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June 30, 2008 By Conrad MacKerron Link to the article at Greenbiz.com Can it be that our green heroes Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt care about the cachet of owning a Prius but not about the abused workers making these feel-good cars? A report from the National Labor Committee released earlier this month alleging abusive working conditions in Japanese Toyota Prius plants provides a much needed jolt to the environmental and business communities about the danger of viewing environmental concerns as separate from human concerns. Supervisory workers in Japanese Pruis assembly plants are overworked to the point of exhaustion, and sometimes, death, the report said. One-third of assembly line workers are poorly paid temp workers. Its parts supply chain is "riddled with sweatshop abuse," including trafficking of tens of thousands of foreign guest workers, sometimes working 16-hour shifts. The report tweaks celebrities for endorsing the Prius without considering the human capital aspects behind the way they are produced. The urgency with which environmental groups, Al Gore, and the media have touted climate change as the defining issue of our time has resulted in related workplace safety and health issues getting brushed aside. Toyota, along with GM and Ford were also cited in an extensively researched story from the Wall Street-oriented magazine Bloomberg Markets in December of 2006. The story linked slave labor conditions to production of pig iron used to produce steel that ends up in their vehicles. That's right -- slave labor in the 21st century. But it's not just Leo and Brad: There is culpability here for all of us, but I want to focus on corporations and environmental groups. Corporations are still largely reactive on social issues. For more than a decade, labor and social responsibility advocates highlighted abusive working conditions of global suppliers providing goods for Gap, Nike, Wal-Mart and other corporate icons. Despite evidence that similar conditions existed in other industrial sectors, Corporate America continued to basically turn a deaf ear. National Labor Committee research touched off allegations back in 1996 that Kathie Lee Gifford's clothing line sold at Wal-Mart was made under sweatshop conditions, resulting in worldwide front-page headlines, the involvement of then-Labor Secretary Robert Reich and a presidential commission to improve supply chain working conditions. Other sectors such as electronics largely ignored this loud warning signal until they too were implicated following activist research in 2004. Suddenly, a few months later, the electronics industry got religion and developed a common code of conduct for their supply chain that is only now being seriously implemented. The largest and most well funded U.S. environmental groups focus too narrowly on the environmental implications of broad social issues. It's hard to find substantive concern about worker safety in the agendas of the Natural Resources Defense Council or Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), two heavyweight groups helping Wal-Mart fulfill its green agenda. They should be concerned about worker exposure to cadmium leading to kidney failure at Chinese battery factories serving the U.S. market, or lead solder inhaled by workers in Thailand who make components for computers or video games. Protecting the health of supply chain workers should be a prominent part of their agenda. Yes, it's great that Wal-Mart has made a raft of commitments to reduce waste and increase energy efficiency, but many of those promises have worker safety implications the environmental groups and company seem willing to ignore. The strategy involves using the size and influence of Wal-Mart's buying power to green its supply chain. It sounds good until you factor in the business realities. EDF says it will "focus on creating a Green Company Program to improve environmental performance at the 30,000 Chinese factories that supply Wal-Mart and on building a purchasing system that rewards suppliers with environmentally preferable products." But who is going to pay for this and what's the incentive to act? Domestic and foreign Wal-Mart suppliers often act out of fear, not goodwill. Fast Company has profiled domestic suppliers like Vlasic pickles and Huffy bicycles, both of which suffered from the company's relentless low pricing demands. It's a considerably more difficult expectation that thousands of suppliers in China will go solar or clean up wastewater discharged while making low-priced goods for U.S. consumers. It's hard to imagine these suppliers greening through some kind of reward system without a fundamental transformation of the low pricing model. How will EDF and Wal-Mart coax suppliers into paying for clean up when they are already being squeezed by the company's buyers to produce goods at rock bottom rates that perpetuate abusive working conditions? In January, CEO Lee Scott discussed greening the company's supply chain and said the company "will favor -- and in some cases, even pay more -- for suppliers that meet our standards and share our commitment to quality and sustainability." This implies the capital costs of cleaning up will be borne by suppliers. If that is all the company can offer, it is not going to work. Wal-Mart often expects suppliers to cut prices annually or risk losing contracts, according to Fast Company magazine. What if a factory owner in China can bear the cost to retrofit factories but Wal-Mart decides to pull the contract and source from Vietnam the next year because labor is cheaper? The take-no-prisoners business model comes up smack against the laudable desire to clean up factories. Alexandra Harney's new book, "The China Price," profiles an unusual factory owner in China who refuses to let Wal-Mart executives into his facility because he feels they are only interested in getting the lowest price. Is it too much to expect Wal-Mart to deal with labor and green issues at once? U.S. industry was able to deal with these issues simultaneously when production was domestic; companies have the same responsibility to ensure that the conditions under which their goods are made in a global supply chain are in compliance with labor and environmental laws. It is appalling that U.S. companies have pursued the global outsourcing of labor without insisting that our hard-won rules of workplace safety and fairness be applied to suppliers. And we all play a role: Mainstream investors demanding perpetually high earnings and consumers demanding low prices place huge pressures on companies trying to play by the rules. So before we wax poetic about solar panels in the way we have for the Prius, remember that solar production involves some nasty stuff. The Washington Post recently reported that a supplier to solar panel provider Suntech Power dumps poisonous silicon tetrachloride, a byproduct of polysilicon manufacturing, onto fields in Henan Province in China rather than recycling it. Residents report that nearby crops are failing and air emissions from the facility make it hard to breathe. Memo to self-styled green venture capitalists: Could we please see the line items in your budget for ensuring worker health and safety when your solar start-up scales up and moves production to Asia? Is management staff paying attention? How often are factories inspected? Are you willing to invest in safety for the human beings in your supply chain? The bottom line: For CSR and the green technology juggernaut to have real credibility, companies must insist on best environmental practices in the rush to new energy solutions, equal consideration for the well-being of workers by enforcing best labor practices, and public disclosure of progress on both fronts. Conrad MacKerron is director of the corporate social responsibility program at As You Sow Foundation, which uses dialogue and shareholder advocacy to promote better social and environmental policies at publicly traded companies. He is author of "Business in the Rainforests: Corporations, Deforestation and Sustainability" and a former Washington Bureau chief for Chemical Week.

NLC Director Charles Kernaghan is a moving and empowering speaking on the Fight to End Child Labor and Sweatshop Abuses in the Global Economy Charles Kernaghan is the country’s leading anti-sweatshop voice. He appears regularly in major U.S. and international media outlets and is much sought after as a public speaker, who has addressed hundreds of audiences at universities, as well as union and religious conferences, and international policy forums. Kernaghan has travelled all over the world researching worker rights abuses and meeting with the young workers who make our clothing and other products—workers the same age as U.S. college students (and some much younger) producing for some of the world’s wealthiest corporations. Kernaghan’s presentations are information-packed, but vivid and personal, bringing the global economy alive with stories and images from the lives of the workers themselves, images of child labor—human trafficking—brutal sweatshop conditions—starvation wages—miserable working and living conditions. It also becomes clear that the impact of sweatshop abuses is not just far away: college students today may be the first generation to have a lower standard of living than their parents as jobs are outsourced, wages fall and college graduates find themselves in jobs for which they are overqualified and underpaid. But the overall message is an optimistic “It doesn’t have to be this way!” Kernaghan concretely describes how U.S. students and our society as a whole can—and must—fight back to end these abuses and re-shape our global economy to protect human communities, and especially the workers who make the products we buy. This is a story we all need to know. Charles Kernaghan, in their words. . . Washington Post, Sunday, July 31, 2005 “The Man Who Made Kathie Lee Cry” "For more than a decade, Kernaghan’s National Labor Committee—four staffers including himself—has launched a steady stream of highly publicized campaigns, taking on the labor practices at factories producing clothes for Liz Claiborne, Fruit of the Loom, the Gap, Disney, JCPenney, Kmart, Kohl’s, Nike, Target, Levi Strauss and Sean Jean. And who could forget Kathie Lee? Kernaghan will perhaps forever be known as the activist who made Kathie Lee Gifford cry when he revealed during congressional testimony in 1996 that child laborers in Honduras were making the Gifford clothing line sold at Wal-Mart.” Senator Byron Dorgan, Hearings on sweatshop abuses in the global economy,February 14, 2007 "Mr. Kernaghan, your organization has done a lot of work over a long period of time, and I know that, without your work, much of the disclosure that has existed would still be undisclosed, and we would still have abuses in those areas where you have described them and where you have been successful in trying to shut them down." The New York Times “Charles Kernaghan is the labor movement’s mouse that roared…Women’s Wear Daily, the fashion industry’s bible, recently wrote, ‘Charles Kernaghan and his anti-sweatshop battle have been shaking up the issue of labor abuses in the apparel industry like nothing since the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.’” Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Speech at the Child Labor Education and Action Conference of 2000: “Charles Kernaghan is a legitimate American hero… Through his determination he has forced the leadership in our country and many other countries around the world to pay attention. Kernaghan has done more to expose child labor than has the whole Department of Labor that has a budget of hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, because he has the guts and determination to do it.” Senator Bernie Sanders, Greeting to CLEA High School Students’ Conference, Brattleboro, Vermont, March 9, 2007 "I am very sorry that I can’t be with you today. But I am delighted that my good friend Charlie Kernaghan, who is leading this country in exposing child and sweatshop labor throughout the world—I’m very happy that Charlie is there with you. You can learn a lot from him, so listen up. Charlie is an American hero. " Charles Derber, Professor, Boston College, People Before Profit “The Upton Sinclair of today’s global economy is Charles Kernaghan, the New York based muckraker most famous for his expose of sweatshops producing the Kathie Lee Gifford line of clothing for Wal-Mart…. The National Labor Committee… has been a leader in exposing sweatshops, mounting corporate campaigns, and fighting for the rights of vulnerable workers.” Naomi Klein, No Logo “The NLC… has used Greenpeace – style media antics to draw more public attention to the plight of sweatshop workers than the multimillion – dollar international trade union movement has achieved in almost a century.” Ralph Nader, A Growing Movement: International Labor Rights “The National Labor Committee… have pressured retailers on campus and off to publicly disclose the factory names and addresses.” Reverend David Dyson, Chair, People of Faith Network “In the Book of Proverbs it says ‘Without a vision, people perish.’ But without a vehicle the vision has not wheels. The National Labor Committee has been that vehicle for 20 years, speaking truth to power and common decency to the American people.” Chicago Tribune “If you’ve ever checked the tag on a polo shirt, wondering where it was made, and whether workers there are treated fairly, Charles Kernaghan has touched your life. He heads the National Labor Committee, a New York-based group that campaigns against sweatshops and for workers’ rights worldwide. It has taken on some of the biggest names in the nation’s apparel and clothing industries. College campuses not too long ago shook with student protests based on the group’s overseas work. It’s a tiny operation, but Kernaghan, a graduate of Chicago’s Loyola University, seems to have the drive of 100 workaholic CEOs. Labor unions and the clergy closely support the group’s work.” Honduran maquila worker Lydda Gonzalez (Worker fired for attempting to organize a union in the SETISA factory, where she worked producing “Sean John”clothing) “We could never have dreamed that we would find such warmth, interest and solidarity in the United States. We want to thank the National Labor Committee. If there were ten Charles Kernaghans, the world would be different. The New York Times “Even companies that Mr. Kernaghan has not focused on have begun cleaning up their factories, if only to avoid his wrath.” John Sweeney, President, AFL-CIO “Because of the NLC’s crusades… we’re beginning to learn the awful truth about workers around the world who are slaving away their lives in sweatshops, who are denied the right to join or form a union in order to fight back and provide a better life for their families.” Noam Chomsky, The Nation “In some ways, [the student anti-sweatshop movement] is like the anti-apartheid movement, except that in this case its striking at the core of the relations of exploitation. Much of this was initiated by Charlie Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee in New York...” Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, Archdiocese of Detroit “In the struggle for the rights of the poor in Central America and other places where globalization is bringing its negative effects, there is no organization more effective than the National Labor Committee.”

* It appears that K’NEX has had a nine-year partnership with the abusive Kai Ka Toy factory in Shenzhen, China and that the sweatshop factory was somehow certified by the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI). * K’NEX dispatched its vice president to China on Tuesday, July 15. * Sesame Street has announced that it is also launching an independent investigation. (ICTI monitoring has also dismally failed in the past. See U.S. Senate hearings on October 30 2007, where Senator Byron Dorgan questioned an ICTI representative about the significant problems and inadequacies with regard to their monitoring.) * Even so-called “model” toy factories in China have major problems, including excessive overtime, below-subsistence wages and primitive dorm conditions (See: A Relatively Better Factory, NLC 7/15/2008—regarding the Kai Da-Dongguan Toy factory, which produces for Hasbro, Mattel and Disney)

McClatchy Newspapers, Aug. 07, 2008, "U.S. Probe Of Chinese Factory Earns Workers Sundays Off " By Kat Glass Toy News Online, July 16, 2008, "U.S. K'Nex launches investigation after 'sweatshop' report" By Ronnie Dungan McClatchy Newspapers, July 15, 2008, "Is 'Sesame Street' toy made in a Chinese sweatshop?" By Kat Glass New York Daily News, July 15, 2008, "New Sesame Street doll is made in Chinese sweatshop- labor report" By Erin Durkin Playthings, July 14, 2008, "K'Nex investigates 'sweatshop' report" By Staff Green Chemicals Blog, July 14, 2008, "Nightmare on Sesame Street" By Doris De Guzman AnitaRoddick.com, July 14, 2008, "DISPATCH: Nightmare on Sesame street" By Brooke Shelby Biggs

DISPATCH: Nightmare on Sesame Street Posted on July 14, 2008 by Brooke Shelby Biggs Our friends at the National Labor Committee have issued a brand-new report reveling that toys for the Christmas holidays distributed by K'NEX and Hasbro are being manufactured in sweatshops in China under horrifying conditions. Imagine, toys to brighten the lives of first-world children made by third-world children who are forced to work 15 hours a day and systematically cheated out of half of their wages! We always respect the work of the NLC and they've outdone themselves here. Hasbro is one of the largest toy makers in the United states, and here in the UK, K'NEX controls fully 40 percent of the construction toy market. Here is an excerpt from the report: • Sesame Street's Kid K’NEX “Ernie” construction toys are made at the Kai Da factory in Shenzhen City, China, by 600 mostly young workers, including a hundred 16 year olds high school students, and even several children. The child workers were seen in the factory in April, which is exactly the time a local newspaper in China exposed that hundreds, if not thousands of children were trafficked from Sichuan Province to the south of China, where they worked under slave labor conditions in toy and other assembly plants. • Every single labor law in China is systematically and grossly violated at the Kai Da Toy factory. • Illegally, all workers are hired as temps with contracts, lasting just three to six months. Once inside the factory, workers cannot leave until their contracts expire. If anyone does quit, they will be docked one-month’s wages. • Routine 14 to 15 hour shifts, from 8:00 am to 9:00, 10:00, or 11:00 pm, seven days a week, with the workers toiling for months without a single day off. There are also mandatory 19 and 23 ½ hour all-night shifts before the toy shipments must leave for the U.S. or Europe. Workers are typically at the factory 103 hours a week. All overtime is mandatory, and the 49 hours of overtime worked each week exceeds China’s legal limit by 489 percent! • Workers are systematically cheated of half the wage legally due them. Many workers earn just 43 cents an hour which is 31 percent below Shenzhen City’s minimum wage of 62 cents, which is itself not a subsistence level wage. Workers are paid just $36.55 for working an 89 hour week, including 49 hours of overtime. They should have earned at least $77.84. Management routinely cheats the poor workers of over $100,000 a month in wages due them. After deductions for primitive room and board, take home wages can drop to just 28 cents an hour. • Workers sweat as they race to assemble 50 Ernie toys per hour, and up to 650 in a 13 hour shift. The workers are paid less than a penny for each toy they assemble. Workers must complete an operation every four seconds, 950 per hour, and 12,350 options in the 14 hour shift. • Workers handle potentially toxic oil spray paints and solvents without being provided even the most rudimentary protective gears. • Workers are denied basic work injury and health insurance, despite the fact that this is mandatory under China’s laws. • Eight workers share each dorm room, sleeping in narrow, double-level metal bunk beds. The workers drape old sheets or pieces of plastic over their cubicle opening for privacy. The dorm rooms lack water or a toilet. • The workers’ cafeteria is filthy, with grease on the floor and infested with mice. For breakfast the workers are fed a rice gruel. The egg soup, which is in a dirty vat, is made with just 34 eggs to serve 600 workers. The so-called meat dishes have little or no meat. • One toy worker asked parents who purchase the Ernie toy to—“think of how much sweat and tears we paid in order to make these toys.” • K’NEX is an official licensee of Sesame Street Toys. Hasbro owns 50 percent of K’NEX’s international operation (Hasbro denies this). • Parents and children should demand that Sesame Street, Hasbro and K’NEX immediately clean up the Kai Da Toy factory and take concrete steps to guarantee that the legal rights of the workers will finally be respected. There is absolutely no reason why these powerful toy companies could not pay fair wages and treat the workers as human beings. • The American people purchase $25/29 billion-worth of toys each year—more than 85 percent of which are made in China. Let's make Christmas truly a holiday for children and tell Hasbro and K'NEX that we will not buy their tainted products. Read the NLC Report: Nightmare on Sesame Street