World
San Francisco Based Company Caught In Child Labor Scandal
By Alice Starr Standish
Nov 4, 2007 - 11:49:35 PM

SAN FRANCISCO— Illegal child labor in an Indian factory associated with Gap was uncovered last week by a British newspaper.
The brand name “Gap” became controversial in 2004 amid speculation about sweatshop labor, unsafe factory conditions, and child labor in its subcontracted factories on several continents.

Though the company quickly undertook a public and seemingly far-reaching campaign of “Social Responsibility,” it is now clear that not all of its sub-producers are falling in line.

After the acknowledgement of its unsafe and illegal practices in 2003, Gap terminated contracts with 136 plants and vowed to lead the whole clothing industry in supporting fair and healthy work conditions for its employees.   Though Gap trusts its work to subcontractors all over the world, the company says it has over 90 employees dedicated to monitoring the conditions in its factories.

 In 2004, The Observer, the same paper which uncovered the ongoing child labor conditions, stated that Gap employees made 8,500 visits to an estimated 3,000 factories. According to the company’s website, however, these numbers fell dramatically in 2006. Only 4,316 visits were conducted to 2,053 factories.  The paper discovered children as young as 10 years-old working up to 16 hours a day in a factory in New Delhi. The children were working essentially as slaves after being sold into bonded labor by their impoverished families.

One worker, named only as Amitosh, 10, reportedly said, “My father was paid a fee for me and I was brought down with 40 other children. I’ve been told I have to work off the fee the owner paid for me so I can go home, but I am working for free. The supervisor has told me because I am learning I don’t get paid.”   Amitosh has supplied Gap’s subcontractor with free labor for four months. He says that the children work hard to avoid being physically abused— beaten with rubber pipes or gagged with oil-covered cloth.  

Gap admits that the garments being made by the children had been preordered to be exported to Europe and the U.S. for the Christmas season.   The Observer reported a Gap spokesman as saying that the company would withdraw tens of thousands of items from its stock rather than support child labor by selling it.   “These allegations are deeply upsetting,” he said, “After learning of this situation we immediately took steps to stop this work order and to prevent the product from ever being sold in our stores.”

Gap’s Social Responsibility Report states that its policy on child labor used to mean that the company would “terminate” business with factories employing children. The report goes on to state that Gap believes this policy “is not necessarily in the best interest of children,” though it does not specify why.   The company now requires such factories to have underage employees removed from the workplace, given access to schooling, given compensation and guaranteed a job at the factory as soon as they reach legal working age.

Whether or not any of the company’s employees were aware of the proceedings of the New Delhi factory remains unseen. What is obvious, however, is that child labor remains a problem, even for more ethically responsible corporations.

Last Monday, the day after The Observer published its findings, another New Delhi sweatshop, only blocks away from the Gap facility, was raided by activists and police. The rescuers found 14 boys sewing women’s garments on the same filthy floor that they sleep on.   One boy, 15 year-old Hatiquallah, told the Associated Press that he had worked for three years without wages.   Only numbers can do justice to the vastness of the problem. Estimates indicate that 20 percent of India’s now booming economy can be attributed to children under 14 years of age.

Many children’s rights activists claim that it is the practice of subcontracting that leads to child labor. While a company itself may be trying to avoid illegal practices, the factory owners—often struggling financially themselves—might have different agendas, all of which end in a quick profit.   Some activists suggest that the Indian government should develop its own system for preventing child labor.

Gap, which grew more than 20 percent last year, is far from being the only high-profile company to have factories in India. From Hyundai to Victoria’s Secret, businesses of all shapes and sizes have turned to India in recent years for cheaper labor.   Though most companies claim to have policies which prevent child labor, this most recent report gives a bleak indication of the true origin of some of America’s most trusted brand names.