February 18, 2010 / http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/grassi/100218
The facts are quite stunning as to what goes into the manufacture of a Major League baseball and the sometimes physically debilitating toll workers take in order to produce some 2.2 million balls utilized each MLB season, in addition to the Minor Leagues and the NCAA College World Series, with which the Jarden Corp., on behalf of Rawlings, also exclusively contracts.
Rawlings has been operating its baseball factory out of Costa Rica since 1988, as it gradually transitioned its factories from the country of Haiti, during its period of government unrest in the late 1980's. Since 1990, Rawlings has produced all of MLB's baseballs in Costa Rica, with its non-professional baseballs manufactured in China.
SNIP
The approximate 600 workers at the baseball factory in Turrialba are either "sewers" who stitch the cowhide covers onto the baseball's sphere, or they are "assemblers" or "winders," responsible for assembling the core's parts, made of two kinds of rubber and cork, and the winding of the ball's four different grades of yarn. Those who stitch are required to complete 108 stitches into the cowhide leather of each ball by hand.
Each sewer must complete one ball every 15 minutes. They are required to reach a minimum quota of 156 balls per week, in a factory without air conditioning, in temperatures exceeding 100°, requiring permission to use bathrooms, and prohibits workers from speaking to each other on the factory floor. The hours that workers put in average 11-12 per day and they must always reserve their Saturdays for the factory, in the event an "emergency order" comes through. If not available on Saturday, they are subject to termination.
The gross wages per worker average $1.50 per hour. Workers can earn up to an additional $8.00 per week if they reach the threshold of completing 180 baseballs in one week. Baseball factory workers earn more than the country's minimum wage but are subject the Costa Rican Labor Ministry for any increases in the minimum wage. Provided they reach the minimum weekly ball quota each week, workers are compensated an additional 25-30 cents per baseball by Rawlings. Should they not reach the minimum quota they again risk being terminated.
The physical impact endured by the sewers has left about one-third of them with carpal tunnel syndrome or repetitive stress injuries, including permanent disability, after just two or three years of stitching. And sadly, most MLB players have no knowledge that every baseball manufactured is done so solely by hand under such conditions. Should a worker miss any length of time greater than a couple of days of work, due to illness or injury, they can be easily replaced due to the desperate employment situation. And their healthcare, thereafter, is in doubt.
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