No really, someone hand me a bow

After reading Alabamian's comment on his post at RSD, I'm more distressed than a pair of factory-fresh Levi's. ABC reports that in addition to his other ethically questionable jaunts, Tom DeLay (with family and staff in tow) took an all-expenses paid trip to Saipan in 1997 ("DeLay, his wife and daughter, and several aides, stayed for free at a beachfront resort" per ABC).

You may have never heard of Saipan, the largest island of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, also referred to as The Marianas, but chances are you're wearing (or own) something that was made there if you own clothes from The Gap, Gymboree, Sears, Nordstrom, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Target, Abercrombie & Fitch, Talbots, J.C. Penney and Polo Ralph Lauren. The items probably even bear the label "Made in the USA." Allow me to explain:

The Marianas are an impoverished, little-known United States territory which allows clothiers and retailers to contract out the manufacture of their clothing there. These contractors pay a pittance to their employees, and the clothing companies legally get to tout their wares are "Made in the USA," and, of couse, avoid tariffs.  Sweatshopwatch.org gives some more background:

After World War II, the U.S. won control from Japan of the Northern Mariana Islands (the Marianas). Because of the Marianas' limited economic base, the U.S. delegated control of minimum wage [currently $3.05 per hour] and immigration laws to the Marianas' government.  The U.S. also provided for duty free imports of products into the U.S. and no quota restrictions. Last year alone, the federal government estimated that contractors and U.S. retailers avoided more than $200 million in duties for $1 billion worth of garments shipped from Saipan, the main island of the Marianas.

If this doesn't sound right to you, it's because it isn't. In 2003, more than 25 clothing manufacturers (including those I list above) settled a lawsuit with a group of sweatshop employees who had brought a claim against them about the conditions and wages they work under (Levi Strauss was also named in the suit but refused to settle). According to Sweatshopwatch.org, "In the last five years, contractors in Saipan have received more than 1,000 citations for violating U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards." Also:

Over 90% of garment industry jobs in the Marianas are held by foreign "guest workers,"  predominantly young women from China, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Thailand. With promises of high pay and quality work in the U.S., workers agree to repay recruitment fees from $2,000 to $7,000, trapping them in a state of indentured servitude. They often must sign "shadow contracts" waiving basic human rights, including the freedom to join unions, attend religious services, quit or marry.

(If this topic interests you, I refer you to Sweatshopwatch.org, which will likely provide you with more information than you want to know).

So surely a good Christian man like DeLay ("a bold dedicated Believer in Jesus Christ") won't stand for worker exploitation of this kind, right?  No, I know. I'd be laughing, too, if the issue weren't so serious. Instead, DeLay took the money and the trips offered by the factory owners (excuse me, from lobbyists employed by the factory owners), and left them with reassurances that proposed reforms would never see the light of day. From the ABC report:

After touring one garment plant, DeLay praised Saipan at the New Year's Eve party attended by top factory owners.

"You represent everything that is good about what we are trying to do in America," DeLay said at the time to his audience, which included Saipan officials and factory owners.

Later, according to a recording made by a human rights investigator posing as a potential customer, one of the prominent factory owners said that DeLay had promised to stop the reform laws.

"Do you know what Tom told me?" Willie Tan said. "He said, 'Willie, if they elect me majority whip, I make the schedule of the Congress, and I'm not going to put it on the schedule.' So Tom told me, 'Forget it, Willie. No chance.'

My antipathy for DeLay was  healthy before I learned about his collusion with these guys. But to learn he promised sweatshop operators in Saipan to kill any reform legislation only reinforces my disgust.

Comments

[Del]

I wouldn't have thought it was physically possible for me to despise DeLay any more than I already do. Thanks for proving we can always stretch beyond our perceived limitations!

It's impossible to believe he isn't going down--and yet, while his approval rate is plummeting, everything I've read still shows him to have a majority of his constituency behind him.

[Kathy]

This is nauseating -- even more so than other reports of his bad behavior. It will certainly make me question my clothing selections in the future. Is there anyone left in Congress who cares how we treat the least among us?

[Susan]

I learned a few years ago when I first started reading about this issue how hard it is to buy sweatshop-free merchandise. I link to Sweat Free, of course, but one must wear something besides cute track suits and T shirts sometimes.

The best I can do is avoid those I know use sweatshop labor. The Gap/Banana Republic/Old Navy chain is a big one. Why do you think clothes at Old Navy are so cheap? And when I first started learning about this, I had a closet full of Ralph Lauren and Banana Republic items, then I had to decide "okay, I've already spent the money, so what's the problem continuing to wear it, right?"

Even now, I don't know if what I'm buying is sweat-free or not (especially in light of the Marianas "Made in the USA" loophole).

[Kathy]

Thanks for the tip on Sweat Free. I didn't know about it. I should have; my brother's a big Presbyterian (the social-justice-oriented kind). My kids are going to be mad at me if I boycott Old Navy, but they've already survived my avoidance of Wal-Mart, so I think they'll live.

[Susan]

"It's impossible to believe he isn't going down--and yet, while his approval rate is plummeting, everything I've read still shows him to have a majority of his constituency behind him"

Well, you know, everyone loves a martyr (right-wing "Christian" types, especially)

[Del]

The horrible Mobile Register this morning had an editorial this morning saying that DeLay deserved censure (that may not have been the word; probably "criticism") but that the Dems were no better, and went on to list some shocking claims about Harry Reid funneling millions to his lobbyist sons. I'm not a Reid fan, don't really know enough about him to judge either way. But it's all so discouraging.

And Susan, thanks for teaching me how to post a link :)

[Kathy]

Del, this is typical. Instead of acknowledging the depths of Mr. DeLay's ethical problems, deflect attention onto someone else. I guess the Mobile editorial writer doesn't remember that "two wrongs don't make a right."

[bill]

A friend of mine has been working on a documentary about Saipan. Workers there are justifiably terrified even to be seen near her, since they have no rights and are spied on.

The wages are great too. Some workers have become deperate enough to take on second jobs as prostitutes. Few can save enough for passsage back to their homes.

Saipan is Tom DeLay's worker heaven.