1
On January 23, 2007, S. 367: The Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act was introduced in the Senate "to amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to prohibit the import, export, and sale of goods made with sweatshop labor, and for other purposes." It was referred to committee but never passed.
On April 23, 2007, HR 1992: The Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act was introduced in the House for the same purpose. It, too, was referred to committee but never passed.
Both bills were introduced in a previous congressional session and failed. They may be re-introduced later in 2009.
Sweatshop labor takes different forms, some far worse than others. On February 14, 2007, Charles Kernaghan, Executive Director of the National Labor Committee in Support of Human and Worker Right, testified about the worst kind at a Senate committee hearing on Overseas Sweatshop Abuses, Their Impact on US Workers, and the Need for Anti-Sweatshop Legislation.
Citing the December 2001 US - Jordan Free Trade Agreement, he gave examples of human trafficking and involuntary servitude abuses that followed:
-- Jordan's 114 garment factories employ over 36,000 foreign guest workers from Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka and India;
-- Bangladeshi guest workers had to borrow at exorbitant interest rates $1,000 - $3,000 to pay unscrupulous manpower agencies for two-to-three year contracts to obtain work;
-- they were trapped in involuntary servitude at one factory and couldn't leave;
-- they were promised benefits, then reneged on, including free food, housing, medical care, vacations, sick days, and at least one day a week off;
-- on arrival in Jordan, their passports were seized;
-- they were forced to work shifts of "15, 38, 48, and even 72 hours straight, often going two or three days without sleep;"
-- they worked seven days a week for as little as 2 cents an hour, 98 hours a week;
-- those complaining were beaten and abused;
-- 28 workers shared one small 12 x 12-foot dorm with access to running water only every third day;
-- legally owed back wages were never paid nor were factory owners prosecuted for human trafficking, involuntary servitude, or treating their employees abusively;
-- they sewed clothing for Wal-Mart; and
