US arrest of island employer 'legal'
December 28, 2006 10:43am
US officials acted correctly in arresting a brutal garment factory owner in the remote South Pacific island of American Samoa and sending him 3700 km to Hawaii to face trial, a Federal Appeals Court ruled today.
Factory owner Kil Soo Lee was accused of mistreating his workers from Vietnam, China and American Samoa, barring them from leaving for days at a time, under-feeding them and ordering beatings of disobedient workers.
After local authorities failed to investigate complaints against him, Federal authorities arrested Lee in 2001 and flew him to Hawaii.
He was ultimately sentenced to 40 years imprisonment for holding his workers in involuntary servitude and other crimes.
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http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,20981549-5007063,00.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~So how would it seem this arrangement is any different from Tom DeLay's beloved Marianas Islands sweatshop operation?
DeLay's North Pacific Unregulated "Paradise"
As Tom DeLay preached his pro-business/anti-regulation theology in the US, his model of perfection was far from the mainland. The U.S. protectorate of the Northern Mariana Islands -- 14 islands in the North Pacific -- have become something of a free-enterprise petting zoo for DeLay and those he wishes to convert to his way of thinking.
At the end of World War II, the U.S. acquired the islands, which are located off the coast of booming Asia. To encourage development and self-sufficiency Congress exempted the islands from the very kinds of U.S. business regulations and oversight DeLay despised. Even today the island's minimum wage is only $3.05. Other work and safety regulations either do not apply at all or are rarely enforced.
In short, the Marianas embodied many of the key ideals DeLay and other House Republicans were pushing in their 1994 Contract With America.
For Asian sweatshop operators, the Marianas became the Promised Land incarnate. Since the islands were officially U.S. territory, garment factories there were able to tag their products with the coveted "Made in the USA" label. No rules, no regulators, no inspectors, no health and safety laws. What more could a sweatshop operator ask for?
The opportunity was quickly recognized by Asian sweatshop operators like Hong Kong's Tan Holdings, run by garment mogul Willie Tan. Deep in the lush jungles, far from the island's white beaches and luxury hotels, garment factories quickly set up shop. They staffed their factories with workers from China and the Philippines with promises of work in the US. But, workers soon discovered that the work contracts they signed consigned them to near-indentured servitude deep in the Marianas steamy jungles. Wages were low, hours were long. The companies docked workers' pay for housing, food, medical treatments and other charges. The low wages and high deductions made it nearly impossible for workers to save enough money to return home.
None of this was a secret back home in the U.S. In 1998, ABC, CNN, the BBC and the New York Times each confirmed reports of forced labor, sex slaves and domestic forced servitude among the Marianas' so-called "guest workers."
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http://www.alternet.org/story/13140/