BUSINESS: Gap Clothing Chain Withdraws Garments Made Using Indian Child Labor

A GUEST POST BY ANUP KAPHLE, graduate student, Columbia Journalism School. More guest bloggers welcome: arunvenu[at]gmail.com
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American clothing chain Gap has announced that it would withdraw clothes made using forced child labor in India. The announcement came after the publication of an investigative article by Dan McDougall in the UK-based Observer.

The Observer article starts:

Amitosh concentrates as he pulls the loops of thread through tiny plastic beads and sequins on the toddler's blouse he is making. Dripping with sweat, his hair is thinly coated in dust. In Hindi his name means 'happiness'. The hand-embroidered garment on which his tiny needle is working bears the distinctive logo of international fashion chain Gap. Amitosh is 10.

The article, written after an undercover investigation, includes quotes from very young Indian children who talk about how they got into the business and how they are treated. The article also quotes the U.N. saying that child labor contributes an estimated 20 per cent of India's gross national product.

According to a BBC article, although Gap has claimed that only one item – a girl's smock blouse - was made using child labor it has announced that this particular blouse will now not be available in Gap's 3,000 stores around the world. Gap plans to destroy those blouses instead. The BBC quoted Gap's spokesman:

Dan Henkle, a spokesman for Gap, said: "We were made aware earlier this week that a reporter had found an incident of children working in a factory that was producing for one of our brands, and this is completely unacceptable to us. We have a strict prohibition on child labour, and we are taking this very seriously. This is very upsetting and we intend to investigate thoroughly." <snip>

More from the FAQ section of Gap's corporate website, on child labor practices:

Question:
Do you work with factories that use child labor?

Answer: We do not tolerate child labor. It's one of the most serious violations of our Code of Vendor Conduct. To gain and keep our business, vendors must commit to employing factory workers who meet the minimum legal age requirement in that country or the minimum age in our Code, whichever is higher. We are very strict about enforcing this policy.

In the rare instances in which we do find an underage worker, we require that the worker be removed from the factory immediately, given access to schooling, paid an ongoing wage, and guaranteed a job at the factory as soon as he/she reaches the legal minimum working age.

Read McDougall's Observer article: "Child sweatshop shame threatens Gap's ethical image."

[Also see SAJAforum item about similar efforts by Rugmark at child-labor-free carpets.]

Post your comments below.

EARLIER on SAJAforum:

• Another major story by Dan MacDougall that got a lot of attention in Aug. 2007: PARTITION: 60 Years Later, The Refugees at the Other Border

-- Anup Kaphle

Comments

[Jaya Kamlani]

Such a crying shame! In these economic boom times of India, we have little children in the villages deprived of education and working in sweat shops. My heart goes out to these little children who work 16 hour days, and are beaten if they are not productive. How can India raise its 'shining' banner when over 70% of its people live in sheer poverty, when its children are exploited. Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, would have cried to see India's children treated so, for he claimed children are the pride and joy of a country.

Perhaps Americans should boycott buying clothes from Gap Stores, which includes Old Navy and other stores owned by the company. We need to send a strong message to the American companies that they cannot employ child labor for their products made overseas, that they cannot import goods and toys from China that have lead in them, or foods that are tainted. The companies do this to cut costs, so the CEOs can take home hefty paychecks. We must not forget that the power lies within us consumers. We do not have to shop at GAP, or buy toys made in China that are a safety hazard for our children.

Jaya Kamlani

[Srinivasa Raghavan]

So they're destroying the blouses. To me it still seems a largely symbolic gesture. Probably designed to dampen the ire of the public who buys their stuff. The fact that these companies still largely operate through independent contractor arrangements where the production is outsourced to a local operator in a third-world country make this a case of willful blindness. Sure they can say, oh well, we're sorry that this is made with child labor, we won't tolerate that henceforth, and symbolically destroy a few items, doesn't mean that they won't continue to produce goods in such a way where the is a substantial risk that such products will be produced with child labor. Big deal if the Gap 'fesses up. My understanding is that these independent contractor arrangements allow these multinationals to escape liability in their own country.

India is a poor country with good laws on the books. This is the case of many developing countries. There is enough poverty and desperation that despite any law, the actual state of things is such that there is a willing mass of people who are willing to accept exploitation just to survive. As long as they exist and as long as there are opportunistic individuals who will take advantage of them, then it's hard to put pressure on the governments of these nations to do more. What can they really do. They have child labor laws on the books, and they do sometimes enforce them. The need for paid work is such that notwithstanding corruption, there simply aren't the resources to police child labor effectively.

Perhaps part of the solution is in consumer steps to make consumers aware of the products that they buy and get institutional buyers and consumers to boycott these goods. But, Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, in response to criticism of human rights activists in regard to exploitation of factory workers in Vietnam and Indonesia in similar ways said that at least he was giving a job for these people. If they didn't have exploitation wages, they may not have anything at all. The counterpoint to that is in Neera Burra's Born to Work: Child Labour in India, which suggests that child labor depresses wages among adults. A boycott on child-labor-produced goods may result in the parents of these child laborers, who often work in the same industries, a higher wage in the end, compensating for the loss of income that the child earns.

I think though that Phil Knight's argument needs to be addressed too. Child labor is a symptom of extreme poverty and landlessness. If you look at Mexico, immigration to the US became more pronounced as the Ejido common-land-tenure system faltered and was eventually abandoned. In India, many were made landless originally by the British who through taxation and the redefinition of property rights created landlessness, compounded by natural events, population growth, and usurious lending practices. Land reform, the provision of microcredit, and access to education can help alleviate some of those matters. As long as conditions are such where there is a massive poor, uneducated, landless population, it's essentially a situation where child labor is likely to occur.

[Jaya Kamlani]

Srinivasa,

Thanks for sharing your perspective. Helps us understand the driving force behind child labor in India, and come up with solutions for the needy.

Jaya Kamlani

[bhuvana]

What is achieved by destroying the garments made by using child labour? Instead the company should send every cent earned from selling those garments to the children who made them.

The spotlight is on GAP; what about our Indian intermediaries who engage little children?

[Jaya Kamlani]

Bhuvana,

You are right when you say that what good is achieved if GAP destroys the blouse piece... I believe that would be like getting rid of the evidence. And does anyone really believe that only one blouse was the product of child labor just because it is now piece of evidence? They must be using child labor by the truckload. What do they care? It is not their child sweating it out.

Here is my suggestion:

If we can get hold of this blouse piece that was the product of child labor, purchase it for whatever it costs from the GAP, even if it is ten times the price, then we can AUCTION it at some charity event and get big bucks, which could help the poor children of India -- just like you suggested, Bhuvana. If there are hundred pieces of them, buy them all, and auction them. I think someone should discreetly approach the sales dept. of GAP and see if they can get hold of these blouses/shirts.

And about the middlemen in India? Well, they should be exposed so no one does business with them. But to make this happen, this issue should be highly publicized, or it will fade away with time.

Jaya Kamlani

[panditjugalkishoreshastri]

in praise of child labor

conformism is the first resort of the unimaginative. soon as there is a populist slogan the sheep follow. in the mistaken belief of trailblazing trendiness they fall into booby traps so well designed by people who sell them financial instruments they wouldn't realize emptied the central reserve banks of countries of their birth. what a pity that people are too educated for their intelligence.

children who might otherwise rock off their butts in a madrassa for free food and clothing, if gainfully employed, become uncle sam's financial albatross. When will you guys grow up to be my size.

there was a time when india was mass producing engineers and some of them living in penury because of joblessness. some of them sold pencils to make a living. at least a child, as part of a guild, carries forth an illustrious family tradition of excellence in their crafts. carpet weavers of iran and afghanistan and pakistan.
all of them 'stans.' it's surprising how instead of looking at the immediate circumstance of the needy family the eggheads rush into history of exploitation of five centuries ago, the usury of the shylocks, the greed of the administrators long before paper money was invented. there is a not much-known postulate of marxian economics that goes: if you spend a buck to buy something the seller is not going to ask you how you made the money. no one knows the dark side of marxian mess.

moral: according to those too educated for their intelligence the map of the world that doesn't include UTOPIA is not worth even glancing at.

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Jaya Kamlani]

It's one thing to have a lemonade stand outside your home, or girl scouts sell cookies in the neighborhood, door-to-door. But quite another thing, if a parent sells their child to a sweatshop, and then couldn't care less if their child sweated it out for 16 hours. But what can the child say if he is only ten years old? He has no say. It's not only child labor that some parents in the villages sell their children for. Little girls are also sold for prostitution, as sex slaves. And if these children fall very ill, they are left to die by the wayside.

India does not care for its poor, or its poor children. That has become loud and clear in recent years. Those who have plenty to eat and plenty to splurge, close their eyes to the impoverished lot. They walk by slums everyday, yet they don’t care a fiddle. The more billionaires there are in India, the more the striking comparison between the rich and the poor. Money allocated for the poor, by World Bank or the Indian government, is often eaten up by the bureaucrats or politicians. India is at the height of corruption. The government ought to sweep up this corruption where the middlemen make money on the lives of their little victims. To learn that 20% of India's GDP comes from child labor is shocking. When I talk to Indians about social injustices in India, they remind me that these conditions have always existed, so why make waves now?

Why make waves now? Just because no waves were made before, it does not mean the situation should remain status quo. Please do make waves so society can change for the better and government can work for its people, be it in U.S, India and elsewhere in the world.

Jaya Kamlani

[amrita]

It's hugely disrespectful to the kids to destroy their work-- they should give the clothes to the children who made them.

[Christauria Welland]

I have worked with the poorest all my life, including in India. It is disgraceful that in the US one cannot even buy a garment anymore that is not made in India or China, and now we know those garments are often made by children. Someone who knows how to do it online, please, start a campaign to boycott Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic. Money talks more than anything else and if a substantial portion of the world ceases to shop at these stores, as I intend to, that will in fact make a difference.

[panditjugalkishoreshastri]

welland:

well, well, well. how about compiling, choreographing and curating an exhibit on universal poverty that would be headlined....equal poerty for all, adults and chidren included, gender no bar. adults who buy gap would legally renounce their right to shop at neiman marcus and children who buy old navy would give up their hope to become members of hustler club and o'hara pubs.

in case you didn't realize it's the philanthropist who makes government rich and it's the bureaucrat whose mischief makes people poor. and it's the poor who make themselves poorer because of six degrees of separation. they should not be allowed separation. Adopt the poor. share your beds with them. if that's not hard enough go play lil league baseball with them on those spindly legs. nobility of 'intention' is inversely proportional to means of delivery. that's why i recommend abolishing study of liberal arts because study of art doesn't' reveal the real artist you want to be. It's in the passion, and passion is just a mischief that government recommends to those they want to classify as working class. you are locked between a rock and a hard place. work is the curse of working classes and the government encourages this propaganda as a virtue among anti abortionists, bible thumpers, senior citizens, whose social security has dried up thanks to the government.

Children or no children, government is broke. public, private, federal, state, pensions and medicare, debt is 59 trillion. government can't afford any more poor.
They are about to declare poverty as a crime. those connected with poverty will be suspect too.

moral: don't try to cause harm by becoming useful and a bolshevik. let the rich have a good time.

[Jaya Kamlani]

NY millionaires' slavery trial opens
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071030/ap_on_re_us/forced_labor (full story)

“If convicted, the Sabhnanis, who have four children and run a perfume business in their home, could face as much as 40 years in prison. They are free on $4.5 million bail but under house arrest, personally paying an estimated $10,000 a day for 24-hour security surveillance as part of the bail agreement.”

NOTE: This is how we address slavery and forced labor by the rich in America.
Please also see SAJA post on this story at this link:
http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/05/crime_two_desis.html

Jaya Kamlani

[Ed Hardy]

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