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I've known for years that GAP used sweatshops and I don't buy there, but I've just learned that they're accused of using Child Labor in India as well. This "news" that I've come upon is about a year old, but the site, Croatia News, lists no change in policy.
Children Washing Fashion Industry’s Laundry
Many fashion industry companies have stationed their production in developing countries, which implies cheap workforce, raw material and location.
Gap: children work for children
People and the media were shocked by last month’s announcement by The Observer that the known American brand Gap was exploiting underage children in its factory in India. The shocking fact is that their workforce is younger than ten years of age and are working in unacceptable conditions for up to 19 hours a day without any financial compensation – so they could produce clothes for the brand that is known for its campaigns using celebrities such as Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Helena Christensen and Alek Wek.
Fashion companies that soiled their reputations by exploiting children as labour force are: Nike, Levi Strauss, Reebok, Puma, Adidas, Ralph Lauren.
The American fashion company Gap has in the past two years suffered a significant drop in the sale of their clothes. Only in April this year their sales decreased by 16 percent.
Ironing wrinkled reputation
Ashamed by the report, Gap pledged strict control of their textile factories in India in a bid to prevent the exploitation of children. They also announced an investment of 200,000 dollars to improve working conditions and announced an international press conference next year to announce their solutions regarding the problem of children exploitation.
The company’s president, Marka Hansen, addressed consumers with an open letter stating that children who worked for Gap in New Delhi would be paid until they reach the age for legal labour, when they will offer them jobs.
They will also receive wages and the education they deserve, says the letter Marka sent to companies’ web sites.
Subcontractors serve the industry for washing hands
Bhuwan Ribhu, the founder of the New Delhi nongovernmental organisation Backpan Andolan, applauded the suggestion that child labour in India be made illegal. They said they believed child workforce will be eliminated. That is a good start, he said. Is organisation cares for 14 children younger than 14 years of age who were taken by police from the Gap factory at the end of October. The children will remain in the children’s home pending the completion of the investigation and the court’s certificate approving their return to their home villages in western Bengal.
We firmly believe that it is not acceptable for children to work at clothes lines. The reports are very disturbing and we are taking the situation very seriously. All of our distributors and their subcontractors are obliged to guarantee that they will not use children as workforce in production. In this situation, it is evident that one of our distributors breached the agreement and a full investigation is underway, gap’s spokesman said after the media published evidence last month. Last year Gap cancelled contracts with 23 factories, claiming they did not meet the business conditions.
Shireen Miller, the leader of the Save the Children organisation, said it was the Gap’s responsibility to check on production conditions and entire production chains, even the fields where cotton is produced for their products.
According to official sources, the number of children working in India is 12 million, while unofficial sources speculate the number in fact reaches 60 million. Laws in India ban the employment of children younger than 14 at risky jobs, which includes jobs in the textile industry.
In Croatia workers are exploited in free zones
According to the Croatian Alliance of Independent Unions, there are no recorded cases of exploiting children in the fashion industry in Croatia, but there were still such cases in other sectors.
- In the textile industry there is no exploitation of underage children because there are not enough jobs even for the older. The textile industry in Croatia is sinking, it has been reduced to a third of what it used to be. But the exploitation of children has been recorded in bakeries (mostly with Albanian owners), the sale of goods on stands, beggary and car washing (with the Roma) – president of the Alliance, Ana Knezevic, said.
However, she stressed that Croatia did have a problem that workers in free zones face.
- The purpose of free zones has been exploited very much: better conditions, no customs fees, no taxes and of course, not paying workers in line with the law. As far as the production of Benetton near Osijek is concerned, there was a strike last year – Knezevic added.
Croatia allows work after 15 years of age, that is, after completed primary school.
posted by Croatia News @ 11/17/2007 03:19:00 AM
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