Why isn 't Tri-Star owned by a Ugandan? AGOA = AFRICAN etc,
etc
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Subject: ugnet_: Reform warns Tri-Star firm
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 20:12:25 EST
Reform warns Tri-Star firm
By Emma Mutaizibwa
Oct 28, 2003
KAMPALA – The Reform Agenda yesterday gave Apparels Tri-Star a
one-week
ultimatum to reinstate the recently fired employees or else it
would petition the
American government.
The textile factory, which exports apparels to the United States
under the
African Growth and Opportunity Act, was closed last week after more
than 200
female employees went on strike protesting low pay and poor working
conditions.
The management subsequently sacked the striking employees,
popularly called
Agoa girls.
Mr Reagan Okumu, the Reform Agenda’s first vice chairman, said he
would give
the benefit of the doubt to Tri-Star to reinstate the fired girls.
If that fails, he said, he would ask the US Congress to close down
the
factory owned by Sri Lankan businessman Vellupillai Kananathan.
“The law that was enacted by the US Congress on Agoa emphasises
that the
country that is exporting its goods to the US must be
democratic,” Okumu told
journalists at Reform Agenda’s weekly news briefing yesterday.
“But the factory is violating the labour laws of this country.
The working
terms are typical of modern slavery,” he said.
He added: “We have given them a week to reinstate these girls or
else we
shall ask the US to lock them out of business.”
The official, who is also the MP for Aswa County, said that
although Agoa is
supposed to be ran as a state institution, it is being ran like a
family
business.
Another Reform Agenda official, Mr Christopher Kibanzanga, who is
also MP for
Busongora South, said the conditions at the Apparels Tri-Star
factory
represent “modern slavery”.
“Multinational corporations¼ are more powerful than the state;
can you
imagine Tri-Star Company uses the police to beat up innocent
Ugandans?”
Kananathan was unavailable for comment and his phone was switched
off.
The presidential assistant on Agoa, Ms Suzan Muhwezi, was also not
available
for comment.
© 2003 The Monitor Publications
