wfn.org | Sweat Shop Workers for U.S. Companies Targeted by Presbyerian

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

10-December-1996 
 
 
96477     Sweat Shop Workers for U.S. Companies Targeted 
                by Presbyerian Investment Monitors 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
PHILADELPHIA--The exploitation of workers, often children, who make 
products for U.S.  corporations overseas, has become a major focus of the 
work of the Presbyterian Church's Mission Responsibility Through Investment 
Committee (MRTI). 
 
     Following a couple of well-publicized cases last spring involving the 
Disney Corporation and television personality Cathy Lee Gifford, the 1996 
General Assembly asked MRTI to monitor the issue on behalf of Presbyterian 
investors. 
 
     Most often, U.S. companies contract their production work to other 
companies in low wage-paying countries, especially  in Latin America. 
Apparel and consumer products companies have received the most attention. 
 
     At its October meeting here, MRTI met with Charles Kernaghan of the 
National Labor Committee (NLC) for an update on current labor conditions in 
Haiti and Central America.  A campaign by the NLC recently persuaded the 
San Francisco-based company The Gap to adopt independent monitoring of its 
code of conduct for its foreign subcontractors in El Salvador. 
 
     MRTI representatives had also met with management of The Gap during 
the NLC campaign. The Presbyterian Church owns stock in The Gap through the 
Board of Pensions. 
 
     The NLC has turned its attention to Walt Disney's operations in Haiti 
and Burma.  Wages in Haiti, where the workforce is primarily teenage women, 
average 28 to 31 cents per hour.  MRTI voted to increase its monitoring of 
Disney, a move which dovetails with the committee's longstanding focus on 
"maquiladora" operations along the U.S.-Mexico border. 
 
     Also at its meeting, the committee reelected the Rev. Gary Miller, 
chaplain at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., as its chair.  The Rev. Harry 
Smith, retired president of Austin College in Sherman, Texas, was elected 
vice-chair. 
 
(Information for this story furnished by the Rev. William 
Somplatsky-Jarman) 

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