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Sweatshops Campaign


I. Why Sweatshops

Globalization and internal structural adjustments have wreaked havoc on the work and lives of workers and their families. Corporations single-mindedly seeking the fattest bottom-line squeeze out savings and profits at every level. This has spawned "the new sweatshops", where appearance deceives and terms and conditions of work are appalling.

Profits Above all Else

Many countries and factories in Asia and elsewhere are desperate for investments and orders, and bidding at the lowest cost, primarily obtained from violations of basic workers rights and of countries’ own labor laws.

Multinational corporations exploit this, and play countries and factories against each other, at workers’ expense.

Government and IFIs are part of the problem

Governments and IFIs have contributed to the problem, with their economic policies and lending programs Governments look only at numbers of jobs generated, largely uncaring about their quality and working conditions. IFIs obsessed with hoped-for efficiency of markets push for exports, where multinationals hold sway.

Developing countries such as the Philippines seek to sustain the economy, welcoming MNCs’ business, despite lost taxes, low returns and high social costs.

On the prowl for the lowest cost

With liberalized world trading, the Philippines has been deluged with many middle merchants: contractors, importers, agents and others, each trying to make profits from those below them on the supply chain.

The highest premium is placed on price. Regardless of how this came about.

Devastating workers

Unimaginative employers see only labor in cutting costs, pushing workers to produce goods as quickly as possible. This is where low wages, forced overtime, punishments and fines for slow work and mistakes, child labor, and other abuses come in.

Proposed Amendments to the Philippine Constitution and the Labor Code; and internal structural adjustments

In the previous Administration, government and employers teamed up to push for the watering down of pro-labor provisions in the Philippine Constitution. The Congressional Commission on Labor (LaborCom) seeks liberalizing of labor-only contracting and of management’s actions on hiring and firing while putting more restrictions on unions and the right to strike.

Globalization and its associated forces are inducing more openness of markets, and is acting as a convenient excuse for employers to intensify exploitation of workers. The social dimension has been neglected.