Detestable working conditions for children, do you think the Gap owners knew?

Question

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,305703,00.html

Answer 1

They MAY have or may NOT have known about the working conditions of their "vendors". I think it is sad that the only thing that the GAP representatives had to say about this was that they were cancelling their orders & making sure those garmets would not be sold on the AMERICAN market! What they failed to say was they they would COMPENSATE any of those children or their familes for violating the laws regarding child labor OR illegal pay practices! Apparently, there is one big gap in in international system! America needs to start implementing laws that would make it MANDATORY for all goods sold in America (& manufactured for that purpose), to abide by the same laws that we have for the AMERICAN WORKERS! This type of conduct is contributing to the "CHEAPENING" of the American system by lowing our standards, as well as our prices! Perhaps it is time to send out a strong message to these ABUSERS by refusing to purchase their goods & services by way of a good old fashioned boycott! The GAP is only one small part of this entire problem that seems to be going on. I enjoyed reading this well written article from Fox News!

Answer 2

There is a reasonable price to pay for manufactured goods, and an unreasonable price...in this case, the Gap closed their eyes to the unreasonable and looked only at the price! Many others have and do the same thing. But what is wrong in India that this type of thing is allowed to happen. I cannot judge another's living conditions by ours, but .... indentured servitude went out with slavery. WE do not have to look so far away as India to see this, but again, we cannot judge sitting here...this is a horrible story, and unfortunately, the tip of the iceburg...what the hell do you think is going on in China? China is getting all our production at this time for the very same reason! WE are to blame as much as anyone. Mexico advises all who bring work there to pay NO MORE than 10.00 US per day for workers...otherwise, it will ruin their economy in the longer run. We have turned Global faster than cultures can assemilate, and there lies the problem. Cultures are working on "rules' that are 10 or more years old, yet the economy is RIGHT NOW. AS long as we feel ok buying a shirt for 8.00, we must realize that someone had to furnish the fabric, cut the fabric, then sew the fabric, package the shirt, and ship the shirt..you try that yourself! See just how much that shirt will cost! IF it cost less than 10.00 US, NOT counting your labor, I will be very surprised! Peace and love, Goldwing

Answer 3

I am not supporting the working conditions of these children but I would like to point out that the children most likely would prefer to work even in awful conditions for very low pay than not work at all. They are under pressure to provide for their families and it would be counted as letting their families down if they did not provide for them in some way. If they didn't work for Gap, they would just do something else with equally detestable working conditions and many firms probably have children working for them in bad conditions but Gap are just the unlucky ones who got discovered.

Answer 4

I worked for a company that moved its factories to the Dominican Republic. Some of the factory workers went down there to train these people. They brought back pictures of people 13 and up sitting at sewing machines. No air conditioning, no matts to stand on. They eat outside on the ground at lunch time. The managment had their food cooked by a teen girl who cooked on a brick hearth with rudementary cookware.

I also worked at another one that had closed all but two of its American factories and had 11 factories in other countries. I worked in the area where the clothes were unloaded from trucks that came in from the Domican Republic, Shri Lanka and El Salvador to name a few. I saw the price of each unit of clothing that came in on the truck. For instance and ladies linen blazer only has about $4.00 invested in it when it hits the floor at the warehouse in the U.S. and not much more is put into it there. It is unloaded, inspected, priced, a plastic bag is put over it and it is hung on racks untill it is ready to be shipped. A jacket like this that is sold in a very well known local clothing store for about $89.00. The owners of these manufacturing companies are getting filthy rich. These overseas or ''down south'' workers work for much less than $1.00 an hr and have no healthcare or worker compensation for injuries. Not unless things have changed and I don't know about it.

Answer 5

I worked in the garment industry for about 5 years. We manufactured all our goods in Hialeah, FL. Now there are other people, especially with large orders from their customers who do ship overseas, because labor is cheaper and they do not have to pay the high cost of minimum wage, expense of a plant and paid workers with benefits.. They have a rep overseas who will get them deals on the cutting (piece goods) and trim parts of the garment, the are called contractors The contractors subcontract usually to many small places to keep up the demand for the product. Many large corporations really don't know about these subcontractors at all, it is their fault for not checking, but that is the fact folks. The is to keep the cost down. We were having a heck of a time trying to keep unions out of the garment industry in Hialeah, the cost would have shut us down in a heartbeat. Many of our subcontractors were little Cuban women who either sewed at home or in a sweatshop, again, immigrant labor. Our company did the pattern design and we had our own cutters that used something like an overhead scissors that would cut through layers and layers of fabric. The piece goods were bundled up by size and sent to the contractors to be sewn (trim) and brought back to us, pressed, with care labels and tagged hopefully in plastic garment bags and in excellent QC (not always happened), hung on rolling overhead racks, shipping pulled the orders and shipped

Answer 6

You can't be a clothing retailer buying garments from Asia and NOT know that child labor is used and that the conditions for all workers, adults and children alike, are sweatshop conditions.

It's been too well publicized. You pays your money and you takes your chances. This time, it was The Gap that got outted. Who knows who will be next? Abercrombie & Fitch? Old Navy?

Answer 7

It goes on all over the world . Children are treated so badly in some places it makes you want to cry. Whether or not Gap actually knew it was that bad will never be known by us. Lets just hope that sweatshop is changed or closed.

Answer 8

That is one of the most horrific articles that I have ever read. My heart goes out to these children.
It's hard to say wheather or not corporate Gap knew of these children.
I only wonder now what will become of these children, will they be sold into a sex slave market?
The people behind this should imprisoned. Of course this is probably allowed in their country.
It's just deplorable!!

Answer 9

Horrible situation and thousands more just like it. I'd like to see more underground reporting and outing of the stores who use child labor. We've got to boycott. As long as there is a market this will go on and on.

Answer 10

Of course they knew, as did Kathy Lee, Martha Stewart, & all the rest. The dollar is the bottom line!