Salt of the Earth: U.S. military buys into sweatshop labor

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February 2001

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U.S. military buys into sweatshop labor

U.S. military buys into sweatshop labor
When U.S. military personnel buy a pair of jeans or a T-shirt at the PX on their base, they may be purchasing clothing made in sweatshops in Latin America or in countries under U.S. sanctions because of human rights abuses. According to shipping documents, the Army and Airforce Exchange Service (AAFES) has imported clothing from a Nicaragua factory where workers make less than 20 cents for each pair of jeans they sew and from Myanmar (the former Burma), where human rights abuses by the military government have prompted U.S. economic sanctions.

"We were shocked when we saw that the military was involved," says Barbara Briggs, senior associate with the National Labor Committee (NLC), a New York-based human rights and sweatshop watchdog group that closely monitors U.S. imports from Burma. The NLC produced shipping documents confirming the imports at a December press conference.

The AAFES, an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, is one of the largest retailers in the world, with 1,423 retail stores on military bases around the world, and annual sales of $7.3 billion. It is subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.

"It is part of the U.S. government, and therefore it is critical that their purchasing decisions and other policies be reflective of other U.S. policies on human rights," Briggs says. "People have a moral right to expect the best behavior from AAFES."

In the case of Myanmar, the current U.S. economic sanctions discourage Americans from doing business with that country, explicitly prohibiting "new investment" to deny economic support to a military regime that has engaged in "large-scale repression" of its citizens. Last year, then-President Clinton awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom, to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose 1991 election victory in Burma has never been recognized by the military government. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been under house arrest for six years; her son accepted the Medal of Freedom.

Critics, including Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), say imports by the AAFES and other U.S. companies betray the spirit, if not the letter, of the law. "The U.S. has imposed economic sanctions on Burma, yet the U.S. military has decided to support this oppressive regime and undermine the efforts of the president and human rights groups worldwide," McKinney said in a December 22 statement.

Although the AAFES initially defended its actions in Myanmar, saying the purchase of goods or services was not the same as "new investments," the agency subsequently decided to stop importing clothing from that country, says Briggs.

Still, McKinney has called upon the Government Accounting Office (GAO) to expands its inquiry into the AAFES' use of sweatshop labor, in part because of concerns over imports from the Taiwanese-owned Chentex factor in Nicaragua. When workers at that factory sought an 8-cent wage increase last May, 700 workers were fired and blacklisted, trumped-up criminal charges were brought against 11 union leaders, and replacement workers were hired under the condition they join the company-controlled union, according to the NLC. "Their human-rights abuses are extremely well documented," says Briggs.

But the NLC is not calling for a boycott of Chentex, part of the Nien Hsing conglomerate and the largest producer of blue jeans in the world. Instead, they are calling on U.S. companies—including AAFES—to insist that Chentex improve conditions at the factory and respect fundamental human rights.

"By its poor example—rather than operating as a model of accountability with clear and enforceable human and worker rights standards and fair wages—AAFES sends a devastating message around the world that the U.S. government is not seriously concerned about respect for human and worker rights," says a statement on the NLC Web site. Adds Briggs: "We demand accountability from AAFES just as we do other major retailers, because that's what they are—a major retailer."

McKinney also blasted the AAFES for purchasing from sweatshops. "It must make the U.S. look like a hypocrite, if we talk about human rights, worker rights, and then have the AAFES buy millions of dollars of good from Chentex, in a way that violates those very principles. The message sent is that not only does the U.S. government tolerate sweatshops, it supports sweatshops," she said in a Dec. 5 statement. "Surely our Department of Defense, which pays $500 for a hammer, could afford an 8 cent increase in a pair of jeans."

A spokesperson for AAFES reported in December that a two-day inspection tour of the Chentex site by an AAFES team "including a review of randomly selected documents" found no evidence "indicating 'sweat shop' type working conditions existed at the facility."—Heidi Schlumpf

More info:
National Labor Committee
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney
Army and Airforce Exchange Service
From U.S. Catholic: "States should mind their own business": Can state and local governments help push American corporations out of Burma?

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