Fashion Faux Pas? Free Trade and Sweatshop Labor in Guatemala (US stores)
Fashion Faux Pas? Free Trade and Sweatshop Labor in Guatemala
Sunday, 16 March 2014 00:00
By Cyril Mychalejko, Truthout | News Analysis
Free trade agreements have not delivered promised protections to workers, as the case of Guatemalan sweatshop labor illustrates.
Juana, a 37-year-old single mother of two teenage sons, worked at a sweatshop in Guatemala that supplied clothes to more than 60 US retailers for four years.
"It was just enough to survive," said Juana of the $1.05 hourly base wage she received at the factory. "When they paid for extra hours, one could get more resources. But it is not enough for education, housing, health, food and clothing. One does not live well with that wage. You need someone else in the family to be working, too."
She is one of more than 1,000 mostly indigenous Mayan workers who were exploited and robbed at the Alianza Fashion Factory in the Department of Chimaltenango making garments for brands such as Macy's, Walmart, JCPenney and Kohl's. A worker such as Juana would have to work for more than 9,776 years to earn the $33.7 million JCPenney CEO Myron E. Ullman III made in 2012. JCPenney was Alianza's top client in 2011.
A report published in January by the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights and the Center for Studies and Support for Local Development (CEADEL) offers a detailed case study of the corruption, abuse and shameless profiteering that often exemplify the global supply chain, demonstrating that globalization and "free trade" do not "lift all boats" but instead build more yachts for the 1%.
More:
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/22150-fashion-faux-pas-free-trade-and-sweatshop-labor-in-guatemala
