Word: labors
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Ahsan's editorial on child labor (April 22) was prompted by the ongoing efforts of Harvard Students for a Sweat-Free Campus and administrators to develop a Code of Conduct for licensees of Harvard apparel, a Code that will set standards for working conditions in the factories that produce the clothes, to be enforced via a system of independent monitoring. While making a compelling argument, Ahsan unfortunately has only partly heeded the considerations that I pointed out to him after seeing his concerns on an e-mail list...
Ahsan asserts that a "blanket ban" on the use of child labor by the companies that make Harvard apparel will cause us to falsely clear our consciences because it will do harm rather than good. The ban would deprive poor kids of much-needed sources of income, forcing them to either "rummage through rubbish heaps" or seek a job with "some other probably more exploitative local manufacturer (over whom Western public opinion holds little sway)." Almost all garment factories, globally, manufacture clothes primarily for "Western" firms--the kind that are Harvard's licensees--whether those factories are owned directly...
Ahsan tries to find a solution to child labor that deals with the problem realistically, yet issues of practicability and enforcement have been central in our efforts to establish a Code. We believe standards such as no child labor, freedom from abuse and rights to a living wage and collective bargaining are realistically enforceable policies. Setting up a complex private educational system, through Harvard's licensees, in the factories, is in no way realistic. Furthermore, the idea of corporations such as Nike taking over the role of educators of children is a rather problematic one. Finally, it is difficult...
Clearly there are many more gray areas associated with developing country labor issues than may be evident at first glance. This certainly doesn't imply, however, that nothing should be done about problems like child labor or conditions in sweatshop factories. Rather, more, not less, proactive steps are needed to combat the problem of sweatshop labor. Simply deciding that Western companies will have no involvement in exploiting laborers is not enough; if we're going to dictate worker's job opportunities by depriving them of relatively desirable jobs in sneaker factories, then we must also put our money where...
...course, advocating child labor is a radical step in the Western world. Perhaps it would be easier just to ban our companies from indulging in it, and sit back and relax, safe in the knowledge that the sweatshirt that we're wearing wasn't ever touched by underage hands--no matter that the underage hands which never touched this sweatshirt are probably at that very moment rummaging through a garbage heap somewhere since their employer threw them out due to our forceful campaigning. But then, our conscience is clear...