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Issue No. 171 21 March 2003  
E D I T O R I A L

Shock and Awe
And so it has begun, the cartoon caricatures are locked in; the cowboy and the tyrant his father created, locked in an endgame that will trash more than the infrastructure of Iraq.

F E A T U R E S

Poetry: If I Were a Rich Man
Through a distortion in the time-space continuum, we have found a recording showing how people a few years into the future will deal with health care.

Interview: League of Nations
ICFTU general secretary Guy Ryder on the war, core labour standards and why Australia is an international pariah.

Industrial: 20/20 Hindsight
A retrospective analysis of the Accord is needed to help develop future strategies. Is it worth trying again? And if so, what would need to be different?

Organising: On The Buses
A new rank and file leadership team is standing up for the harried bus driver in the run-up to the NSW State Election

Unions: National Focus
A gaze around the country reveals some inspiring and innovative organising initiatives, a fruitful connection with young workers in South Australia and some typically robust industrial campaigns reports Noel Hester.

History: The Banner Room
On the eve of it�s refurbishment, Jim Marr ventures into one of Trades Hall�s best kept secrets; the room that houses relics of labour�s halcyon days.

International: The Slaughter Continues
Chilling new statistics from Colombia's main trade union confederation CUT: nine trade unionists assassinated in the first two months of this year.

Legal: A Legal Case For War?
Aaron Magner looks at the legal implications of the crusade of the Coalition of the Willing

Culture: Singing For The People
When there�s a struggle for social justice, when a war is brewing or rights are being eroded, the first ones to pen, paper and protest are often the folkwriters.

Review: The Hours
On the eve of International Women�s Day Tara de Boehmler follows the tale of three women who would rather choose death than a life devoid of personal choice.

Poetry: I Wanna Bomb Saddam
Scarier than Star Wars, the latest weapon to be deployed in the battle for Iraq is the Singing Dubya.

Satire: Diuretic Makes Warne's Excuses Look Thin
Australian cricketer Shane Warne today admitted that he was still feeling the after effects of the diuretic he tested positive to.

N E W S

 Peace Marchers Warn Off Provocateurs

 Monk Ignores Job Losses

 Trade Warriors Turn to Water

 Gap, Target Pay Sweatshop Dues

 Firies Douse Insurance Blaze

 Kennett Delivers $2m Gas Bill

 Vials Sparks Security Scare

 Buggers Hit Six

 Rail Towns Win Jobs Reprieve

 Telstra Dotty Over Witching Hour

 Crow Eaters Choke on Waste

 CSL Boss in Political Pickle

 Lawyers Push Super Class Action

 Fair Clothing Activists Take Stock

 Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

The Soapbox
Workers Friend
Shock jock Alan Jones snubbed his Liberal mates to bucket the Cole Royal Commission and launch Jim Marr's book

The Locker Room
Boer Bore Boring
In the face of oppression Phil Doyle falls asleep in front of the TV

Guest Report
Dead Labor
The Hawke and Keating legacy is John Howard, Leonie Bronstein argues.

Seduction
Hands Off, Tony
John Della Bosca argues the NSW Industrial Relations System gives his State a competitive advantage.

Bosswatch
Groundhog Day
Another year, another round of corporate excess. Bosswatch returns from its summer slumber to find the same old dogs up to the same tricks.

L E T T E R S
 I Miss Unions
 Viva Le Imperialists!
 The First Casualty
 Righteous indignation
 Dead Right
 Calling All Libs
 If George W Bush was an Australian Citizen...
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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News

Gap, Target Pay Sweatshop Dues


Twenty six leading US clothing retailers, including giants Target and Gap, will cough up more than $30 million in a historic agreement designed to stop the Asian island of Saipan being used as a gigantic sweatshop.

Of the original defendants, 23 manufacturers and 27 US-based retailers, only Levis stands outside the settlement to a three-year class action lawsuit due to be signed into effect by a Federal Court judge this week. Levis ceased purchasing garments from Saipan after the lawsuit was filed.

The settlement came after lawyers for thousands of plaintiffs from China and neighbouring Asian states unveiled a horror story of greed and exploitation.

Saipan, in the Northern Mariana group, came under US Commonwealth control after the Second World War. Manufacturers and retailers were attracted because it wasn't covered by US labour codes but they could still sell Saipan-produced goods as US made, avoiding protective tarrifs.

The scenario put forward by plaintiffs is that they had to pay significant significant "recruitment fees", usually $5000 - $10,000, to gain work in Saipan sweatshops. Once there they were indentured, often slept 10-20 to a room, were forcibly prevented from leaving their hostels, worked hundreds of hours of unpaid overtime in cramped, unsafe conditions.

At the basic rate of $3.05 an hour, it was argued, most would need to work 2500 hours before they even paid off their "recruitment fees".

Other specific allegations included...

- "prison-like confinement", in housing secured by guards and surrounded by fences, sometimes topped with razor wire.

- poor food, water and hygeine standards.

- air conditioning often broken or non-existent

- cruel punishments, including one case where workers were forced to remove bolts of cloth from a storage unit so the skin on their backs, arm and legs was burned from contact with metal walls, "making a searing sound like frying meat".

- In 1996, US-based OH&S inspectors visited Saipan and listed 90 violations, including 45 which involved "the risk of serious injury or death".

- Many workers being forced to sign "shadow contracts", curtailing freedom of speech and religion, and denying them the rights to join a trade union.

Previously, a major manufacturer and leading Honk Kong businessman, Willie Tan of Tan Holdings, had been required to pay $9 million in underpaid wages and entitlements.

The current settlement was reached last September with defendents agreeing to put more than $US20 million into an interest bearing account. Within 20 days, plaintiffs were to have issued notices to more than 30,000 current and former Saipan garment workers informing them of the terms of the settlement.

Importantly, settling US retailers have agreed to purchase garments only from factories that adhere to a comprehensive Code of Conduct on labour standards. Part of the settlement money will go towards the establishment of an independent monitoring program for the Saipan garment manufacture.

"The court has paved the way for sweeping reform of America's worst sweatshop", said Al Meyerhoff, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs.

This week's signing off on the Saipan agreement has also been welcomed by union and anti-sweatshop groups which had been joined to the action.

"This case breaks new ground," said Bruce Raynor of US clothing workers union UNITE. "Under this agreement, defendants have established a program that will assure the rights of garment workers and fully protected. This has been a long road but we're pleased it has come to a successful conclusion."


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