Slavery Conditions on Island Source of "Made in USA" Clothes

by Abid Aslam

"Recent events suggest that the pattern of labor abuse may in fact be growing" in Saipan, the activists assert in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

They also want the Commonwealth brought into compliance with mainland labor and immigration laws, from which the islands have been granted a temporary reprieve since becoming a U.S. territory in the 1970s.

The non-governmental Global Survival Network, in a report released here May 24, says involuntary servitude is rife in the territories' apparel, construction and tourism industries.

Women hired as waitresses from as far away as Russia are put to work as sex slaves, according to the report. Commonwealth officials say there is no sex industry but one local newspaper reports that "Saipan...is being advertised as a top destination for sightseeing and sex tours in the Pacific."

"Tourists can engage the services of prostitutes for a fee ranging from $20 to $200," according to the Saipan Tribune.

As part of an eight-month probe by Global Survival Network, two investigators -- one posing as a U.S. buyer and the other as a university researcher -- interviewed 60 guest workers and used hidden cameras to videotape conditions in Saipan's factories, night clubs and workers' dormitories. The report describes these as "barracks" patrolled by security guards and ringed with barbed-wire fences.

Workers are lured by international human trafficking networks, which promise job-seekers good employment in the United States. They pay these "recruiters" an average of five thousand dollars for travel and the right to work. Some raise the money by pawning their families' belongings and others take loans they are then expected to work off.

Upon arrival, they express "shock and dismay upon discovering that "Saipan USA" is nothing more than a 47-square-mile island in the Pacific Ocean," says the report.

Worse, it adds, they learn that Saipan's legal minimum wage is $3.05 per hour compared to the mainland rate of $5.15 per hour.

Even working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, most are unable to pay off their debts, earn a living, and send money home. Their wages, subject to deductions for food and boarding, often are not paid at all.

Commonwealth residents enjoy all privileges of U.S. citizenship except the right to vote in federal elections. In addition to the minimum wage, they are entitled to Social Security, unemployment benefits, and workers' compensation.

Migrant workers, who are not covered by these protections, outnumber locals two-to-one. "About 16 percent of local U.S. citizens, however, are unemployed," according to the report.

Workers who file grievances with Commonwealth authorities can win "administrative orders" confirming their right to thousands of dollars in unpaid wages or compensation for injuries but the judgments lack practical force. When employers are pressured to pay up, they simply declare bankruptcy or flee the territory, says the report, which cites official documents and media accounts.

The report concedes that mainland authorities have taken some action -- the U.S. Department of Labor is collecting back pay on behalf of some night club workers and the Justice Department has indicted three men for trafficking in Chinese women.

However, efforts to pass a "United States-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act" have stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives. Activists single out Tom DeLay, the Republican majority whip, for thwarting efforts to advance the legislation.

DeLay says the bill would "kill economic freedom" but his critics alleged that DeLay had financial dealings in factories on Saipan.

U.S. unions and rights groups in January filed three law suits alleging that Asian manufacturers have set up shop in the territory, trapping foreign workers in sweatshops that make clothes for 17 leading U.S. retailers including Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, and Wal-Mart.

Some of the U.S. buyers have said that Saipan's guest workers are treated and paid better than they would have been at home. Workers' advocates acknowledge that is true in some cases but maintain they have solid legal grounds for their lawsuits.

In addition to breaches of U.S. labor law, the complaints allege violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly known as "Rico," originally designed to fight organized crime.

Workers' lawyers contend that the companies know that laborers are supplied by traffickers and are employed in sweatshops. The firms, which deny any inside knowledge, last month were served with more than 150 subpoenas aimed at ferreting out evidence of complicity.

The companies have declined to comment on active litigation but have sought to move the hearings from California, where they were filed in federal court, to Saipan. Critics claim this is an attempt to avoid media coverage.

Saipan's apparel industry generates about one billion dollars per year in export earnings. The Commonwealth government raises nearly one-fourth of its operating budget from garment taxes and the industry provides the Commonwealth Ports Authority with 53 percent of its revenues, according to official and media reports.

Mainland apparel manufacturers have complained that Saipan's territorial status enables even factories owned and operated by Asian companies to label their products as "Made in the USA" and to ship these to the United States free of duty and quotas.

Saipan firms thus are able to avoid paying $200 million per year in tariffs, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the territory.

Commonwealth officials, however, say that because they use the U.S. dollar, they face increased competition from Asian manufacturers whose currencies have fallen in value since 1997, effectively driving down their prices.