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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (725964)	2/15/2006 2:38:53 PM
From: tonto	Respond to of 769670

Kenneth, I know that you like to brag about your potuguese shoes. So you support child labor sweat shops? I do hope you will make better decisions in the future. Portugal -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Overview Estimates of the number of children working in Portugal range from 200,000, as cited by nongovernmental organizations,1 to 30,000, as reported by the Portuguese government.2 The footwear, garment, ceramics, and granite paving stone industries have been documented to use child labor. Each of these industries, in varying quantities, exports to the United States.3 II. Child Labor in Export Industries A 1991 report by Anti-Slavery International (ASI) documents child labor in the shoe and garment industries and, to a lesser extent, in the ceramics and stone-breaking industries, all of which are export-oriented and concentrated in the northern districts of Oporto and Braga.4 A 1993 government briefing paper reported that of businesses found to employ children under the legal minimum age of 16, roughly 62 percent were either in the clothing, textiles and knitwear industry or in shoe manufacturing.5 Each of these industries export to both the United States and Europe. Rising public concern and increasing labor inspections have driven most of the child labor out of the legally organized factories and into "clandestine", or illegal, garage workshops and home production where abuses of the law are much harder to detect.6 While the government disputes some of the statistics cited in the ASI report,7 it acknowledges that abuses exist and has taken action to curb them.8 Garments In 1993, Portugal exported $61.5 million in garments to the United States.9 Finishing work, such as cutting button holes and sewing, is often subcontracted out from the larger factories. The textile union confirmed that in garment production, children under the age of 14 work mostly in clandestine shops and in their families' homes. A union representative said that when children are found in a factory they are paid 10 percent of an adult's wages; the piece-rate for work at home was described as "miserably low."10 Anti-Slavery International profiled two child garment workers: Sonia and Sandra are both 11 years old, and make dressing-gowns in the same small garment factory in the town of Sao Joao de Ver, in the district of Aveiro. The factory is in the basement of a house and, of the five workers, the oldest is 25. Sonia has dropped out of school with only two years of schooling. Sandra has had five years of school. Each of the girls earn £32 [$52] a month for a nine-and-a-half-hour day.11 Footwear As with garments, child labor appears mostly in small shops and in home production. The system of rural delivery of cut pieces for finishing into casual shoes for eventual sale by foreign retailers is well documented, in one case showing children as young as 10 and 11 years stitching shoes.12 Children hand sew pre-punched, machine-cut pieces of leather together, cut leather, and glue shoe pieces together. Anti-Slavery International profiled one young shoe worker: Francisco [age 12] works in a small shoe factory..which employs 15 workers. He cuts and separates the leather, working from 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. with an hour for lunch- a nine-and-a-half-hour day- for which he earns £80 [$114] a month.13 The United States imported $65 million in footwear from Portugal in 1992.14 Child labor in the shoe industry merits further investigation.