[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 150 (Friday, October 31, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2160-E2161]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               IN SUPPORT OF HONDURAN APPAREL INITIATIVES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EARL F. HILLIARD

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 31, 1997

  Mr. HILLIARD. Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring to your attention a 
recently published article by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs 
[COHA]. The article is entitled: ``Scandal-Ridden Honduran Apparel 
Industry Seeks New Image.'' It appeared in COHA's biweekly edition of 
Washington Report on the Hemisphere on August 15, 1997.
  The article brings to light the efforts of the Honduras Apparel 
Manufacturers Association to establish an industry-wide code of conduct 
as a constructive, proactive mechanism to prevent future labor 
relations problems. The aforenamed association is a nonprofit and 
nonpolitical organization from the private sector, created to promote 
and develop exports of apparel goods, and to serve its associates and 
represent them before public and private institutions, both nationally 
and internationally. Membership is mandatory under Honduran law for all 
exporting companies. This new code was approved by the association's 
board of directors in late July, at an industry-wide meeting.
  Mr. Speaker, you will recall that the COHA is a locally based think-
tank policy institution. It is well established for its views on 
developments in Latin America. COHA monitors human rights, trade, 
growth of democratic institutions, freedom of the press, and 
hemispheric economic and political developments. I would like to place 
in the Record the full text of this article.

 Scandal-Ridden Honduran Apparel Industry Seeks New Image--Embittered 
             Industry Manufactures Its own Code of Conduct

       As major media revelations on child labor and sweatshop 
     abuses in Honduras surfaced, deeply embarrassed local 
     business interests, foreign firms operating in the country, 
     and government authorities became increasingly concerned 
     about the bad PR as much as conditions under which garments 
     were being made there. At the end of July, the embattled 
     Honduran Apparel Manufacturers Association (AHM) organized 
     its first congress in San Pedro Sula in order to design a 
     binding code of conduct for their industry. The AHM is a non-
     profit, non-political private sector organization established 
     in 1991 to promote Honduras' exports of apparel goods and to 
     serve as a foreign and domestic voice for the booming 
     garments assembly industry. The sector consists of 180 
     plants, employing 87,000 workers. But its impact is far 
     greater than it appears because in a country of approximately 
     5 million people, the industry accounts not only for its own 
     workers and their almost 400,000 dependents, but for nearly 
     600,000 other Honduran laborers and their families in such 
     related industries as shipping and packaging.
       By drafting its own self-enforcing code of conduct, ``the 
     AHM hopes to preempt any outside intervention that could lead 
     to regulations mandated from above.'' This meeting of the 
     Honduran maquladores was focused on addressing international 
     humanitarian concerns such as harsh work site conditions and

[[Page E2161]]

     widespread labor abuses raised when the Kathy Lee Gifford 
     scandal broke last year.


                   Working Conditions in the Factory

       In June 1996, Charles Kernaghan, the executive director of 
     the National Labor Committee, submitted a complaint to the 
     House International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee 
     accusing Honduran apparel manufacturers and Kathy Lee Gifford 
     associate, Global Fashion (a South Korean-managed firm), of 
     labor abuses. The foreign company was accused of employing 
     approximately 100 minors under deplorable work conditions, 
     which included prohibiting the use of restrooms, mandating 
     that female employees take birth control pills, and forcing 
     pregnant women to stand while working in unbearable heat. 
     But, inspections of the company's facilities conducted by the 
     Honduran Department of Labor and Social Security as well as 
     the Episcopal Church, among others, failed to establish hard 
     evidence of endemic abuse. However, the company did 
     acknowledge that overtime work was compulsory and that there 
     was a high employee turnover rate. In fact, Global Fashion 
     may have been better than most of the tainted industry.
       The government insists that its labor laws have been 
     designed to protect its citizens. Under the most recent labor 
     legislation, employees working 44 hours per week are entitled 
     to 50 hours worth of wages, which adds up to 14 months of pay 
     per year. While the official minimum wage in the country is 
     $0.31/hr., most apparel industry laborers earn as much as 
     $0.86/hr. Education is mandatory through grade six, and 
     minors who are 14 or 15 years of age may work up to 36 hours 
     per week, but only with permission from parents or legal 
     guardians and from the Ministry of Labor. The AHM claims that 
     ``there are no minors under the age of 14 working in Honduran 
     assembly plants.'' Skeptics are not so sure.


                         Obstacles to the Code

       Although the AHM's code of conduct now appears to be based 
     on a real desire for progressive reforms, there are many 
     cultural and political roadblocks to its progress. The 
     Korean-owned segment of the industry creates a large culture 
     gap that has resulted in many worker complaints. 
     Approximately 18 percent of AHM's members are South Koreans 
     who own about one-fifth of the 200 maquiladoras operating in 
     the country. Complaints that Korean managers frequently 
     commit verbal, physical and sexual abuse against female 
     workers have led us to a expulsion of several Korean managers 
     from the country. Due to the hard-line Korean business ethic 
     that stresses ``the more you work the more you earn'' 
     strategy, the AHM has had to provide Korean maquila mangers 
     with special seminars on Honduran labor laws and appropriate 
     workplace conduct.
       Another obstacle hindering the efficacy of the new code of 
     conduct is the omnipresent political corruption existing in 
     the country. The recent scandal involving Chiquita Brand 
     International executives and the deeply flawed Honduran court 
     system demonstrates how the integrity of the judiciary can be 
     compromised and manipulated by powerful and unethical foreign 
     corporations. Complicating the AHM's task is the claim that 
     some of the 33 plants that are unionized have tainted labor 
     leaders who routinely demand payoffs. According to Arnoldo 
     Solis, President of the AHM, ``the new code of ethics will be 
     a healthy instrument if used properly to enhance protection 
     of human and labor rights, but could become dangerous if used 
     as a political instrument to `deteriorate' the industry.''

     

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