Walmart's been all over the news this week, in response to the Supreme Court decision that its female employees cannot bring a class action lawsuit against sex discrimination. But as disturbing as Walmart's record is on discriminating against women working in their stores, there's another area for major concern that has received little media attention. I'm talking about factories that produces clothes for Walmart stores, where women are controlled through debt bondage and regularly raped.Walmart's not the only well-known brand putting tainted clothes from Classic Fashion factories in its stores (although it is the biggest buyer) -- Macy's, Target, Kohl's, and Hanes all source from the same abusive Jordan factories. An Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights report chronicles a tale of 13 to 18.5 hour workdays, 6 to 7 days a week, for minimal pay and poor living quarters. Thousands of female workers, most immigrants from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, or India, face the threat of deportation if they lose or leave their jobs.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Managers grope and fondle the employees regularly, ostensibly to get them to work faster, and, even more horrifying, many repeatedly rape their workers. "Kamala," deported after she became pregnant (a typical occurrence), describes her assault at the hands of a quality control manager: "I was molested in every way… That man tortured me. He took a lot of sexual advantages from me… I had to fulfill everything he desired because I was placed in an extremely vulnerable situation and intimidated… My whole body is in pain… I cannot face my mother and father. I am destroyed. I cannot even change clothes before my mother because Priyantha has destroyed me. I have teeth marks all over my body."
General manager Anil Santha is well known for forcing women to come to his hotel each week, where he rapes them. If they refuse or speak out, he gets them deported. One 21-year-old worker, "Latha," was raped five or six times by Santha, who she describes as old enough to be her father: "I was in a deeply helpless position because he is such a high-ranking figure in the factory I couldn't disobey him… I feel so exposed and shameful sharing what he did to me… the things that happened to me. And it wasn't only me, there were three or four other girls there too. He did this to us in the presence of one another… What is tragic is that more and more girls arrive at the factory fresh and will continue to fall prey to this monster."
After a massive strike last October, Santha was temporarily removed, but returned to his position within the month.
Charles Kernaghan, the report author, writes in the preface: "We were stunned at how these young Sri Lankan women had been raped and tortured, while sewing clothing for the largest retailer on the face of the earth, Wal-Mart, and for Hanes, the most popular label in the United States." Walmart claims it inspects factories, but women reported that they always informed the managers beforehand, allowing them to select a few workers to lie about conditions. In their interviews, the women begged, again and again, for somebody to help them.
The report states: "We expect Wal-Mart, Hanes and the other labels to pay significant compensation to the rape victims to restore some dignity to their lives. This is the least they can do." The National Labor Committee has started a petitioncalling upon Walmart and the other companies to compensate the rape victims, ensure that Classic Fashion follows labor rights law, and promises to protect the women who make their clothing -- starting by removing the managers raping them.
Walmart, Macy's, Target, Kohl's, and Hanes cannot continue to make profits at the cost of destroying women's lives. It is time for them to put a stop to the rape and torture of young women in their factories.
