Bill Targets US Companies Profiting from Sweatshops Overseas
by James Rosen

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at preventing American companies from profiting from the use of foreign sweatshops and other unfair labor practices abroad.

Stitching area (Photo/Mother Jones)

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, joined four Democrats and independent Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont in sponsoring a bill that would allow U.S. firms to sue competitors that they believe are selling imported products made in overseas sweatshops.

"Believe it or not, ladies and gentlemen, there's a world out there where people are exploited - sometimes literally to the point of death - just to make a buck," Graham said at a news conference in the Capitol.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said free-trade agreements between the United States and other countries have fueled the growth of sweatshop production in recent years.

Dorgan cited China and Jordan as major offenders, saying their factories employ workers as young as 5, often in long shifts, brutal conditions and for little or no pay. In many cases, he said, the foreign countries violate their own poorly enforced labor laws.

"There is no reason for the United States of America to allow the sale of products made in slave-labor-like conditions," Dorgan said.

About 250 million children worldwide, ages 14 or younger, work in factories, many in deplorable conditions, he said.

If it becomes law, the legislation could have a major impact on large U.S. retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target, which contract with foreign firms to produce many of the products they sell to Americans.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0124-05.htm

Finally! Now that the congress has a party in power who actually sees the big picture mayhap we can get some bills passed that will fix the broken free trade nonsense that Clinton signed and the GOP wrote.....

But its not just a free trade issue its also a US image issue. The first sight of the US for many of the children forced to work in these shops is the American corporation that chains them to a sewing machine for 3 cents a day....this equates to the biggest reason why, "they hate us". Its notfor our freedoms as Bushco and the GOP claimed but rather for the freedom to rape, pillage and brutalize that we give to the corporations trading with foreign lands in our name. You want to instantly increase our standing amongst the worlds poor and downtrodden? Then pass this legislation (and more like it) and begin impeachment proceedings for Bushco.....