MONITORING DEBATE in The New York Times between Global Alliance and Press for Change Monitors about Indonesia

     April 30, 2001 http://www.nytimes.com

      HEADLINE: Toward a Better Life for Workers

   To the Editor:

   When it comes to improving conditions for workers in factories overseas  ("Labor Standards Clash With Global Reality," front page, April 24), there are no easy solutions. Significant progress can be made only by companies bold enough to persevere when problems arise and to engage workers and communities in long-lasting change.

   We interviewed thousands of factory workers in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam and found that they want a real voice in improving their futures. They have a lot to say about workplace conditions and want to participate in shaping training and other programs that will enhance their long-term prospects.

   If we want to make a positive difference in workers' lives, we must engage all stakeholders -- including corporations, workers, factory owners, unions and nongovernment organizations -- to spread the benefits of the global economy to those on the outside looking in.

   RICK LITTLE

   Baltimore, April 24, 2001

   The writer is chairman of the operating council of the Global Alliance for Workers and Communities.

RESPONSE:  Sent April 30, 2001, to NY Times

 To the Editor:

       Business school case studies in the Eighties resolutely hailed the current model of apparel production outsourcing, well-described in "Labor Standards Clash With Global Reality" (news article, April 24).  It seems that no one foresaw the serious downside to the companies' concentrating solely on design, marketing and sales.  Control over production facilities was given up by major American firms coincident with the shift of most shoe and apparel production to authoritarian countries.

       While most consumers are now aware of the untoward results of this major change, very few stories have been written about the companies -- mostly Canadian or European -- that have kept control over manufacturing. The Spanish firm, Zara, has turned control over garment factories into a competitive advantage; the Canadian firm, Bata, was paying triple the minimum wage to Indonesian workers when I lived there a decade ago.

       Many of the more responsible companies, I have found, eschew expensive advertising campaigns.  The firms that depend heavily on advertising and huge endorsement contracts, on the other hand, threaten that improvements in workers' welfare will result in higher prices.

 Jeff Ballinger

Director of Press for Change, a consumer-information organization that monitors labor rights in Asia.