Sweating the details

Imagine the surprise organizations supporting workers’ rights would have had if the White House task force on sweatshops actually proposed international guidelines leading to a living wage for people toiling in garment factories. From a nation whose own minimum wage does not come close to being a living wage, such a prospect was nearly impossible, and so it was hardly shocking that the task force’s recent report was instead a tepid mix of small steps and self-policing.

Bjorn Skorpen Claeson of the Bangor Clean Clothes Campaign said Monday that the proposal, which is intended to curb worker abuse and monitor overseas facilities used by U.S. companies, “looks like a disaster.” Disaster might be too strong a word for a pact that carried such low expectations from the start, but it isn’t far off. The better word for the project President Clinton initiated two years ago might be absurd.

Consider this analysis by the Interfaith Center of Corporate Responsibility of just a small part of the pact. “To the extent that this project is supported by public funds, and we are told that government commitments have been made, this means that firms like Nike will receive a government subsidy to conduct company-controlled inspections of its production facilities that will allow the company to declare it is in compliance with the code.”

Now do you feel better about shopping?

International agreements are important because they not only put nations on record of supporting or opposing the most basic of human rights, but tell the public that the subject of workers’ rights is something worth thinking about. In that, the White House task force was necessary. The trade-off for its work, however, is that companies using sweatshop labor could use the imprimataur of the task force’s agreement to suggest they were treating workers well.

Although Mainers have have seen thousands of textile jobs disappear overseas, it is nearly impossible for shoppers to figure out whether a sweater or soccer ball coming back into this country was made under humane conditions. The task force’s job was to make things easier, but its standards are not reassuring. More useful is the Bangor Clean Clothes list of 19 area stores that have agreed to sell products made under fair working conditions.

Think globally, shop locally.