■
Reports reveal: Gap still employing sweatshop labor
If you thought sweatshops and child labor were an issue of the past, think again. Despite Gap's code of vendor conduct and 90 full-time factory inspectors, recent news reports revealed Gap Inc. employed children as young as 10 years old, subjecting them to repeated beatings and threats to produce clothes. Global Exchange condemns Gap's reliance on exploitative sweatshop labor conditions. However, it comes as no surprise that these human rights violations occur in an international garment industry where sweatshop conditions are the norm, not an aberration. [Read More Below]
The exposure of ongoing labor abuses underscores the importance of independent (non-corporate) monitoring of suppliers' factories, free of conflict of financial interest. As part of Global Exchange's Sweatfree Communities campaign, taxpayers across the country are pressuring their local governments to pass sweatfree policies with independent monitoring to guarantee that garments and textiles produced for their city adhere to strong labor and human rights standards.
Take Action
Read the article: Child sweatshop shame threatens Gap's ethical image
Invite former Gap sweatshop worker, Chie Abad to speak in your community
Find out more information about Global Exchange's, Sweatfree Communities
Child Labor Continues in the Apparel Industry
October 29, 2007
Global Exchange
CONTACT:
Nell Greenberg
(510) 847-9777An article in The Observer just caught GAP Inc. with child labor in one of their subcontracted facilities in India. Today the International Labor Rights Forum and Global Exchange demand an end to child labor in the global garment industry.
Child labor continues in the 21st century as companies have shifted around the world where cheap labor thrives. Sub-contracting is rife in the global apparel industry, as are a range of labor abuses, not just child labor. Companies must do more to end child labor and other gross labor violations throughout their supply chains. Over the last ten years, there has been a massive influx of voluntary initiatives which have done nothing more than confirm what was already known. Furthermore, companies continue to fall short on identifying the root causes of labor rights violations throughout the supply chains.
Chie Abad of Global Exchange said, "As a former sweatshop worker for the GAP, I can say firsthand that it is unacceptable and, sadly, unsurprising that children are being forced to work in sweatshops so that the GAP can sell cheap clothing. GAP is responsible for the entire supply chain of their garments, and for ensuring that their sub-contractors are not employing child labor or paying poverty wages―that is the price of doing business. It is time companies made real commitments to change their business model so that the root problems are corrected." Chie Abad spent six years on the Pacific island of Saipan, a U.S. Territory, as a garment worker for the Sako Corporation, which made clothes for the Gap and other retailers.
Inspections and punishments may have increased since the 1990s, but these are after-the-fact measures. ILRF and Global Exchange call upon the GAP and others to go further than detecting problems. At this point the problems are well documented. What is needed is a fundamental shift in the industry.
Trina Tocco of the International Labor Rights Forum said, "It is a shame that companies continue to work with a system they know is flawed. In a system where the lowest bidder wins, its no wonder that child labor would be used in order to cut costs. It's time for companies like GAP to step up to the plate and develop a new system where labor rights are just as important as producing cheaper goods."
Buying policies are inseparable from labor policies. Making suppliers compete for low prices and then slapping on codes of conduct and inspections is contradictory. It yields these sorts of stories.
Child labor is simply unacceptable in today's world full of technology and transparency. ###
製薬会社、１９７人の実名把握 薬害肝炎
2007年10月22日17時51分
厚生労働省と製薬会社が、血液製剤でＣ型肝炎に感染した患者を把握しながら本人に知らせなかった問題で、同省は２２日、感染の疑いがある患者２人の実名、１１６人のイニシャルが書かれた資料を０２年時点で持っていたことを明らかにした。一方、旧三菱ウェルファーマ（現田辺三菱製薬）は、同省に患者１９７人の実名と１７０人のイニシャルを把握していることを報告。同省は個人を特定できる場合は感染の可能性があることを本人に告知し、受診や検査を促すよう指示した。
厚生労働省が開いた記者会見には、倉庫から見つかったという８冊のファイルが持ち込まれた＝２２日午前１０時４２分、東京・霞が関で
０２年当時、患者を特定して検査や治療を呼びかけていれば症状悪化を防げた可能性がある。厚労省は同日、今回新たに見つかった資料を収集した経緯や、患者に知らせる対応を取らなかった理由などを調査するプロジェクトチームを設置した。
厚労省で見つかった資料には、実名かイニシャルが分かる１１８人のほかに、医療機関名や投与日など特定につながる４７人分の情報が記載されている。９人は薬害Ｃ型肝炎訴訟の原告の可能性が高いが、国は２人について血液製剤の投与を認めていなかった。この２人のうち１人は大阪訴訟の原告とみられる。
厚労省は０２年、旧三菱ウェルファーマから血液製剤フィブリノゲン投与後の肝炎発症などの副作用症例４１８人の報告を受けた。この報告について今月１８日、民主党に「患者の名前や医療機関名については製薬会社から報告がなく、資料もない」と説明していた。
ところが、翌１９日夜、実名などの記された資料が厚労省の倉庫から見つかった。ファイル８冊分で、特定につながる情報が黒塗りで消された資料と、消されていない資料の２種類。両方とも「厚労省が提出を求めたものだった」という。
厚労省医薬食品局の中沢一隆総務課長は「当時の肝炎問題の調査チームが解散し、今の担当者が知らなかった」と説明している。
一方、田辺三菱製薬の葉山夏樹社長は２２日、舛添厚労相に把握している患者情報について報告した。報告によると、実名を把握している患者１９７人のうち住所が記載されているのは４０人、市町村などがあるのは２７人、都道府県のみは１２人だった。
これまで告知しなかったことについて、葉山社長らは報道陣に「プライバシーが崩れない的確な方法が見つからない限り、私たちが働きかけるのは難しかった」と説明。今後、社内にプロジェクトチームを作り、本人への告知などの対応を急ぐ考えを示した。
