| By James Brooke:
SAIPAN,Nothern Mariana Islands---
| quote: |
This quiet little American territory, a tropical island that struggled for years to improve working conditions in its sweatshops, now may lose many of its apparel factories to free market forces. The factories could fall victim to a flood of cheap Chinese clothing surging into the United States. And as Saipan's factories close or cut jobs, thousands of workers- most Chinese women- are left with a cruel choice: go back to China's real sweatshops and earn a fraction of their current pay or stay in Saipan where the prospects for legal work are dim at best. "There have been ups and downs in the past," said Lu Jian PIng, a seamstress who has been here for 13 years, workinmg to support her son, who is a university student in China. But now that she has been laid off along with 400 workers at her factory, she is convinced that "this time is different". Since garment trade quotas ended worldwide on Jan. 1, four of Saipan's factories, which have long benefited from tariff-free access to the American market, have closed. Orders to the rest have plummeted. About 1,585 workers have lost their jobs. While Washington is moving to impose some restraints to soften the blow from the explosion in Chinese apparel exports, the largest company here, Concorde Garment Manufacturing, says it may still have to let go hundreds of workers by June. The Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association predicts sales could drop by 50 precent this year. This is all part of a long-awaited global shiftdriven by the lifting of country-by-country quotas, allowing the fashion industry to develop a more efficient worldwide supply network. In Januray, Chinese clothing exports to the United States jumped to $1.2 billion, a 75 percent increase over a year earlier, according to Chinese government trade figures. For the first two months of the year, China quadrupled its exports of knit and synthetic tops- A Saipan specialty to the United States. "We are down by 28 percent; it's brutal," Richard A. Pierce, executive director of the industry association, said of those categories. "It is happening so quickly now, every factory in our association is downsizing. We guess we will lose 3 to 10 more factories by the end of the year." In the past, Saipan's annual clothing shipments to the American mainland were roughly equal to one month of China;s clothing exports to the United States. In the 2004 fiscal year, Saipan sold $821 million worth of garments, well below the peak of $1.05 billion in 1999. But soon, Saipan's sales, when compared with China's may be measured in days. "We want our tickets. We want to go home, " a dozen newly unemployed women chanted here recently outside the office of Saipan's governor, Juan N. Babauta. In interviews, several Chinese women said they could go home to do the same sewing job but for 30 cents an hour; here they get $3.05. Or they could stay in Saipan, where the most lucrative opton is a furtive life of hunting male tourists who will pay $50 for a "special massage". "It is very hard to get a new job," said a four-year veteran of tha garment factories, who called herself Doudou. "A lot of the girls now working in Garapan as prostitutes used to be garment workers." Perhaps not by coincidence, one week after the American and European clothing markets opened to unchecked imports from China, Governor Babauta signed a no-loitering law, and the police installed closed circuit TV cameras in Garapan, Saipan's bar district, where massage parlors beckon to beachfront hotels. Within days, six Chinese women, all former garment workers, were detained by the police for solicitation, a step that led to deportation hearings. "Many people come to me, crying, saying, 'What can I do to pay my bills?' "said Qian Ma, a Chinese translator for a federal office that works with the garment workers. "There is going to be more prostitution, more robbery. The best solution is for people to go home."
But the island government has mismanaged a worker repatriation fund and a bankruptcy insurance system, according to James J. Benedetto, ombusman here for the Interior Department. As clothing makers around the globe adjust to the brave new world of markets to benefit consumers, the economy here offers a clear illustriation of the impact on producers long sheltered from full competition. Garment production started here two decades ago as part of an effort by Washington to encourage growth and to cut taxpayer subsidies. |
This is not a good sign guys. Explotation of workers could lead to strikes which is always on the horizon. | |
