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Strategies & Market Trends : Graham and Doddsville -- Value Investing In The New Era -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: porcupine --''''> who wrote (999)	11/17/1998 10:22:00 PM
From: porcupine --''''>	Respond to of 1722

Sweatshop Workers Shocked at [Nike's] Prices Filed at 6:47 p.m. EST By The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- Until she was fired, Julia Esmeralda Pleites earned 40 cents an hour in El Salvador sewing together shirts with the Nike trademark. She was amazed to find her work selling for $75 apiece in North America. ''It was very unjust, because they pay us very cheaply to make a very expensive product,'' the 22-year-old told a news conference Tuesday set up by the National Labor Committee, which advocates workers rights. She spoke in Spanish. Pleites said she lost her job because she didn't have the money to take the bus to work one day. A Nike spokeswoman said wages are a complicated issue that relates to local economies, but the company is looking into that and a host of other concerns raised by Pleites and U.S. labor activists. Other concerns include overtime work without pay, undue pressure to meet quotas, humiliation at the hands of abusive managers and other sweatshop conditions. Nike follows a code of conduct adopted by some big apparel manufacturers, said Maria Eitel, vice president for corporate responsibility, and is looking into the possibility of violations at a factory it and other U.S. companies use in San Bartolo, El Salvador. The factory where Pleites worked also manufactures apparel for Adidas, Holloway, Lee, Wrangler and other brands, she said. Charles Kernaghan, the labor group's executive director, called on Nike and other U.S. manufacturers to provide a list of all the factories in the world where their products are made, so they can be monitored by religious and other groups for working conditions and protection of workers' rights. He said some expensive clothing sold in the United States cannot be traced to any factory, and many plants are surrounded by high walls and prohibit outsiders. Eitel, speaking for Nike, said that ''for competitive reasons,'' companies won't release lists of the factories they use. But she said Nike would provide all that information to an apparel industry partnership that will set up independent oversight of factories. Nike announced in May that it would participate in independent monitoring of factories. ''We really think we're addressing that issue,'' Eitel said. More than 500,000 people are involved in manufacturing, distributing and selling Nike products in 35 countries, she said. Pleites, who plans to return to El Salvador, said she just wants better treatment for her former co-workers. Closing the factory where she worked would put people out of work, she said.

To: porcupine --''''> who wrote (999)	11/17/1998 10:32:00 PM
From: porcupine --''''>	Respond to of 1722

Moody's Downgrades Japanese Debt Filed at 6:55 a.m. EST By The Associated Press TOKYO (AP) -- A leading ratings agency cut its assessment of the creditworthiness of the Japanese government today in the latest sign of growing international dissatisfaction with Tokyo's management of its economy. Moody's Investors Service Inc. lowered its rating of all securities issued or guaranteed by the Japanese government by one notch from the highest rating of Aaa to Aa1. ''The rating actions were taken because of the uncertainties and heightened risks over the long term arising from economic and policy weaknesses,'' the U.S.-based agency said. The move could lead to higher borrowing costs for both the government and top Japanese companies. Japanese Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa declined to comment specifically on the Moody's action. ''Japanese government bonds are the most trusted in the world,'' he told reporters. Minutes after announcing the downgrade, Moody's also cut its ratings of four of Japan's largest utilities companies, which had enjoyed the Aaa rating. Moody's lowered its ratings of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co. and Tokyo Electric Power Co., also to Aa1. Moody's also said it was considering a similar downgrade for one of Japan's premier manufacturing companies, Toyota Motor Corp. In cutting the government's rating, Moody's cited concern over Japan's ballooning government debt -- made worse just a day earlier by a $196 billion stimulus package. While Tokyo has now spent $820 billion on public works and tax cuts since the economy tanked in the early 1990s, it has little to show except a cumulative budget deficit that is now the largest in the industrial world. Moody's said Japan has so far avoided making the painful structural reforms needed to restore its economy to growth. Some analysts in Tokyo agreed. Moody's is ''saying what everyone already knows -- that we have Japan doing all these fiscal packages, but the packages aren't creating growth or boosting tax revenues, so the fiscal situation just continues to get worse,'' said Kenneth Landon, senior currency strategist for Deutsche Bank.