[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H9903-H9904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               GOLDEN EAGLE AND CORPORATE VULTURE AWARDS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Kaptur] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, last month, the jobs and fair trade caucus 
presented its monthly Golden Eagle Award to the employee owners of 
United Airlines, our Nation's leading airline, and our Corporate 
Vulture Award to Hershey foods, a company that continues to outsource 
its Hershey Kiss production to Mexico and downsize its American work 
force. The two companies, United Airlines and Hershey foods, exemplify 
the best and worst of corporate practices in America today.
  As you will recall, the Golden Eagle Award rewards fine U.S. 
companies that represent the best that is in us as a nation, companies 
which treat their workers with dignity while making decent profits, 
strengthen their communities, charge a reasonable price for products, 
and remain and prosper in the United States. When all of these 
practices are undertaken by one company, that company deserves our 
praise and to be recognized as a Golden Eagle Co.
  The Corporate Vulture Award, like the scavenger it represents, is 
given to a company in need of vast improvement, a company which 
exploits our marketplace yet downsizes its work force in America. These 
firms outsource most production to foreign countries, and use sweatshop 
labor abroad but then import these transhipped products back to the 
United States while keeping prices high here at home and maintaining 
all of the benefits of being called an American company. Corporate 
vultures deserve our disdain.
  Today, the jobs and fair trade caucus is proud to present this 
month's Golden

[[Page H9904]]

Eagle Award to Natural Cotton Colors, a small manufacturer of naturally 
colored cottons located in Wickenburg, AZ. Sally Fox, the founder of 
Natural Cotton Colors and inventor of environmentally safe colored 
cotton suitable for organic farming, is quite an American.
  As Sally herself has stated, the success of her company is a real 
Jack and the Beanstalk Story. In 1982, Sally came across brown cotton 
seeds in a bag and thought that she could grow and sell the brown 
cotton to hobbyists who hand spin yarn. A small American business was 
thus born. Since those humble beginnings, Natural Cotton Colors now 
sells environmentally safe colored cotton around the world. The 
company's sales over the past few years have averaged around $5 
million.
  What makes Natural Cotton Colors unique is its commitment to the 
environment. Sally developed her own trademark, Fox Fibre, for the 
purpose of promoting environmentally sustainable production of cotton--
while remaining profitable. In order for a textile manufacturer to be 
licensed to use the Fox Fibre trademark, the manufacturer must agree to 
abide by numerous environmental standards. Manufacturers using Fox 
Fibre are not allowed to use dye, bleach, or formaldehyde finish in 
their production. With so many multinational corporations and countries 
engaged in a race to lower environmental standards around the world, 
Natural Cotton Colors is to be strongly commended for one small 
company's efforts to promote a safer and cleaner environment for our 
children.
  The story of Sally Fox and Natural Cotton Colors is truly an American 
story. By resisting the temptation to outsource production, Sally Fox 
and her company provide good jobs for American workers and farmers. 
When Sally receives an order for her product, Natural Cotton Colors 
consistently contracts out to American farmers scattered around the 
Midwest. Although she is able to cut costs dramatically by contracting 
out the company's work to cheap labor in Mexico and China, Sally Fox 
has remained strong in her commitment to America.
  Natural Cotton Colors is only one of thousands of small businesses in 
America that do so much to strengthen our communities and our lives. 
American small businesses provided virtually all of the net new jobs 
created over the past 10 years. Small businesses account for 50 percent 
of total sales in the United States.
  Many small businesses never are recognized for their achievements and 
their commitment to America. Today, we present the Golden Eagle Award, 
which includes this certificate and an American flag flown over the 
U.S. Capitol, to Natural Cotton Colors and Sally Fox for their 
commitment to the environment, and their commitment to America. Natural 
Cotton Colors is a small company with a big vision which we as a nation 
can benefit from.

  In marked contrast to Natural Cotton color's efforts and commitment 
to remain in the United States, this month's Corporate Vulture Award is 
presented to the Green Giant division of Pillsbury and its parent 
company, Grand Metropolitan PLC. Green Giant/Pillsbury is one of many 
U.S. corporations that have packed their bags and set up shop in the 
sweatshops and killing fields of the developing world, leaving a wake 
of wrecked families and communities here at home in America.
  In Green Giant's case, the company has shipped their contracts for 
fresh produce and their frozen food facilities south of the border to 
Mexico. A close look at virtually any supermarket's frozen food shelves 
will reveal packages with tiny, obscured, and ambiguous Green Giant 
labels indicating the food was grown or processed in Mexico or other 
foreign countries. Green Giant even has the audacity of naming one of 
their brands ``American Mixtures''--a product that contains mostly 
vegetables grown in and imported from Mexico but packaged in America. 
More than 60 percent of Green Giant's broccoli and cauliflower is 
actually grown in Mexico.
  As much as Green Giant/Pillsbury and Grand Metropolitan have tried to 
hide the facts, the truth is that these companies have actively 
downsized their American work force and sent their production abroad.
  Watsonville, CA, was once referred to as the frozen food capital of 
the world. In the mid-1980's, the frozen food packaging industry, 
including Green Giant, employed 3,500 workers at its peak. Today, there 
are less than 1,500 workers in Watsonville employed in frozen food 
packaging.
  Where did the jobs go? In 1993, Green Giant stated during the NAFTA 
debate that, and I quote, ``Not a single job in Watsonville is going to 
Mexico.'' Alas, production in Green Giant's Watsonville plant, where 
American workers once earned from $7.15 to $11.50 an hour with 
benefits, has since been moved to Irapuato, Mexico, where workers earn 
50 cents an hour without benefits. Not surprisingly, Irapuato, Mexico 
is the city that many now consider to be the new capital of the frozen 
food industry.
  What do American workers and consumers receive in return? Certainly 
not lower prices. At my local grocery store in Toledo, OH, a 16 ounce 
bag of Green Giant cut leaf spinach costs $1.66 and Green Giant cream 
spinach costs $1.69. The price is the same whether the spinach was 
grown and processed in the United States or Mexico. There is no price 
differential for imported goods.
  What is different though is the profit that Green Giant and Grand 
Metropolitan are making off moving their production to Mexico. Grand 
Metropolitan, which again owns Green Giant, enjoyed record sales in 50 
countries last year totaling $12.6 billion. In 1993, the year that 
Green Giant was not going to move any American jobs to Mexico, the CEO 
of Grand Metropolitan, Sir Allen Sheppard, earned over $1.25 million in 
salary alone.
  Lost U.S. jobs, downward pressure on U.S. wages, high prices, and 
huge profits are the characteristics of a corporate vulture. And today 
we recognize that there are no better examples of being a corporate 
vulture than Green Giant and Grand Metropolitan. What a shame.

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