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It is sad and horrifying to say that the "competition" often consists of children, some below the age of 10, laboring at dirty, dangerous jobs. It is even worse to consider that many North American workers may unwittingly contribute to this shame by purchasing products made by the sweat of these little brows. Child labor is more than an abstract problem in some far off corner of the world. It is a human disgrace, one that has an impact close to home.

"Nearly a quarter of the world’s children between the ages of 5 and 14 are working full- or part-time, with as many as two-thirds of the total in hazardous conditions," reports the International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva, in a recent press release. "A majority of working children are found in developing countries, where children work full- or part-time in horrendous conditions. In such countries alone, there are at least 120 million children, 5 to 14 years of age, fully at work and more than twice as many (about 250 million), for whom work is a secondary activity. Of these, 61 percent, or 153 million of them, are in Asia; 32 percent, or 80 million, are in Africa; and 7 percent or 17.5 million, are in Latin America.

It is estimated that there are 25,000 soccer ball stitchers in the city of Sialkot, Pakistan, which makes 80 percent of the world’s soccer balls. The children stitch 2-3 balls a day, receiving around 25 cents per ball, which are sold in the United States for approximately $50. Some of the other "occupations" include "stone breakers"—little children and their families who make a living by smashing rocks into fine gravel for use in the building industry in Zambia-Lukasa, Africa. One would find an eight-year-old boy, from Mandala Village, India, working in the vast brick fields, north of the capital, New Delhi. Children in Sivakasi, India, make tubes for the fireworks industry. In Bogota, Columbia, young boys collect scrap cardboard and paper in the streets of the Colombian capitol for recycling.

Children such as these are particularly vulnerable (under 12 years of age). They are expected to lift heavy loads, such as heavy masonry bricks, and have no protection from toxic chemicals, sharp tools, motorized equipment and extreme weather exposure. They are also at risk from poor nutrition, tobacco and drug addiction, delinquency and even prostitution.

Working children are also found in other industrialized economies, including Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom. In Eastern and Central Europe, child labor has been reappearing in the wake of social and economic dislocation caused by the transition to a market economy. These children face dangerous conditions (even by adult standards) in construction, mining and quarrying. In the construction industry, 26 percent of working children sustained injuries, illnesses or death while on the job; in the mining and quarry sector, 16 percent; in the transport/storage/communications industries, 18 percent; and in agriculture, 12 percent.

Child labor was given a face and a name several years ago when a brave 12-year-old laborer/activist, Iqbal Masih, from Pakistan began a campaign to expose conditions facing children working in the carpet industry in that nation. He was brutally murdered for his courage. However, his death provoked a world-wide uproar and resulted in union-led boycotts in the United States and pressure on governments, manufacturers and importers to end child labor, as well as the establishment and enforcement of the RUGMARK label on imported rugs, which identified carpets made without child labor.

Made in America—By Children

When most Americans think of child labor, they probably recall images of children working in coal mines and textile mills in the late 19th or early 20th century. Surely, such things don’t exist on this continent anymore. It does.

A five-month Associated Press (AP) investigation of child labor in America detailed the abuses they found. Over this period, the AP found 165 children working illegally in 16 states in the U.S., from the chili fields of New Mexico to the sweatshops of New York City. The investigation was difficult because these children are part of the "secret workers" hidden from public view. To make an estimate, the AP had Rutgers University labor economist, Douglas Kruse, analyze monthly census surveys and other information collected by the federal government. He estimates that 290,200 children were employed unlawfully in 1997.

If workers in the United States think that this abhorrent situation has nothing to do with them, then look at these facts involving goods made by children and purchased by the American consumer:

Look to a bustling street in New York City’s borough of Queens, where Koon-yu Chow, 15, was found stitching dresses at a garment factory sewing machine in the summer of 1997. Dresses were being made for Betsy’s Things, a label sold at Sears, until state labor investigator inspected the place and Betsy’s Things took its business elsewhere.

Walk into Grayson Sewing in Sherman, Texas, where federal investigators found seven children folding and bagging dresses up to 12 hours a day. All seven were under 14; the youngest was nine. J.C. Penney acknowledged making two purchases of garments from Grayson, a company investigators called a sweatshop.

Rise before dawn to join Angel and six other children under 12 in a New Mexico field, as they turn to the work that will occupy them for the next eight hours on this October day: yanking chilies from the plants and dropping them into a bucket. Follow the chilies and the trail leads to Texas, to a processor that makes Old El Paso Salsa for Pillsbury. The processor also supplies a California plant operated by Cantisano Foods, which makes salsa for the Newman’s Own label. Actor Paul Newman, founder of the company, flew to New Mexico to investigate and requested that no further business be done with the Texas supplier saying, "If my company can’t ensure that ingredients are produced without child labor, we’ll have to eliminate the product. Even though we weren’t aware of these infractions, I suppose we should have been."

Watch underage children pick cucumbers in Michigan and Bowling Green, Ohio; green peppers in Tennessee; apples and potatoes in upstate New York; beans in bean fields near Homestead, Florida.

The $200 million income in 1996 of Disney CEO Michael Eisner derives, in part, from profits his company made in Haiti, where teenagers sew Pocahontas and Hunchback of Notre Dame T-shirts for less than $10 a week. Disney refused to respond directly to criticisms of its Haitian subcontracting and, as is common in the global apparel trade, is switching production to Southeast Asia.

Michael Jordan earned more in a year for endorsing Nike shoes than the company’s entire 30,000 person work force in Indonesia received for making them. Attempts to shame Jordan into disavowing Nike’s employment practices were unsuccessful. The Gap responded more positively to media criticism and have sent investigators to inspect their plants, with a view toward moving production should abuses be determined.

Many North Americans have exhibited purchasing habits that ultimately subsidize the exploitation of children. If made aware, will working families care enough to help bring a halt to the hazardous, exploitative practices that confront millions of children with daily work-related stress, exposure to injury illness and death? And of equal importance, what about the jobs that are moving to these Third World countries, depriving American seamstresses, packers, construction workers, miners and more of jobs? Unscrupulous and greedy companies move production to foreign shores to avoid paying union wages, providing health benefits, and to escape safety regulations. In doing so, many of them jeopardize the physical and mental well-being of children, with gross violations of their human rights and dignity. It is a mockery of all that organized labor and all people of good will believe.

PART II of Labor’s Mockery: Children for Hire, will hear from working children and look at what is being done to stem the evils of child labor and sweatshops.

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