supply cheap goods for U.S. companies, including New Era [New Era Cap Co. in New York, selling baseball caps] (Communications Workers of America, 9 Nov. 2001) 

Rio co-op raises worker standards, fashionably [Brazil]:...Though located in a favela, the Cooparoca women's sewing cooperative in Rocinha is the antithesis of the stereotypical sweatshop... The women here produce garments for M. Officer, a Brazilian fashion house so cool, it was among the first to hire supermodel Giselle Bundchen...Big decisions are made democratically, and the seamstresses set their own production targets and may work from home, allowing them to care for children while they work (Andrew Downie, Christian Science Monitor, 7 Nov. 2001)

International Support for Workers at Yoo Yang of Honduras: The Yoo Yang garment company in La Lima, Honduras, could soon find itself at the heart of an international public campaign to force it to respect the rights of workers to bargain collectively. (International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation [ITGLWF], 6 Nov. 2001)

• {···español} Apoyo internacional a trabajadores de Yoo Yang en Honduras

Gujarat reports only 39 child workers in state [India]: In its latest data submitted to the National Human Rights Commission the state has reported a mere 39 child workers in its four cities - Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot...Patel [Sukhdev Patel of the Campaign Against Child Labour] said, "The state has thousands of child workers at construction sites and garment units all over Gujarat, silver and gold jewellery units in Ahmedabad, bidi and agarbatti units in the eastern belt, carpet and powerloom units in south Gujarat and ceramics units in Saurashtra". (The Times of India, 2 Nov. 2001)

Federal Court Judge Rejects Motion to Dismiss Landmark Sweatshop Class Action Against Saipan Garment Factories, The Gap, Target and Other Retailers [Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, USA] - First Case to Hold Retailers Accountable for Factory Sweatshop Abuses Will Proceed to Trial: In a closely-watched human rights case, a U.S. District Judge in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands today upheld the complaint in a class action lawsuit alleging sweatshop conditions on the Western Pacific Island of Saipan. This ruling allows the case to proceed to trial. (Sweatshop Watch, 29 Oct. 2001)

Nobody's laughing now: We spoke to Richard Aylard and Jordana Friedman, Directors at Burson Marstellar’s Corporate Responsibility unit, who have a large number of corporate clients concerned about ethical business issues. We asked them about the thinking on both sides of the Atlantic on CSR and corporate advantage..."The first issues of a CSR nature that, to my mind, really captured and galvanized the public in the US were environmental issues in the early 90s and also, perhaps even more so, issues around human rights and labor rights that were affecting textile and shoe manufacturing firms and the retailers of those products in the US." (Ethical Corporation Magazine, 25 Oct. 2001)

Crate & Barrel, Jos. A Bank, and Phillips-Van Heusen Announce Ban on Burma Buys: Three major U.S. companies have implemented bans on buying and retailing products from Burma on account of rampant human rights abuses by the country's ruling military regime. Crate and Barrel, Jos. A Bank, and Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) informed the Free Burma Coalition (FBC) of the decisions after numerous complaints, joining twenty other corporations including Wal-Mart, IKEA, Perry Ellis, Costco, TJX, and Williams Sonoma that have forbidden sourcing from the country in the last 15 months (Free Burma Coalition, 24 Oct. 2001)

Resolution on Korean Companies Operating Overseas:...DEPLORING the exploitation of workers employed in Korean-owned textile, garment and footwear companies, who are often forced to work long hours in appalling conditions, and who when they attempt to organise to improve their working conditions face violence from security guards, death threats, plant closures, and the prospect of being blacklisted and denied future employment;...RESOLVES to establish a register of “Dirty Companies” the world should shun, to which would be added the names of all enterprises repeatedly abusing workers´rights, and to campaign to drive all such listed companies from the textile, clothing and leather industries. (Executive Committee of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation [ITGLWF], 23 Oct. 2001)

As Unions Grow, an Industry Booms [Cambodia]: Under the Bilateral Textile Agreement signed in December, 1998, Cambodia can get as much as a 14% increase in its U.S. import quota if it demonstrates "substantial compliance" with international labor standards. The provisions aren't spelled out, but the idea is that overtime must be paid, child labor banned, and sufficient work breaks offered. (Susan Postlewaite, Business Week, 22 Oct. 2001)

Making the business case for going green -...Mr. McDonough's clientele includes such corporate powers as The Gap, Nike, Ford Motor Co., and myriad smaller firms, for which he has built eco-friendly offices (Michael Fainelli, Christian Science Monitor, 18 Oct. 2001)

Never let them see you sweat: UNITE takes on the Wal-Marts of the world - In an unprecedented international campaign to organize garment workers, unions in the United States, Asia and Central America are joining with student and religious groups to target the real powers in the global apparel business: big brand-name merchandisers like Eddie Bauer, Ann Taylor, Gap, J. Crew, Abercrombie & Fitch and the major retail chains...UNITE estimates that 80 percent of the workers producing clothing for U.S. retailers "are working under conditions that systematically violate local and international law." "Retailers know if a seam is one-eighth inch off, but they say they don't know it's made with child labor," Raynor says. "Bullshit. They know exactly what's going on, and we'll hold them accountable." (David Moberg, In These Times, 15 Oct. 2001)

Sweatshop Case May Grow - Courts: Companies in Saipan [Northern Mariana Islands - U.S. territory] are ordered to identify workers for a class-action suit. - The U.S. District Court in Saipan signed an order this week opening the door to more potential plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging widespread sweatshop abuses in the island's garment trade. (Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2001)

Nike releases first corporate responsibility report: Key Issues Identified in Report: Working Toward Sustainability Goals, Reducing Climate Impact, Improving Factory Compliance (Nike, 9 Oct. 2001)

•  full report: Nike's first Corporate Responsibility Report (9 Oct. 2001)

Mexican Labor Protest Gets Results: ...Mexmode — an assembly factory, or maquiladora — is a principal supplier of college sweatshirts to Nike and Reebok. Hearing that Mexmode workers were fired for their cafeteria boycott, leaders of an activist coalition supported by students and administrators from about 85 American colleges and universities rushed here to investigate...The group, the Workers Rights Consortium, heard complaints about low wages, verbal abuse and corruption among union officials, then began a high-profile campaign that threatened the image of the Nike swoosh. (Ginger Thompson, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2001)

Maquila workers in Guatemala face accusations of criminal activity: Continued impunity leads to renewal of request for GSP review - Workers fighting for an independent union at the Cimatextiles and Choishin factories in Guatemala are facing accusations of criminal charges as the latest tactic in an on-going anti-union campaign by local management. Both of these factories produce for, among others, Liz Claiborne...Despite the risk to its export license and the intervention by their main client, Liz Claiborne, Choi & Shin [Korean company that owns the factories] management immediately began violating the agreement, according to the union, threatening criminal charges against union leaders (on which they have now taken the next step with accusations), moving union supporters to new job assignments and continuing its threats to close the factories if the unions formed. (Campaign for Labor Rights, 2 Oct. 2001)

Nike Partners with WWF and Center for Energy & Climate Solutions to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Through a new Climate Savers memorandum of understanding with World Wildlife Fund and the Center for Energy & Climate Solutions, Nike Inc. today committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions across its operations worldwide. Nike also will measure greenhouse gas emissions from contracted manufacturing and shipping operations with the intent to ultimately reduce those emissions. (World Wildlife Fund, 2 Oct. 2001)

Bangladesh...Ending the Race to the Bottom [report on sweatshop abuses in factories in Bangladesh producing for over 20 universities and Nike] (National Labor Committee, Oct. 2001)

Migrating from Exploitation to Dignity: Immigrant Women Workers and the Struggle for Justice - An Interview with Miriam Ching Yoon Louie - Miriam Ching Yoon Louie is the author of Sweatshop Warriors: Immigrant Women Workers Take on the Global Factory. (Multinational Monitor, Oct. 2001)

Nike's first Corporate Responsibility Report: This month Nike released a new Corporate Responsibility Report...The report includes some useful information, but its failure to respond to arguments made by the company's critics is deeply disappointing. Here are the positives and negatives. (NikeWatch [Oxfam - Community Aid Abroad], Oct. 2001)

Breakthrough in Mexico: Kuk Dong workers win independent union - Workers at the Kuk Dong factory in Atlixco, Puebla, Mexico have finally won their independent union and a signed collective agreement. This is a precedent-setting victory that could open the door to worker organizing in Mexico's maquiladora sector where, to date, independent unions have not been tolerated. (Campaign for Labor Rights and Maquiladora Solidarity Network, 26 Sep. 2001)

Pioneering trade union improves conditions in China 'sweatshop': A pioneering semi-independent trade union has vastly improved the lot of workers at a southern China factory [Taiwanese-managed Kong Tai Shoes plant in the special economic zone of Shenzhen] making shoes for US sports giant Reebok, slashing their hours and forcing through better working and living conditions, a union official said...The union had been formed with the agreement of the official All China Federation of Trades Unions (ACFTU), with almost all officials freely elected in July, he said, although ACTFU had appointed the union head. China outlaws unofficial unions and their formation is habitually repressed. However in this case the union was formed at the request of Reebok after it kept receiving direct representations from workers about working conditions, which had been rejected by the factory's owners, said Zhao. (AFP, 26 Sep. 2001)

Benetton launches new campaign in collaboration with UN Volunteers for the International Year of Volunteers:...According to United Nations Volunteers, whose headquarters are in Bonn, Germany, and which every year mobilizes 5,000 people from all over the world to serve the causes of peace and development, so far not enough attention has been given to the social and economic value of voluntary work, even though it is the most common form of human solidarity in developed as well as in developing countries. (The United Nations International Year of Volunteers 2001, 25 Sep. 2001)

• {···español: Voluntarios en Colors, la nueva campaña Benetton en colaboración con Voluntarios NU, para celebrar el Año Internacional de los Voluntarios}

• {···français: Volunteers in Colors, Benetton lance une nouvelle campagne, en collaboration avec les Volontaires des Nations Unies, pour célébrer l'Année Internationale du Volontariat} 

Nike, Harvard Enter Into Apparel Deal [reports on differences of opinion about Nike’s labor practices] (Eugenia V. Levenson, Harvard Crimson, 18 Sep. 2001)

Child Labour in Shanghai: Where is the Union? This was the question posed in Chinese newspapers, including the People’s Daily, after yet another shocking case of illegally long working hours, pittance wages and child labour came to light. This time, the factory involved was not located in some remote mountain county far away from labour bureau inspectors and newspaper reporters. It was operating in arguably China’s most modern and outward-looking city -- Shanghai. The Japanese-owned Shanghai Jingtiao Knitting Company employs over 400 workers, almost all of whom are under the age of 18. According to the Shanghai Municipal Labour and Social Security Bureau, some of these young workers had not even reached the age on 16 and were therefore illegally employed child labourers. (China Labour Bulletin, 12 Sep. 2001)

New Nike panel to tackle company's factory issues: Nike, criticized for working conditions at its factories outside the United States, will create a committee to oversee the company's labor, environmental and diversity policies. (Bloomberg News, in Seattle Times, 11 Sep. 2001)

Nike Board of Directors and CEO Philip H. Knight create corporate responsibility committee: Nike announced that the Board of Directors unanimously approved the creation of a corporate responsibility committee during its recent meeting. The new committee will be responsible for reviewing, reporting and making recommendations to the full Board of Directors regarding the company's business strategy and practices and their alignment with corporate responsibility commitments. The committee will review the company's efforts in the area of labor compliance initiatives, environmental practices, community affairs programs, human resources, diversity issues and philanthropic efforts. (Nike, 10 Sep. 2001)

McMahon throws in with workers: Kevin McMahon will stage an understated but committed protest when he throws the hammer Friday at the Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia...''It took me 13 years to earn this uniform, and I'd like to be proud of it,'' McMahon says. ''How do I know it wasn't made in a sweatshop? I don't feel proud when I'm contributing to a system that exploits the poor.''...McMahon...has researched the issue this summer and wants companies such as Nike, Adidas and Reebok to improve disclosure of factory locations, restitution for past abuses and institution of workers' rights including formation of unions. (Dick Patrick, USA TODAY, 7 Sep. 2001)

Nineteen Los Angeles Garment Workers From Six Different Sweatshops Sue "Forever 21" [USA]: Nineteen garment workers, represented by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), announce the filing of a lawsuit against multi-million dollar retailer “Forever 21.” [alleging workers in Los Angeles factories producing garments for "Forever 21" typically worked six days a week, nine to twelve hours a day, and were denied minimum wage and overtime] (Asian Pacific American Legal Center, 6 Sep. 2001)

Country's Top Undergarment Brand Vows No More Business in Burma: Sara Lee joins Wal-Mart, Costco, Perry Ellis, Fila, Family Dollar in string of Burma cut-offs: Sara Lee, a top seller of intimate apparel in the United States with nearly $17.5 billion dollars in annual revenues and owner of Hanes, Hanes Her Way, Leggs, and Just My Size brands announced on Friday it will cease allowing production of its garments in Burma. Sara Lee's move follows a string of recent decisions by 15 other U.S.-based corporations to forbid importing goods from Burma or such goods to be sold in retail stores, including Wal-Mart and Costco. (Free Burma Coalition, 4 Sep. 2001)

Governor Pataki Signs New Anti-sweatshop Legislation [state of New York]: Allows Boards of Education to Consider Treatment of Workers When Purchasing Apparel: In honor of Labor Day, Governor George E. Pataki today announced that he has signed into law a measure that will further strengthen New York's ongoing battle against sweatshops and unfair labor practices. The new law will enable boards of education across the State to consider labor standards and working conditions including the illegal use of child labor when purchasing school uniform apparel. (Office of New York Governor George Pataki, 3 Sep. 2001)

Swiss business and human rights: Confrontations and partnerships with NGOs [refers to Nestlé, Novartis, UBS, Credit Suisse, ABB, Coop, Migros, Switcher, Veillon] (Antoine Mach, study commissioned by Antenna International, Sep. 2001) note: scroll down on the linked page - this report appears under the "Documents" sub-heading for downloading in English or French

• {···français} Entreprises suisses et droits de l'homme: Confrontations et partenariats avec les ONG [référence à Nestlé, Novartis, UBS, Credit Suisse, ABB, Coop, Migros, Switcher, Veillon] (Antoine Mach, Sep. 2001)

Campaign to support the Free Trade Zone Workers Union of Sri Lanka - Freedom of Association in Sri Lanka: At a Critical Juncture - Freedom of association (FoA) and the right of workers to organise in the Free Trade Zones of Sri Lanka is currently at a critical juncture. (Clean Clothes Campaign, Sep. 2001)

Environmental Racism Shifts the Costs of Industry to the Poor: Environmental racism affects individuals, groups or communities differentially, based on race or colour. It combines with public policies and industry practices to provide benefits for corporations, while shifting the costs to people of colour. It influences local land use, the enforcement of environmental regulations, the siting of industry and the areas where people of colour live, work and play...Environmental racism manifests itself in the sub-standard treatment of workers. Thousands of farm workers and their families are exposed to dangerous pesticides on the job and in labour camps. These workers endure sub-standard wages and working conditions. But environmental racism also extends to the exploitative work environment of garment district sweatshops, the microelectronic industry and extraction industries. A disproportionately large share of the workers who suffer under sub-standard occupational and safety conditions are immigrants, women and people of colour. [article extracted from paper prepared for the World Conference on Racism and Public Policy in Durban from September 3-5, sponsored by United Nations Research Institute for Social Development] (Robert D Bullard [Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Centre at Clark Atlanta University in the USA], Mail & Guardian [Johannesburg], 24 Aug. 2001)

Union leaders face death threats in Guatemala: Choishin and Cimatextiles - Liz Claiborne supply factories in Guatemala (Maquila Solidarity Network, 22 Aug. 2001)

• company website: Liz Claiborne: Workers' Rights (Liz Claiborne)

Labor chief says S.F. workers deserve justice: U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said today investigators from her department's wages and hours division are working with the state to see that back wages are paid to immigrant employees of one of San Francisco's largest garment factories. The immigrants are owed as much as $850,000, having not been paid for four months by Wins of California Inc., which makes clothing for customers that include the U.S. Army and Air Force, Sears, Wal-Mart and Kmart, authorities say. (George Raine, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 Aug. 2001)

Big-league caps and labor flaps [USA]: the Worker Rights Consortium...has just issued a report accusing the New Era Cap Company of having an extraordinarily high injury rate at the factory in this blue-collar town, 15 miles south of Buffalo. The report also accuses New Era of seeking to punish the workers by cutting their wages and transferring production to the South because they had voted to join an aggressive new union. (Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2001)

S.F. garment factory shuts after complaints: Owners say they did not know law, deny owing workers pay since April - A San Francisco garment factory said by federal and state officials to have committed one of Northern California's worst labor violations shut down yesterday after the allegations against the company were revealed. The Chronicle reported yesterday that Wins of California Inc., which has supplied clothing to the U.S. Army and Air Force, Sears, J.C. Penney and Kmart, was being investigated by government authorities for allegedly operating without a license and owing more than $850,000 to workers. (David Lazarus, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Aug. 2001) 

Govt sets environment pollution standards for firms [Nigeria]: Manufacturers of textiles, petro-chemical and other allied industries operating in Kaduna have been directed by the Federal Government to come up with globally acceptable environmental pollution control audit within three months. (Segun Aiyeoyenikan, Guardian [Nigeria], 17 Aug. 2001)

Sweatshops - Serving rich America: A new coalition of U.S. religious, human rights and labor groups is crusading to end cruelty in the global sweatshop operation through which overseas contractors churn out millions of garments bearing top U.S. brand names....Globalized free trade cannot be halted. However, America should require a standard of decency in the manufacture of products that supply the booming U.S. market. We wish the religious-labor coalition success in its effort to educate Americans and reduce sweatshop cruelty. (editorial, Charleston Gazette [USA], 16 Aug. 2001)

Critics accuse Taiwan of operating sweatshops:... a recent labor dispute at a Taiwanese-owned textile factory in impoverished Nicaragua has cast a spotlight on what U.S. activists say is Taiwan's least admired export: labor rights abuses. (Andrew Perrin, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 Aug. 2001) 

Air and water pollution becoming great threat to citizens of Multan [Pakistan]: Air pollution and water pollution have become a great threat to the existence of the residents of Multan, spreading critical diseases due to continuous flow and discharge of gases from industrial fertiliser plants and liquid waste from municipal and industrial sources. [pollution from tanneries, paper factories, fertiliser units, dyes factories and textile matching units, sugar factories, power generating plants, oil and gas plants] (Hoover's Online, 15 Aug. 2001) 

Still stitching for export, but now it pays [a new all-female worker-owned sewing cooperative - or maquila - in Nicaragua with good labor conditions that is emerging as a model] (Catherine Elton, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Aug. 2001) 

Gap sweatshops challenged by persistent activists (Mike Rhodes, Fresno Labor/Community Alliance, 12 Aug. 2001)

• company website: Ethical Sourcing (Gap Inc.)

Mirpur stampede: Probe bodies Formed [Dhaka, Bangladesh] - The Dhaka district administration and the fire service authorities yesterday formed two committees to investigate the incident that left 18 garments employees killed and more than 50 injured at Mirpur in the city on Wednesday. (Daily Star [Bangladesh], 10 Aug. 2001)

18 killed at garment unit as fire alarm sparks stampede [Dhaka, Bangladesh]: At least 18 garment workers including 14 females were killed and 50 injured in a stampede following a fire alarm at an eight-storey building housing four garment factories at Mirpur in the city yesterday morning. (Daily Star [Bangladesh], 9 Aug. 2001)

Sweatshop Protest vs. 3 Chains [New York City]: Blaming retailers for sweatshop conditions and promising to punish the wicked among them, the garment workers union escalated its fight in the city yesterday. More than 400 garment workers marched down lower Broadway in the sweltering heat, chanting "No more sweatshops" as SoHo shopkeepers scurried curbside to see the spectacle. The union targeted Ann Taylor, Eddie Bauer and Gap Inc.'s Banana Republic chain, accusing each retailer of fostering oppressive labor conditions in the manufacturing of their clothing. (Bob Port, Daily News [New York], 8 Aug. 2001)

• company websites:
  • Ann Taylor
  • Eddie Bauer: Social Responsibility - Human Rights
  • Gap Inc.: Ethical Sourcing

First-of-its-kind international anti-sweatshop coalition launches new campaign demanding retailer responsibility for global sweatshop crisis: A first-of-its-kind international anti-sweatshop coalition - comprised of labor organizations, religious leaders and civil rights groups from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Thailand, Nicaragua, Hong Kong, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic - today announced the launch of a major new campaign to hold retailers responsible for the conditions under which the clothing they sell is produced. (UNITE [Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees], 7 Aug. 2001)

Report Issued on Efforts to Improve Apparel Factory Conditions in Central America: The Independent Monitoring Working Group (IMWG) released a report today on the history and development of independent factory monitoring initiatives in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. (press release, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, 6 Aug. 2001)

• full report: Improving Apparel Factory Conditions in Central America (Independent Monitoring Working Group, 14 May 2001)

• {···español: Independent Monitoring Working Group (IMWG) Informe Público}

A COVERCO Special Report: Liz Claiborne International's Standards of Engagement and the Unionization of Two Supplier Factories in Guatemala (COVERCO, Aug. 2001)

• {···español: Un Informe Especial de COVERCO: El Código de Conducta de Liz Claiborne Inc. y la Sindicalización de Dos Fábricas Proveedoras en Guatemala}

• company website: Liz Claiborne: Workers' Rights (Liz Claiborne)

How Responsible Is WRAP? The Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production Certification Program (WRAP) has apparently certified 23 factories (including factories in US, Mexico and Honduras), and has received applications for certification from 370 others. However, information on certified factories and their locations appears not to be publicly available. (Codes Memo: Number 8, Maquila Solidarity Network, Aug. 2001)

• {···español: ¿Cuán responsable es el WRAP?}

Close Look at Factory for Nikes [Indonesia]:...the Nike representatives in Indonesia are upfront in saying that it was American public pressure that pushed Nike to require its contractors to improve pay, benefits and working conditions over the past three years. (Frank Denton, Wisconsin State Journal, 30 July 2000)

Garment industry plagued by poor environment, low wages: A recent study conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has exposed the unhealthy and polluted working environment in the garments sector. The study also recommended that the ministry impose a minimum investment ceiling of Dh7 million in order to obtain a licence for a garment factory to ensure owners create a healthy working environment.  (Saifur Rahman, Gulf News [United Arab Emirates], 29 July 2001)

Guatemalan maquila workers attacked! Union supporters placed under siege in garment factories that produce for Liz Claiborne; Will Liz Claiborne and the Guatemalan Government take appropriate action? (US/LEAP - U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project, 21 July 2001)

• company website: Liz Claiborne: Workers' Rights (Liz Claiborne)

Business as usual: Mexico's president ignores old-style labor repression - When workers at the Kuk Dong assembly plant went on strike earlier this year, the result was business as usual -- state police stormed the factory to break the strike, and the company fired hundreds of workers....By accepting the status quo, the Fox administration is drawing growing protests from Mexican reformers, U.S. activists and congressional Democrats that Mexico is violating internationally recognized labor rights. (Wendy Patterson, San Francisco Chronicle, 19 July 2001)

An Online Look: Inside Nike's Contract Factories [12-minute online video tour of one of Nike's contract factories in Vietnam] (Nike)

• Nike buffs image with Webcast of Vietnam factory (Christopher Noble, Reuters, 12 July 2001)

Sweat & Tears [in New York City]: Daily News Investigation (Bob Port, New York Daily News, 8-11 July 2001)

• Sweat & Tears Still in Fashion in City: Clothing factories skirt labor laws, exploit immigrants - Hundreds of garment factories hidden away in buildings throughout New York City repeatedly violate labor laws and underpay their workers to make clothes that end up in major retail stores. (8 July 2001)

• Smuggling Debts Bring Servitude: Immigrants work 100 hours a week to pay loanshark - A hidden world exists within New York's immigrant garment workforce, where employees toil in low-wage indentured servitude to pay debts for being smuggled here. (9 July 2001)

• Union's Best Years Have Come and Gone: Garment factories routinely trample laws and contracts - The Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, the labor advocate for exploited garment workers, has lost its bargaining power and is unable to stop abuses suffered by its own members.  Bruce Raynor heads the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees. While UNITE has an active "Stop Sweatshops" campaign, in New York it cannot guarantee all its members the minimum wage. (10 July 2001)

• Can Minimum Wage Fit in Fashion Biz? Industry fears losing its shirt if pay increases - There is a question in New York City's fashion business that big corporations have avoided for years: Is it possible to make clothes at a profit here if workers are paid minimum wage?  For a lot of clothing, the answer is probably not, according to the chief of a secret industry study group. (11 July 2001)

Letter to Mexican President Fox [from Canadian religious, labour and NGO leaders - urging him to ensure workers' rights are respected at Nike's Kuk Dong supply factory. [Mexico] (5 July 2001)

•  {···español: Carta a Presidente Fox sobre Kuk Dong}

• company website: Nike statements regarding Kukdong factory (Nike)

The NGO-Industrial Complex: A new global activism is shaming the world's top companies into enacting codes of conduct and opening their Third World factories for inspection. But before you run a victory lap in your new sweatshop-free sneakers, ask yourself: Do these voluntary arrangements truly help workers and the environment, or do they merely weaken local governments while adding more green to the corporate bottom line? (Gary Gereffi [Professor of sociology and Director of the Markets and Management Studies Program at Duke University], Ronie Garcia-Johnson [Assistant Professor of environmental policy at Duke University], Erika Sasser [Visiting Assistant Professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University], in Foreign Policy, July-Aug. 2001)

"Selling our People": Summary report on garment production in Lesotho (Clean Clothes Campaign, July 2001)

Still Waiting For Nike To Respect the Right to Organize (Tim Connor, Global Exchange, on Corpwatch website, 28 June 2001)

• company's website: Nike - Responsibility - Labor (Nike)

UW [University of Wisconsin] System regents OK $8.3 million Adidas deal ["The deal also allows UW to study the company's records to make sure Adidas employees are not working in sweatshop conditions. The company will provide names and locations of all factories making Badger uniforms, and UW inspectors would be allowed to check those factories."] (Sharif Durhams, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9 June 2001)

Three more monitors accredited by FLA [Fair Labor Association] (Fair Labor Association, 4 June 2001)

Women Activists Share Experiences: On February 10-17, eight women from Asian labour rights and women’s organizations met in Nicaragua with their Latin American counterparts to exchange experiences and strategies. (Maquila Solidarity Network, June 2001) 

POLLUTION: Villagers want three firms closed: Warnings to knitting factories unheeded [Thailand] (Supamart Kasem, Bangkok Post, 30 May 2001)

OSHA [U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration] cites garment manufacturer in American Samoa for safety and health violations (U.S. Department of Labor, 25 May 2001)

U.S. Senate, Human Rights Groups, and Labor Unions Fight Forced Labor in Burma: In Response to Unprecedented ILO call, Senators Introduce Import Ban Bill (Free Burma Coalition, 25 May 2001)

Kukdong - Independent Union Leader Beaten by CROC supporters [Mexico] (Campaign for Labor Rights, 17 May 2001)

On third anniversary of Knight speech, Nike reviews challenges and successes of corporate responsibility initiatives in a complex global economy: New partnerships, increased resources, engagement with NGOs have made Nike "a better company," says Chairman Phil Knight (Nike, 15 May 2001)

Pollution: Three plants [textile factories] shut pending clean-up job - Illegal labourers causing a nuisance [Thailand] (Supamart Kasem Tak, Bangkok Post, 15 May 2001)

ILO focusing on garment industry, EPZ [export processing zones] for enforcing conventions: Workshop participants find indifference [among governments] to implementing workers' rights (The Independent [Dhaka, Bangladesh], 15 May 2001)

Nordstrom Challenged by Domini Social Investments On Sweatshop Issue (Business Wire, 14 May 2001)

Chentex accord signed - An Update on this Unprecedented, Anti-sweatshop Victory [Nicaragua] (Campaign for Labor Rights, 11 May 2001)

Official Salvadoran report says its factories are brutal: Some sweatshops make clothes for U.S. retailers (Eric Brazil, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 May 2001)

Group calls foul on NBA [National Basketball Association] 'sweatshops' (Richard Wilner, NYPost.com [New York], 11 May 2001)

Poverty, child labour and education: The apparent link [Bangladesh] (Prof. M.A. Bari, President, Dhaka City Committee of Bangladesh College-University Teachers Association, in The Daily Star [Bangladesh], 11 May 2001)

Sweating It Out: As consumers in the United States cry foul, an international effort to improve factory conditions stumbles in China [regarding difficulties implementing the SA8000 standard] (Bruce Gilley, Far Eastern Economic Review, 10 May 2001)

Second negotiation-attempt with Adidas failed. Pilot-project with the German Clean Clothes Campaign refused. (Clean Clothes Campaign, 8 May 2001)

No to Global Sweatshops: New York's City Council is about to open a promising new front in the global struggle against sweatshop exploitation--a city procurement ordinance that requires decent wages and factory conditions for the apparel workers who make uniforms for New York's finest. (William Greider, The Nation, 7 May 2001)

University acts to cut ties with some apparel firms: The University of Iowa has canceled 176 licenses with apparel companies that either failed to disclose the location of their factories or sign the school's code of conduct. (Chicago Tribune, 3 May 2001)

Overview of Recent Developments on Monitoring and Verification in the Garment and Sportswear Industry in Europe - Second edition (Nina Ascoly, Joris Oldenziel & Ineke Zeldenrust, SOMO-Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations and Clean Clothes Campaign, May 2001)

• {···español: Desarrollos recientes en monitoreo y verificación en la industria de la indumentaria y el calzado deportivo en Europa}

• {···français: Revue des évolutions européennes en matière de vérification et de suivi des conditions de travail dans les secteurs de l'habillement et des articles de sport} 

Still Waiting For Nike To Do It: Nike's Labor Practices in the Three Years Since CEO Phil Knight's Speech to the National Press Club (Tim Connor, Global Exchange, May 2001)

Letter to over 30 U.S. garment/apparel companies selling goods that were made in Burma [demanding that they cease all sourcing from Burma] (from Free Burma Coalition, labour organisations and other NGOs, May 2001)

Worker Rights in the Americas [El Salvador]? A Rare Inside Glimpse: Suppressed USAID-funded investigation documents systematic denial of rights and "abject poverty" wages of eighty-five thousand maquila workers, mostly young women sewing garments for Nike, Jordan, Adidas, Gap, Ohio State, Duke, University of Michigan, Georgetown, Kohl's, Wal-Mart and Elderwear school uniforms. (National Labor Committee, May 2001)

Labor Standards Clash With Global Reality [report on the limitations of monitoring of El Salvador factory supplying Gap, the clothing retailer; Gap says companies cannot substitute for governments indifferent to enforcing laws] (Leslie Kaufman and David Gonzalez, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2001)

• To Combat Sweatshops [letter to the editor of New York Times about the above-mentioned "Labor Standards Clash With Global Reality" article, from Michael Posner, Executive Director of Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (letter to the editor from Michael Posner, in New York Times, 1 May 2001)

Time to investigate: 'U' should look in to labor code allegations [at apparel company in USA] (Michigan Daily [University of Michigan], 17Apr. 2001)

The terms of global trade [Wal-Mart/ASDA letter to Guardian responding to 9 Apr. 2001 article concerning allegations of child labour at textile suppliers in Bangladesh] (letter from Christine Watts, Corporate affairs director, ASDA, Guardian [UK], 14 Apr. 2001)

FLA [Fair Labor Association] denounces ELF [Earth Liberation Front] actions [advocating violence against Nike stores] (Nike, 11 Apr. 2001)

Apparel Makers Fund New Labor Group To Inspect Factories, Screen for Sweatshops [Fair Labor Association] (Joseph Pereira, Wall Street Journal, 10 Apr. 2001)

Textile workers build solidarity in Bangladesh (Seumas Milne, Guardian [UK], 9 Apr. 2001)

Stanford Refuses to Cut Ties to Nike - Despite 3-year protest, huge contract a go (Bill Workman, San Francisco Chronicle, 6 Apr. 2001)

Faculty and students question Nike contract (letters to the editor, Stanford Daily [Stanford University, California], 5 Apr. 2001)

Enslaved to Fashion: Corporations, Consumers, and the Campaign for Worker Rights in the Global Economy - A review of Levi's Children: Coming to Terms with Human Rights in the Global Marketplace by Karl Schoenberger (George DeMartino, Human Rights & Human Welfare, Apr. 2001)

Real allies in the Global Alliance [Thailand] (Junya Yimprasert, Co-ordinator, Thai Labour Campaign, and Christopher Candland, Professor of Political Science, Wellesley College, undated)

Economists Spar Over Sweatshop Protests (Anya Schiffrin, The Standard, 23 Mar. 2001)

Articles about Nike in Human Rights & Business Matters, newsletter of Amnesty International UK Business Group, spring/summer 2001:

• Nike - a long way to go? A view from Tim O’Connor of the NikeWatch campaign (Tim O’Connor, in Human Rights & Business Matters, newsletter of Amnesty International UK Business Group, spring/summer 2001)

• Nike – progress through The Global Alliance? A view from Hannah Jones, Nike’s European director of government and community affairs (Hannah Jones, in Human Rights & Business Matters, newsletter of Amnesty International UK Business Group, spring/summer 2001) [Note: To access this article, scroll down from the above-mentioned Tim O'Connor article...it is underneath]

UNITE Statement Regarding Groundbreaking New York City Council Anti-Sweatshop Procurement Bill (UNITE, 14 Mar. 2001)

Cities Against Sweatshops: New York, NY (UNITE, 14 Mar. 2001)

City Council Votes to Stamp Out Sweatshops (New York City Council, 14 Mar. 2001)

Triumph [Triumph International, lingerie company] accused of double-speak over refusal to quit Burma (International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation, 9 Mar. 2001)

Students from 56 Universities Launch Fast, Calling for End to U.S. Corporate Support for Burma's Regime: Protest After Release of U.S. State Department Cable (5 Mar. 2001)

Canadian NGO policy views on corporate responsibility and corporate accountability: An Overview Paper Prepared for an NGO-Government Meeting, May 2001 (Moira Hutchinson, Mar. 2001)

Overview of Recent Developments on Monitoring and Verification in the Garment and Sportswear Industry in Europe (Nina Ascoly, Joris Oldenziel, Ineke Zeldenrust, SOMO - Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, Mar. 2001)

• UK [United Kingdom]: Ethical Trading Initiative

• NL [Netherlands]: Fair Weave Charter Foundation

• FR [France]: Ethique sur L'Etiquette

• SW [Sweden]: The Swedish Project on Independent Verification

• CH [Switzerland]: The Swiss Project on Independent Monitoring

Globalisation poses threats for workers in Bangladesh's textile industry (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 21 Feb. 2001)

Human rights activists speak out against Nike: ... Keady and Kretzu spent last August living in solidarity with Nike factory workers in Indonesia and living on their wages. They spoke Friday at Allen Hall about sweatshops and the exploitation of workers in developing countries. "Our goal was to humanize the sweatshop issue," Kretzu said. "Nike is undermining human dignity for a profit. You may survive on $1.25 a day, but you can not live and maintain your dignity." (Tom Polansek, The Daily Illini [University of Illinois], 12 Feb. 2001) 

KUKDONG: Sweatshop conditions indicative of problems facing global workers - The recent attention focused on a Mexican factory producing Nike and Reebok sweatshirts has once again highlighted the problems of sweatshop conditions in apparel factories around the world (Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, 6 Feb. 2001)

Realizing Labor Standards: How transparency, competition, and sanctions could improve working conditions worldwide. (Archon Fung, Dara O'Rourke, and Charles Sabel, Boston Review, Feb./Mar. 2001)

Breaking Boundaries, Building Alliances: A Latin America / Asia Women's Exchange for women organizers and advocates - On February 10-17, eight women from Asian labour rights and women’s organizations met in Nicaragua with their Latin American counterparts to exchange experiences and strategies. (Maquila Solidarity Network, Feb. 2001)

•  {···español: Rompiendo barreras, Construyendo alianzas: Intercambio entre mujeres de América Latina y Asia para organizadoras y promotoras}

Students Against Sweatshops (Stew Harris, Multinational Monitor, Jan./Feb. 2001)

Fair Labor Association approves seven companies for participation in FLA's Monitoring Program; Accredits first Independent Monitor (Fair Labor Association, 24 Jan. 2001)

Nike Letter to Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) [regarding labour dispute at Kukdong factory in Mexico] (Associated Press, 21 Jan. 2001)

Letters - Fair Pay: 'It is the role of the Cambodian government, multinationals and their consumers to ensure that the wages of parents working in the factory are sufficient to educate their children.' - Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (Vanessa Lesnie and Justine Nolan, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, letter to the editor, Asiaweek, 12 Jan. 2001)

Bangladesh: Fire Kills 46, Seriously Injures Over 100 (Saiful Huq, BALU, Jan. 2001)

Multinationality and corporate ethics: codes of conduct in the sporting goods industry -...Six companies (Nike, Reebok, Puma, Mizuno, Asics, Adidas and Mizuno, of which only the first four have a code), three business support groups (AAMA, AFA, AIP), three social interest groups (CEPAA, CCC, AHRC) and three international organisations (ILO, WFSGI, FIFA) are analysed. (Ans Kolk & Rob van Tulder, Journal of International Business Studies, 2001)

Social environment and standards at the work place in the garment industry in Bulgaria - Results from a preliminarily research carried out within a Clean Clothes Campaign international project (Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation, 2001)

Nike & Global Labour Practices (David F. Murphy & David Mathew, New Academy of Business Innovation Network for Socially Responsible Business, 2001) 

2000:

Dropped Stitches: Deth Chrib worker her way out of a brothel.  Now a global campaign against exploitation of third-world workers could force her back. (Gina Chon, Asiaweek, 22 Dec. 2000)

Can Corporate Codes of Conduct Promote Labor Standards? Evidence from the Thai Footwear and Apparel Industries (Junya Yimprasert and Christopher Candland, Thai Labour Campaign, Dec. 2000)

New alliance [Global Alliance for Workers and Communities] asks workers overseas what they desire (Kate Shatzkin, Baltimore Sun, 30 Nov. 2000)

Fire, stampede kills 45 garment workers in Bangladesh (King5.com, 25 Nov. 2000)

A World of Sweatshops: Progress is slow in the drive for better conditions (Aaron Bernstein, Business Week, 6 Nov. 2000)

Garment makers urged to take stand on child labour: Thai firms must win SA 8000 standard (Somporn Thapanachai, Bangkok Post, 18 Oct. 2000)

Tripartite Meeting on Labour Practices in the Footwear, Leather, Textiles and Clothing Industries - Geneva, 16-20 October 2000 (International Labour Organization): 

• [information note]: Tripartite Meeting on Labour Practices in the Footwear, Leather, Textiles and Clothing Industries - Geneva, 16-20 October 2000 (International Labour Organization)

• [report]: Labour Practices in the Footwear, Leather, Textiles and Clothing Industries (International Labour Office, Oct. 2000)

• [press release]: Global employment levels in textile, clothing and footwear industries holding stable as industries relocate - Asia's job share is growing fastest - Clandestine sweatshops pose risks to industry/workforce (International Labour Organization, 16 Oct. 2000)

Inside a Chinese Sweatshop: "A Life of Fines and Beating" (Dexter Roberts and Aaron Bernstein, Business Week, 2 Oct. 2000) 

Nike: American dream on RI [Republic of Indonesia] sweat (Donna K. Woodward, Jakarta Post, 13 Sep. 2000)

My factory visits in Southeast Asia and UM [University of Michigan] code and monitoring (memo from Linda Lim [Associate Professor of Business Administration, University of Michigan Business School] to Larry Root [Director, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of Michigan], 6 Sep. 2000)

Unfair Advantage: Workers' Freedom of Association in the United States under International Human Rights Standards (Human Rights Watch, Aug. 2000)

Corporate Codes of Conduct: A Follow-up Study (Junya Yimprasert and Christopher Candland, Thai Labour Campaign, 24 July 2000)

Socially Responsible Investors Sponsor Shanghai Conference on Sweatshops (Verité, Ethical Funds Inc., Calvert Group, Domini Social Investments, Walden Asset Management, 20 July 2000)

Paying a Price [China] (Dan Biers, Far Eastern Economic Review, 13 July 2000)

Sweaty Sneakers (Alan Pittman, Eugene Weekly [Oregon, USA], 13 June 2000)

Factory Guards Open Fire in Cambodia (Associated Press, 22 June 2000)

Levi's Children: Coming to Terms with Human Rights in the Global Marketplace - Levi's Children is a book about corporate social responsibility and the rising demands that U.S. companies be held accountable for labor practices and political conditions in the international markets where they do business. It tells the story of Levi Strauss & Co. (Karl Schoenberger, June 2000)

Dark Knight [regarding Nike] (Michele Orecklin, Time, 8 May 2000)

Nike wrong-foots the student critics (Jagdish Baghwati, Professor of Economics, Columbia University, in Financial Times, 2 May 2000)

Ratcheting Labor Standards: Regulation for Continuous Improvement in the Global Workplace (Charles Sabel, Dara O'Rourke, Archon Fung, May 2000)

The Final Report of The Advisory Committee on Labor Standards and Human Rights (University of Michigan, May 2000) 

Chinese Rights, U.S. Wrongs: Interviews with Wei Jingsheng and Alice Kwan (Multinational Monitor, May 2000)

Codes of Conduct, Government Regulation and Worker Organizing - Codes of Conduct: The Debates (Bob Jeffcott and Lynda Yanz, Maquila Solidarity Network, Feb. 2000)

•   {español: Los Códigos de Conducta, Regulaciones Gubernamentales y la Organización de los Trabajadoresdes}

Anti-Sweatshop Movement is Achieving Gains Overseas (Steven Greenhouse, New York Times, 26 Jan. 2000)

1999:

Sweatshops: No More Excuses (Aaron Bernstein, Business Week, 8 Nov. 1999)

The shame of sweatshops (Consumer Reports Online, Aug. 1999)

Commentary: It's Europe's Turn to Sweat about Sweatshops (William Echikson, BusinessWeek Online, 19 July 1999)

Patagonia Inc. Takes Bold Stance on Environment (Philanthropy News Digest, 25 May 1999)

Business and Human Rights: Global brands monitor manufacturing conditions worldwide (Doug Cahn [Vice President of Human Rights Programs, Reebok] and Tara Holeman [Associate Manager of Human Rights Programs, Reebok], Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy, spring 1999)

Nike accuses its critics: A senior executive of sports shoe manufacturer Nike has accused critics of the company's labour practices in Vietnam of indirectly seeking to overthrow Vietnam's communist government. (Financial Times, 21 Jan. 1999)

• comments by Nike: Nike's plea: judge us by our actions: "Nike regrets that excerpts from private correspondence made by Nike executive Dr Joseph Ha, which were published in the Financial Times ("Nike accuses its critics," January 21), were interpreted as our corporate attitude towards human rights groups..." (letter to the editor, from Hannah Jones, Nike European Operations, in Financial Times; 25 Jan. 1999)

• response to the above comments by Nike: Nike's certification no means guaranteed: "Hannah Jones's letter (January 25) disowning the statement of Joseph M. Ha, Nike vice-president, regarding human rights activists in Vietnam is simply not credible. No vice-president of a leading company would commit in writing to a highly placed official statements that did not reflect company policy. Dr Ha's statements are therefore evidence of Nike's embrace of anti-democratic values. We have worked with Nike for the past two years as a non-governmental partner to the White House Apparel Industry Partnership. We are therefore particularly dismayed at Ms Jones's use of the Apparel Industry Partnership as "evidence" of Nike's labour-friendly corporate practices." (letter to the editor, from Pharis J. Harvey, Executive Director, International Labor Rights Fund, in Financial Times, 2 Feb. 1999)

• A Nike Sneak: On January 11 [1999] Joseph Ha, a Nike vice president, sent what he thought was a confidential letter to Cu Thi Hau, Vietnam's highest-ranking labor official. In it, Ha blasted a number of human rights and labor groups that have been working to improve labor conditions in Nike's overseas factories and expressed admiration for Vietnam's authoritarian system. "A few U.S. human rights groups, as well as a Vietnamese refugee who is engaged in human rights activities, are not friends of Vietnam," wrote Ha to the Vietnamese official. The "ultimate goal" of these groups, Ha warned, is not to help Vietnamese apparel workers improve their living standards but to turn Vietnam into "a so-called 'democratic' society, modeled after the U.S."--a charge that, as Nike knows, amounts to subversion in Vietnam. (Eyal Press, The Nation, 5 Apr. 1999)

Voluntary Codes of Conduct: Do they Strengthen or Undermine Government Regulation and Worker Organizing? (Bob Jeffcott and Lynda Yanz, Maquila Solidarity Network, 1999)

1998:

Mexico - A Job or Your Rights: Continued Sex Discrimination in Mexico's Maquiladora Sector (Human Rights Watch, Dec. 1998)

Sweatshop blues: San Francisco's Levi Strauss carefully cultivates its good-citizen image.  But human rights activists are catching the company with its pants down. (Daniel Zoll, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 10 June 1998)

Can multinationals buy good conduct? (Luc Demaret, Trade Union World, 1 Feb. 1998)

1997:

To End Sweatshops: Designing A Code of Conduct for a Global Industry (Robert Senser, Commonweal, 18 July 1997)

1996:

The Apparel Industry and Codes of Conduct: A Solution to the International Child Labor Problem? (U.S. Department of Labor, 1996)