Sustainable global economy need new fair trade model based on the global energy, economy and ecology.Several interesting work in the ecological engineering model can help to find this fair tarde model.by ODUM there can be social tesuname can bee forseen as the big turbulance not only for the developing world but also the develping one as the poor country money has novalue and hence their product too. sd Pannirselvam
On 8/5/05, Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2266/ > > News > July 28, 2005 > > New Fair Trade Model Needed > > Sweeping changes in the export of textiles have forced a difficult > reappraisal among U.S. sweatshop monitors: How best to help workers > in a relentless industry? > > By Mischa Gaus > > Workers at the Youngor Group textile factory in China. > > The expiration of the worldwide quota system that regulated the flow > of textiles between the global south and north, now six months old, > has created massive job losses across the Americas, Africa and parts > of South and Southeast Asia. The quotas restricted the number of > textiles and garments each of about 150 countries could import to the > United States and the European Union by type. The United Nations > Development Program estimated 1 million jobs may be lost as a result. > > Following shifts in production to China, Vietnam and India, exports > to the United States of some goods from those countries increased by > as much as 1,200 percent this year. Sweatshop monitoring groups say > other areas handicapped by geography and poor infrastructure, like > Swaziland, saw nearly half their factories closed. > > The quotas existed for 30 years to protect rich nations' garment > industries from low-wage competition in poor countries. Rich nations > gave up quotas a decade ago during World Trade Organization > negotiations in return for other favorable rules, and quotas have > been phasing out since then. January's quota termination accelerated > the trend in the already cutthroat business that demands annual price > cuts from its contracted factories-2 to 3 percent each year over the > last decade, according to a U.S. mill spokesman. > > Some estimates say the phase-out could allow apparel corporations to > force prices down by as much as 30 percent, making life much worse > for apparel workers who still have jobs. > > "Factories find a way to meet the price or they don't," says Scott > Nova, executive director of the factory-monitoring group, Worker > Rights Consortium. "One of the ways they're going to meet it is by > screwing their workers. Brands know this and they ultimately bear the > moral responsibility for causing it." > > The wrenching changes in the apparel industry vexes groups like the > Consortium, which has spent four years focusing on individual > factories to help garment workers build independent unions, obtain > health benefits, and curb blacklisting, discrimination and physical > violence against workers who join unions or attempt to organize them. > > But having friends in the north was no immunity. Several of the > factories where the Consortium helped secure large gains have closed > or idled workers as managers moved production out. > > As in the rest of the industry, much of the work fled to China, where > independent unions are banned. Undeterred, the Consortium has > partnered with Hong Kong-based NGOs that operate in the mainland. > With backing from brands that contract with Chinese factories, the > group plans to hold labor and safety trainings inside shops-and below > the government's radar. That could nurture independent organizing > and, in time, nascent unions. > > The crucial question: How long before the Chinese government, which > has tolerated some spontaneous worker organizing recently, would see > the trainings as a threat? > > "Trying to work on labor issues in China is like trying to dance on a > nightclub dance floor," says Clark University sociology professor Bob > Ross, who writes on sweatshop issues. "You've got just a certain > amount of space to wiggle in, and it's not a lot." > > Ultimately, anti-sweatshop advocates say the kind of > factory-by-factory struggle fought thus far and envisioned in China > cannot expand enough to counter the unyielding imperatives of > capital. Without structural change within the industry-such as > year-to-year stability in contracts, ending the ceaseless price cuts > demanded by brands, and forcing brands to pay prices that reflect the > actual cost of providing workers a decent wage and dignified > workplace-lasting and meaningful gains for a significant number of > garment workers are impossible. > > "We've had to jump from factory solidarity campaign to factory > solidarity campaign where things arise," says Allie Robbins, a > national organizer with United Students Against Sweatshops. "We're > seeing the need for a new strategy." > > The power of anti-sweatshop activists resides in universities that > sell rights to license goods with their logos. Students have forced > their universities' licensees to adopt codes of conduct and disclose > factory locations. But since universities only command 1 percent of > the apparel market, their influence is limited. > > The dynamics of the global apparel industry heighten those > limitations. Apparel has always been a chaotic business, where buyers > constantly shift work between factories, playing one off another to > speed deliveries and squeeze prices. Corporations spread production > among hundreds of contractors, leaving monitoring groups narrow > leverage when abuses arise. > > Brands play a contradictory game, at once proclaiming their social > responsibility while demanding factories slash production costs. Nova > says the Consortium quickly figured out that factory owners lie to > monitoring groups, keeping double books and dictating what workers > tell outsiders. > > "The reason factory managers feel they have to be dishonest with > auditors is because it is impossible to meet the price demands and > turn-around demands of their customers and show full respect for the > rights of their employees," Nova says. > > With robust monitoring proving unable to sustain workers' gains, > advocates are searching for new models. They may find one in a small > factory in El Salvador called Just Garments. After its workers were > blacklisted at other factories for organizing four years ago, > anti-sweat groups and unions helped the workers establish the first > unionized garment factory in the country's free-trade zone. > > Employment and wages at the factory are still low, says Lorraine > Clewer, the Consortium's Latin American field director, because the > factory lacks consistent orders and must accept less-complicated, > lower-paying work - common in a region hammered by the quotas' end. > Other factories, she says, also refuse to subcontract with the shop > because of its unionized workforce. > > Help may arrive in October from the Unitarian Universalist Service > Committee, a Cambridge, Mass.-based church group, that wants to > establish a controlled supply line through a U.S. distributor, > guaranteeing a living wage and steady employment for the factory's 90 > workers. > > For advocates, the path that could lead to a broad emulation of the > Just Garments model is clear: Push the big brands to end contracting > volatility and the unrelenting price cuts. > > "The fact there has not been a candid discussion in the industry > about the relationship between prices and the level of respect for > worker rights demonstrates the lack of seriousness of the brands > about their codes of conduct," Nova says. "What this is primarily > about for industry is public relations. It's our job to force them to > initiate the discussion." > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > -- Pagandai V Pannirselvam Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN Departamento de Engenharia Química - DEQ Centro de Tecnologia - CT Programa de Pós Graduação em Engenharia Química - PPGEQ Grupo de Pesquisa em Engenharia de Custos - GPEC Av. 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