Export zones havens of exploitation for workers<\/p>\n
Rebecca Frasquet, Agence France-Presse, Miyazaki, Japan<\/p>\n
Embraced by governments hungry for the cash of multinational
\nfirms, the world's growing number of special export zones are
\nhavens of exploitation for millions of workers, union leaders
\nsay.<\/p>\n
Some 3,000 export zones have been set up since the 1970s,
\naccording to the International Labor Organization (ILO). Two-
\nthirds of the zones are in China, which aggressively woos foreign
\nmanufacturers through tax incentives.<\/p>\n
But the handsome profits are coming on the back of some 42
\nmillion people around the globe who work in such zones, many of
\nthem women, toiling long hours and enduring harassment for
\nsubstandard wages, organized labor says.<\/p>\n
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU),
\nwhich is holding its 18th World Congress in Miyazaki, Japan with
\n150 countries taking part, has challenged the wisdom of economic
\nzones, generally used for assembly of material imported from
\nelsewhere.<\/p>\n
The ICFTU said one problem was that companies in the zones
\nwere able to pack up as quickly as they arrived if another
\ncountry offered a better deal.<\/p>\n
"Investment comes and goes, usually leaving little behind once
\nit has gone," said Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the
\nCongress of South African Trade Unions.<\/p>\n
But most important, in the ICFTU's view, is the human toll.<\/p>\n
Norosoa Ravalanirina is a 32-year-old in Madagascar who earns
\nless than 30 dollars a month making sweaters for a Belgian
\ncompany, which could not be identified for legal reasons.<\/p>\n
"I can normally make five jumpers, but when my boss tells me
\nto make nine, I can't do it and I sometimes have to work until
\n10:00 pm," she said in testimony in an ICFTU report presented to
\nthe conference.<\/p>\n
"I can no longer afford rice or meat, and I have to walk to
\nthe factory because I can't afford the bus ticket," she said.<\/p>\n
The ICFTU said workers put up with such misery in part because
\nthe economic zones tried to demoralize them into submission.<\/p>\n
In Mexico, Monica, 26, said that when she was recruited in
\n1999 to assemble Hewlett-Packard printers, two "nurses" forced
\nher to strip naked on the pretense of verifying she had no
\ntattoos.<\/p>\n
"My word was not good enough. I had to take off all my
\nclothes, including my underwear. They even touched me while I was
\nnaked, checking my breasts. I don't know what they were really
\nlooking for," said Monica, who no longer works at the factory.<\/p>\n
The ICFTU report quoted Hewlett-Packard as saying it had not
\nheard of Monica's alleged mistreatment by the subcontractor in
\nthe economic zone and that it would have taken action if it had.<\/p>\n
In China, where only government-run unions are permitted, at
\nleast one factory making CDs and DVDs deducts 10 percent of wages
\nand returns it after a year at the job to ensure workers stay put
\nat peak production times, the report said.<\/p>\n
But ironically, one glimmer of hope may come in the shape of
\nan event dreaded by the labor movement: the end of developed
\nnations' textile import quotas from next month.<\/p>\n
Much of the Miyazaki meet has been devoted to discussing fears
\nthat cheap, abundant Chinese labor will take over in the free
\nmarket and lead factories elsewhere to shut or slash wages.<\/p>\n
But the ICFTU said that in Bangladesh and the Philippines, the
\nlooming overhaul of the textile trade has led "a handful" of
\nemployers to reach out to labor to ensure a better working
\nenvironment so factories can survive.<\/p>\n
Unions have yet to make a dent at Luzon, near Manila, where
\nthree economic zones sometimes pay less than the minimum wage of
\n250 pesos (US$4.50) a day, said Democrito Tolo Mendoza of the
\nmillion-member Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.<\/p>\n
"It's a serious problem. We're managing to organize these
\nworkers, but it's very slow," he told AFP.<\/p>\n
Begum Amena Mahmuda, a delegate in Miyazaki from the
\nBangladesh Jatiyabadi Sramil Dal, a union of two million members,
\nsaid only a few firms in her country's economic zones allowed
\nlabor activism.<\/p>\n
"Many women are inclined to form unions. But most foreign
\ncompanies don't permit it," she said.<\/p>",
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