[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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