Paradise Lost: Greed,Sex Slavery Forced Abortions and Right-Wing Moralists

[Jcrowley]

Paradise Lost
Greed, Sex Slavery, Forced Abortions and Right-Wing Moralists

by Rebecca Clarren

The whir of hundreds of sewing machines reverberates in the thick, dusty air at the RIFU garment factory. Inside this large warehouse, behind a guarded metal fence, 300 employees—most of them Chinese women—cut, sew, iron and fold blouses with such efficiency and focus that they seem like machinery themselves. From piles of orange and pink fabric, the workers will produce over 15,000 garments today for J. Jill, Elie Tahari and Ann Taylor. These name brand companies don’t own the factory; like Liz Claiborne, The Gap, Ralph Lauren and others, they subcontract production to factories like this, scattered around the tiny Micronesian island of Saipan.
Workers inside the RIFU garment factory, in Saipan.

Counters above the sewing machines indicate how many pieces the women have completed. According to workers, if they can’t finish a set quota of garments in a day, they may have to stay later and work for free, or they won’t be eligible for future overtime opportunities—which they desperately need.

Coming from rural villages and the big city slums of poor Asian countries, these garment workers began their sojourn in the Marianas with a huge financial deficit, having paid recruiters as much as $7,000 to obtain a one-year contract job (renewable at the employer’s discretion). Many of them borrow the money—a small fortune in China, where most are recruited—from lenders who charge as much as 20 percent interest.

http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2006/paradise_full.asp

[silverweb]

1. A compelling article.

And blame for what these women endure is placed squarely where it belongs.

E-mailing this to everyone on my list. This needs much more attention. Thank you for posting.

[iamjoy]

2. Wow

I need to write my Congressman.

Although, didn't Olivia Goldsmith make mention of this in her novel "Fashionably Late"?