The great and powerful NFL = sweat shop operators

[RavensDomination]

NFL charged with supporting sweat shops in recent report

NFL jerseys have been sewn under illegal sweatshop conditions at the Chi Fung factory in El Salvador for at least the last four years, according to a new report by the National Labor Committee. Often forced to work 12-hour shifts, workers were at the factory 61 to 65 hours a week, including 12 to 15 hours of obligatory overtime, which was unpaid. The workers were paid a below-subsistence wage of just 72 cents an hour, which meets less than a quarter of a family's basic subsistence needs for food, housing, healthcare and clothing.

An assembly line of 28 workers had a mandatory production goal of completing 2,300 NFL jerseys in the regular nine-hour shift, from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The production goal was 255 jerseys per hour, which meant that each of the 28 workers in effect had to sew nine jerseys per hour, or one jersey every 6.6 minutes. The workers were paid just 10 cents for each $80 Peyton Manning NFL jersey they sewed. This means that their wages amounted to just a little more than one-tenth of one percent of the jersey's retail price.

What a joke. I bet the person making their $300 authentic jerseys is getting paid in fresh water and bread.

[BmoreBrawla]

I am not a big sweatshop hater, but this will be a PR nightmare for the NFL and its always good to see them with egg on their face

[Mista T]

OK, so now the NFL will respond to the do-gooders and take measures to assure that no more NFL jerseys are made in sweatshops. So the 28 workers at the Chi Fung factory in El Salvador lose their jobs, and the price of NFL jerseys goes up 10%, all because of the do-gooder investigative reporter trying to make a name for himself or herself.

Ain't this a great country!

[HoustonRaven]

The timing / spin of this could not be more obvious.

The NFL doesnt "make the jerseys". They have a contract with Reebok, who makes the jerseys for them. The jersey's in question, according to the report, are some of the screen printed jerseys, not the authentic jerseys.

The players union must be getting pretty desperate.

[RavensDomination]

why am I not surprised...

The National Labor Committee has been around for years, taking on such corporations as Victoria's Secret and Toyota for labor practices overseas. If you asked someone at the NLC what their position on the NFL labor agreement is they probably wouldn't have a clue as to what you are talking about. Oh and they are far from "investigative reporters."

smh...

[NC Raven]

Originally Posted by Mista T

OK, so now the NFL will respond to the do-gooders and take measures to assure that no more NFL jerseys are made in sweatshops. So the 28 workers at the Chi Fung factory in El Salvador lose their jobs, and the price of NFL jerseys goes up 10%, all because of the do-gooder investigative reporter trying to make a name for himself or herself.

Ain't this a great country!

Well, I agree there's that threat, and the Law of Unintended Consequences can be a real bitch. It's terribly sad that people have to live this way, and I cannot say whether they're better off with jobs like these, or having to find something else to do. I have no idea.

That said, my father taught me there's a right way to do things, and a wrong way to do things. Just because you have the power and ability to get away with being a complete, out-and-out, ass-fuck in your business dealings, doesn't mean you ought to. I've run my own business for four years now, and I've never missed a payroll, never given anyone a pay-cut, and have been very generous with missed time, maternity, etc. Nobody makes me do those things, and I could get away with paying people less than I do, if that's what kind of person I wanted to be. I choose not to be a shit-hole.

If Reebok and the NFL want to be that way, and treat other human beings that way, instead of trying to set a good example for others to follow, then fuck 'em.

[effo5231]

Originally Posted by NC Raven

If Reebok and the NFL want to be that way, and treat other human beings that way, instead of trying to set a good example for others to follow, then fuck 'em.

I agree with everything you just said.

[HoustonRaven]

Clearly, an article written to lump the NFL into the category it does not fit into and some folks here fall for it ....

.... amazing.



So let me get this straight. If you give your buddy $10 bucks to go to Subway and he fucks up the order, it's your fault he fucked it up?

You hear that knocking? It's reality at your door. The world doesnt always work the way the press likes to spin it.

[RavensDomination]

Originally Posted by HoustonRaven

Clearly, an article written to lump the NFL into the category it does not fit into and some folks here fall for it ....

.... amazing.



So let me get this straight. If you give your buddy $10 bucks to go to Subway and he fucks up the order, it's your fault he fucked it up?

You hear that knocking? It's reality at your door. The world doesnt always work the way the press likes to spin it.

First off, that might be the single worst analogy I've ever read. A better one would be you give your buddy $10 bucks to buy crack and then he gets busted in the process (and, like I'm sure the NFL will do, claim ignorance after he gets busted).

And repeat after me. National....Labor...Committee. They are neither "investigative journalists" nor are they the "press."

Here is their wiki page, I'll do your work for you...

The National Labor Committee in Support of Human and Worker Rights, commonly known as the National Labor Committee or the NLC, is a non-profit non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1981 by David Dyson to combat sweatshop labor and United States government policy in El Salvador and Central America. Today the NLC has offices in New York City, Bangladesh, and Central America; when Dyson left to become Executive Minister of Fort Greene's Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, Charles Kernaghan became Executive Director.

The National Labor Committee engages in fact-finding missions throughout the world to expose and document labor and human rights abuses; they then use this information to raise public awareness in an effort to change corporate policy. In addition to targeting stores and manufacturers, they often target celebrities who have clothing lines. Their 1996 discovery that Kathie Lee Gifford's Wal-Mart clothing line was being manufactured in Honduran sweatshops is often cited as the beginning of mainstream media coverage of the sweatshop phenomenon. Since then, the NLC has exposed the conditions under which many celebrity labels are made, including those of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Sean Combs(also known as P Diddy) and, most recently, Thalia Sodi.

They often work with labor unions and other human rights groups; one their closest allies has been United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), who they assisted in forming the Worker Rights Consortium in an effort to fight the use of sweatshops in manufacturing collegiate apparel.

The NLC has also worked with the United Steel Workers of America and Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) to draft the "Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act," which was introduced in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate in 2006.

[HoustonRaven]

And you don't see the timing of this that a LABOR organization is trying to shoehorn the NFL into something that might be simply Reebok's issue, at the same time said league is going through LABOR negotiations?

You're one gullible dude then .... or simply have yet another silly ax to grind.

[RavensDomination]

Originally Posted by HoustonRaven

And you don't see the timing of this that a LABOR organization is trying to shoehorn the NFL into something that might be simply Reebok's issue, at the same time said league is going through LABOR negotiations?

You're one gullible dude then .... or simply have yet another silly ax to grind.

Well at least you still aren't calling them the "press." That's progress I suppose.

And again, this organization is targeting sweatshops. They don't deal with collective bargaining agreements in pro sports. Why isn't there an NBA scandal coming out, don't they have a labor deal coming up? Why wasn't there an NHL scandal during their big strike? Or during the MLB strike? Do they also have stake in Victoria's Secret?

Yet another conspiracy theorist...

[HoustonRaven]

Originally Posted by RavensDomination

Well at least you still aren't calling them the "press." That's progress I suppose.

And again, this organization is targeting sweatshops. They don't deal with collective bargaining agreements in pro sports. Why isn't there an NBA scandal coming out, don't they have a labor deal coming up? Why wasn't there an NHL scandal during their big strike? Or during the MLB strike? Do they also have stake in Victoria's Secret?

Yet another conspiracy theorist...

Having a web site simply means the check cleared. It doesn't mean what's on that site is factual.

You already know that much to be true.