Child Labor Claims Invalid

To the editors:

Ali Ahsan's editorial on child labor (April 22) was prompted by the ongoing efforts of Harvard Students for a Sweat-Free Campus and administrators to develop a Code of Conduct for licensees of Harvard apparel, a Code that will set standards for working conditions in the factories that produce the clothes, to be enforced via a system of independent monitoring. While making a compelling argument, Ahsan unfortunately has only partly heeded the considerations that I pointed out to him after seeing his concerns on an e-mail list.

Ahsan asserts that a "blanket ban" on the use of child labor by the companies that make Harvard apparel will cause us to falsely clear our consciences because it will do harm rather than good. The ban would deprive poor kids of much-needed sources of income, forcing them to either "rummage through rubbish heaps" or seek a job with "some other probably more exploitative local manufacturer (over whom Western public opinion holds little sway)." Almost all garment factories, globally, manufacture clothes primarily for "Western" firms--the kind that are Harvard's licensees--whether those factories are owned directly by the firms, or whether they are merely "subcontractors" who sell the clothes they make to those firms. With our proposed Code of Conduct, it is not a question of "swaying" these factories via Western "public opinion;" it is rather a more direct matter of setting specific standards for all these factories--both directly-owned and subcontracting--and enforcing them. As more schools and institutions set up Codes, more factories can be monitored and improved, and pressure can be exerted on all factories via a general raising of standards.

With these Codes in effect, there will be no place for injustices to hide. Ahsan's disquieting image of children "rummaging through rubbish heaps" can be replaced by an image of children being decently housed, clothed and fed because their parents are guaranteed by the Code of Conduct a living wage from the factories. Ahsan indicates that this "argument" is not good enough because it does not consider the childrens' education, their only way out of the "poverty trap." Clearly, though, the living wage enables the childrens' education because it frees them from the desperate necessity to work rather than attend school.

Ahsan tries to find a solution to child labor that deals with the problem realistically, yet issues of practicability and enforcement have been central in our efforts to establish a Code. We believe standards such as no child labor, freedom from abuse and rights to a living wage and collective bargaining are realistically enforceable policies. Setting up a complex private educational system, through Harvard's licensees, in the factories, is in no way realistic. Furthermore, the idea of corporations such as Nike taking over the role of educators of children is a rather problematic one. Finally, it is difficult to envision making child labor "better," because there is something deeply wrong about children being physically and psychologically warped in their formative years by long and strenuous labor.

We believe our proposal for a Code of Conduct represents the best and most realistic step that Harvard and other universities can take towards solving the problems of sweatshops such as child labor. The goal of the Code is not to simply wipe our hands clean of the problems in some overseas factories, but to have a positive impact on working and living conditions in those areas. A sentence in the section on child labor in our proposed Code states: "Licensees agree to work with governmental, human rights, and non-governmental organizations as determined by Harvard University and licensee, to minimize the negative impact on any child released from employment as a result of the enforcement of this Code." This provision shows that the Code is in fact accounting for concerns such as the ones Ahsan expresses, in a manner more feasible than his own suggestions. We once again urge members of the Harvard community to support the swift adoption of a strong Code of Conduct. DANIEL M. HENNEFELD '99   April 22, 1998

The writer is a founding member of Progressive Student Labor Movement and an organizer of Harvard Students for a Sweat-Free Campus.