On Saturday the Sacramento Bee ran a major story by David Whitney about
, especially his role in protecting the system of sweatshops, human trafficking, force prostitution and forced abortion on the Commonwealth of North Mariana Islands (CNMI) for fun, power and profit.
It is damning stuff and a must read.
Together the stories not only lay out the connections, they also point to direct evidence of Doolittle's hand in criminal activity that mark the "Gentleman" from California as a pay-for-play Congressman.
The stories should get the attention of the DOJ and other reporters.
If that wasn't enough, Big John also lied about Sex, Abortion and Human Trafficking.
His immorality really is shameless. If you're ready to journey into the Heart of Republican Darkness, join me on the jump...
Last month in Georgia, Ralph Reed lost the GOP Primary for Lt. Governor in large part because of his connections to Jack Abramoff. His opponent, Casey Cagle, hit him very hard on the Marianas Islands. Cagle's GOP PR firm has preserved much of their anti-Ralph mailers and Web sites.
to see the page. And
they sent out concerning abuse on CNMI.
Next to Doolittle, Ralph Reed was a Boy Scout.
What happened to Reed in Georgia should happen to Doolittle.
Over the last twelve years the Abramoff/Gingrich/DeLay/Bush era of incompetence and corruption has been guilty of many crimes. To me some of the very worst are those that intentionally exploit some of the most vulnerable people in the world for fun and profit. This is what they did with regards to the Marianas Islands.
Here is what John Doolittle told David Whitney about his work for the criminals of CNMI:
For the record I want to point out that the economy of the CNMI is seriously fucked up. It is a disaster. A quick look at the headlines of the past few months in the Saipan Tribune and the Marianas Variety show a Territory on the edge of collapse. We will have to bail it out.
I also want to point out that the entire Territory is on the dole and has been living off US Taxpayers since before it became a Territory (take a look at their finacials as just one data point). It is a welfare state. Our contribution will only increase as the bill for the Abramoff years comes due.
But what I really want to spend some time on is Doolittle's 1999 trip and his claim that he saw no evidence of abuse. Other Congressmen on the CODEL noticed the abuse.
This was a bi-partisan trip paid for by the House Resources Committee. While it was mostly Republicans some Democrats were in the delegation. Most were the Democratic Delegates from other US Territories (Guam, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands) and Collin Peterson (MN-7) was the only Democrat Member of Congress who took the trip.
According to the Marianas Variety (Feb. 22,1999), Peterson noticed the abuse that Doolittle just couldn't see:
Of course Peterson was just one voice in the delegation and not the one the folks on CNMI were listening to. That pace setter was Chairman Don Young, who took his marching orders from Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff. And those orders were to support the GOP slush fund's Chinese sweatshop owning, abortion forcing and human trafficking patrons.
Back in 1999 there was a major push to bring reforms to the CNMI. Bi-partisan Legislation was going to pass in the Senate. The Clinton Administration was pressuring the CNMI to adopt reforms by threatening to withhold some funding. It is into the mix that the February 1999 CODEL traveled to the CNMI..
As a loyal Cappo to the GOP mob, Doolittle had a bit of a different reaction to conditions on the Marianas Islands than Peterson.:
As an aside, I want to point out that the last time a US politician didn't see a problem with "alien workers outnumbering the local population" was back in the 1800s during the buildup to the Civil War.
Doolittle and his Republican colleagues willfully ignored these reports.
And while Doolittle was on the CNMI another group of human rights workers were on the islands finishing their research on yet another report that would come out in the Spring of 1999.
Doolittle might have been exposed to the GSN research at the hearing.
He certainly was exposed when the GSN report became part of a second report on ABC's 20/20 in May 1999. In fact he sent out a "Dear Colleague" letter condemning the report (TPM has the PDF).
Doolittle needs to be defeated.
As I mentioned that the GSN report is not online and GSN has evolved into other organizations. For the record and as a reference to the Netroots, I am finishing this Diary with much of the report (feel free to skip ahaed). It makes the crimes of Doolittle, DeLay and the rest of the Abramoff 21 very clear.
The reports icludes a transcript of Willie Tan explaining how he has the US Congress in the bag. The footnotes provide rich resources for any campiagn that would like to tie a GOP candidate to the abuse on CNMI.
Trapped-Human Trafficking for Forced Labor in the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (a U.S. Territory)
Introduction
This is a story you have heard before, but, with a cruel twist.
Some of the poorest, most desperate people in the world travel thousands of miles to build a better life for themselves and for their families. Some come seeking better jobs some come in search of better living conditions some come to escape a brutal environment in hope of finding a place even modestly more promising.
All these migrants pay a high price for the journey. Some borrow money--often at usurious rates from unscrupulous lenders some workers pay predatory "recruiters" thousands of dollars for their new job some leave their homes and their loved ones. They leave everything they have in search of a new beginning.
When the migrants reach the new land, they find something quite different than what they expected. Would-be waitresses find their place of employment is not a restaurant, it is a night club for sex tourists.
A maid who travels to a private home finds herself in a virtual private prison, sentenced to hard labor seven days a week, fifty-one and a half weeks a year.
A sewer, hired for her skills, discovers only too late that she is not as "efficient" as her co-workers in a huge garment factory, and is expected to perform extra work-without pay--to compensate.
Some men hired as security guards do get the jobs promised they make their rounds in the stultifying heat--day and night. They do this despite waiting to be paid for weeks on end. After months of anxious waiting, they discover that their employers fled the country along with all business assets--including their wages.
The construction workers, gardeners, clerks, and other lowly-paid workers all have similar stories to tell. And they also have something else in common beside their tales of deception and hardship.
They are trapped.
These workers are stranded on an archipelago of tiny islands in the Pacific, and there is almost no way off except for an expensive plane flight--an almost impossible option for stranded workers.
The legal system is of little or no help. The local government seeks the approval of the worker's employer before allowing him or her to move to a different job. By simply saying "no," many companies can--and do--maintain a stable pool of underemployed workers. Legal judgments awarding an employee thousands of dollars in back wages are rarely enforced. Many employers who refuse to honor the awards usually do so with impunity, since the government almost never prosecutes them.
What is even more disturbing is that these abuses take place under the flag of the United States of America.
In the United States Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to be precise.
This Global Survival Network report details the shameful plight of some 40,000 "guest workers" suffering in the CNMI, the foreign-based companies that take advantage of loopholes in U.S. law to exploit them, and the lavishly-funded campaign to dissuade the U.S. congress from providing these impoverished people with the same elemental rights available to every other worker under the American flag.
Executive Summary
In March 1999, the Global Survival Network (GSN) completed an eight-month investigation into trafficking for forced labor--including sweatshop labor, sexual slavery and abusive domestic work situations--in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory. As part of this probe, GSN investigators carried out undercover investigations in Hong Kong and Saipan.
The Global Survival Network concluded that:
* The CNMI has become a center of international human trafficking operations, with connections to the People's Republic of China, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
* Traffickers bring thousands of workers into the CNMI under false pretenses, after intentionally deceiving them about compensation, health benefits, housing and, in many cases, the actual type of work they must perform.
* Human trafficking networks operating in the CNMI charge an average of $5,000 per person, with an estimated $4,000 as profit for traffickers. Today there are about 40,000 indentured workers in the CNMI, accounting for about $160 million in profits for criminal syndicates.
* Organized crime groups from the People's Republic of China, South Asia, and Japan reap large profits from human trafficking. Chinese provincial government agencies reportedly collude with Chinese traffickers by pocketing a percentage of passport fees paid by Chinese emigrants. Chinese criminal groups have moved part of their operations to the CNMI, where they operate significant gambling and money-lending operations. Japanese organized crime groups also operate in Saipan, where they control a large part of the sex tourism sector.
* Most trafficked non-U.S. workers sent to the CNMI become subject to debt bondage and/or forced labor situations, working in sweatshops, in brothels, or under abusive management. Neither the CNMI nor federal authorities adequately address these human and labor rights violations, which are condemned in numerous international human rights and labor treaties signed by the United States.
* The CNMI government has retained a prominent U.S. law firm, paying over $4.25 million for lobbying efforts to forestall implementation of federal labor, immigration and minimum wage laws in the CNMI.
* CNMI officials and business executives firmly believe that influential allies in the U.S. congress will stymie reform and preserve the lax regulatory environment needed for human trafficking. They believe that their friends in the U.S. congress will prevent the passage of legislation that will institute reform and implementation of the federal minimum wage and immigration laws in the CNMI. Some business leaders even boast about their tight links to U.S. politicians. [snip]
Local Control Over Labor and Immigration
During the 1973 talks between NMI and U.S. officials, NMI representatives negotiated and won temporary local control over two important issues: immigration and naturalization, and the minimum wage. The CNMI is the only U.S. territory or commonwealth granted control over these two areas]
Local control was granted for two major reasons. First, CNMI government officials held an unfounded fear that the Marianas Islands would be overrun by Asians if immigration processes were left to the federal government. Ironically, the local control proved to be more generous in allowing large numbers of Asians to relocate to the islands. According to the CNMI's 1995 census, 52 percent of the population is ethnically Asian only 34 percent are Chamorro/Carolinian--the indigenous population. These estimates may not be reliable the CNMI lacks the administrative infrastructure to maintain accurate records of the total number of nonresident guest workers and those overstaying their visas (overstayers). Nonetheless, estimates of the nonresident/overstayer population range as high as 60,000 people. If true, then there are twice as many nonresidents as local Chamorro/Carolinian inhabitants.
Second, local control was granted as a way for the local population to preserve its indigenous culture. Nevertheless, a regular influx of foreign tourists--especially from Japan--and the spread of mainland American culture have greatly transformed the cultural landscape. Visitors to some shops--especially around Garapan (also known as "Little Tokyo" or the "Ginza")-are greeted in Japanese. The staff at some restaurants speak only Japanese. Since the mid-1980s thousands of nonresident guest workers, mostly from the Philippines (roughly 18,000 in 1997) and the People's Republic of China (roughly 15,000 in 1997), have moved to Saipan.[4]
Today, these foreign workers have shaped, and some say distorted, the local economy. Although a large number work in garment factories, thousands of foreign workers labor in local fast food restaurants, in the Saipan hospital, in the construction, hotel and tourism industry, as well as in private homes as domestic workers. In the retail sector, for instance, almost every store on Saipan is staffed by temporary nonresident workers, mainly from the Philippines.
Local control over the minimum wage levels was supposed to facilitate a gradual transition to federal minimum wage levels. Over twenty years have passed, and this goal still has not been reached. The CNMI minimum wage now lingers at $3.05 an hour, $2.10 less than the federal rate. This has resulted in a segmented labor market, with the local population barely represented in the private sector. Forty-seven percent of U.S. citizens-including the indigenous population, mainland "transplants" and naturalized Americans-work in higher-paying, high-prestige government jobs. About 16 percent of local U.S. citizens, however, are unemployed.
CNMI Economic Benefits and Exemptions
CNMI's status as a U.S. commonwealth means that its products can be sold duty-free in the fifty United States. Garments imported into the United States from Asia are usually subjected to a 20 percent tariff, with quantity restrictions, in order to protect the U.S.-based manufacturing base. CNMI goods, however, are considered "Made in the USA." Consequently, the U.S. government neither taxes nor imposes quotas on roughly $1 billions worth of merchandise exported annually from the CNMI to the 50 states. Only four other countries export more cotton knit tops and men's wool suits to the United States than the CNMI.[6] Almost twenty-four percent of the CNMI government's total operating budget came directly from garment taxes.[7] The garment industry also provided 53 percent of the Commonwealth Ports Authority's revenue.[8]
All other U.S. commonwealths and territories are required to ship products to the United States on U.S.-flag ships in accordance with the Jones Act. The CNMI exemption was allowed to help increase the economic development of the islands. CNMI manufactured goods can be shipped to the United States at lower cost than goods shipped from other commonwealths and territories, such as from neighboring Guam. The economic benefits of producing massive quantities of goods at a cheap price in a U.S. duty-free and quota-free zone are attractive to foreign textile companies--and to major U.S. clothing labels. When combined with the easy availability of an imported and comparatively cheap, docile labor force, the economic incentives are obvious. In the 1980s, foreign-owned garment manufacturers flocked to CNMI in order to open factories. As a result, the importation of migrant, indentured labor drastically increased, drawing increased, albeit minimal attention from Washington.
The CNMI government has repeatedly reneged on its promises to U.S. federal authorities to equalize its minimum wage with the federal minimum wage and to reduce the number of nonresident guest workers. During the Reagan administration, the increase in manufacturing facilities and consequent influx of guest workers raised the concerns of federal Interior Department officials. In 1986, Assistant Interior Secretary Rick Montoya, a Reagan appointee, wrote to CNMI Governor Pedro Tenorio, complaining that, "[R]ecent news reports of the tremendous growth in alien labor and abuse in the Northern Marianas are extremely disturbing."[9] According to Department of Interior records, Tenorio promised to address the problem. The number of guest workers, however, continued to swell. In 1992, Assistant Interior Secretary Stella Guerra, a Bush appointee, posed the same question to CNMI Governor Lorenzo Guerrero, but again no apparent action was taken. The number of foreign workers continued to grow.[10]
In 1995, a law raising the minimum wage (at that time $2.75) was introduced and passed in the CNMI Legislature. Increasing the wage by 30 cents a year until it reached U.S. mainland levels was the stated goal of the legislation. This law was repealed in 1996. A single increase to $3.05 was enacted by the CNMI legislature with no requirements for further increases.[11]
The CNMI government has repeatedly reneged on its promises to the U.S. government for two basic reasons. First, the CNMI government and CNMI-based foreign manufacturing companies benefit financially from the lax regulatory environment. Second, both CNMI officials and the foreign companies that take advantage of the islands' legal status have correctly assumed that labor and human rights conditions in a U.S. commonwealth some 8,000 miles from Washington, D.C. would neither regularly nor carefully be monitored by U.S. federal agencies.
Which Countries' Citizen Live in the CNMI?
Year U.S. Non-U.S.
1980 11,983 4,747
1990 16,752 26,593
1998 27,000 38,000[12]
According to U.S. government statistics reported in the
Philadelphia Inquirer (February 8, 1998), non-U.S. citizens now outnumber U.S. citizens in the CNMI. Most of them are from the Philippines and the Peoples Republic of China. [snip]
Researched and written by Steven R. Galster and Melanie G. Orhant edited by Lan Truong with editorial assistance from Karin V. Elliot and Jyothi M. Kanics production by David Rinehart [snip]
[selected excerpts from the body of the report, dengre]
"Tina," a woman from the Philippines, told of being picked up at the airport and shuttled off to a nightclub to work. When she was taken to the nightclub, she asked her employers what kind of restaurant it was. They told her it was a nightclub for men they asked if the recruiter had told her that she would be working in a nightclub. She said no. Her promised "well-paying" job was only fiction. Tina could not leave because she did not know where she was on the island or who might help her.
A man from Bangladesh told a GSN investigator that he had chosen the CNMI because it was "America." He had previously worked with Americans in Saudi Arabia, where he had seen Americans as people who respected others regardless of skin color, as people who believed in human rights. He had faith that human rights and fair employment practices would be followed in the CNMI.
He was sadly mistaken. [snip]
Unlike traditional cases of debt bondage, where the money is owed to the employer, most cases in CNMI are slightly different. In the modern form of debt bondage, recruiters in the country of origin demand recruitment fees of thousands of dollars, which the employee will borrow from money lenders at high interest rates. The CNMI employer knows about the employee's desperate financial situation, and uses this knowledge to keep the employee in debt bondage.
Can a "guest worker," already from $5,000 to $10,000 in debt, simultaneously repay the loan, feed themselves, and send money to family back home?
CNMI Governor Pedro Tenorio claims this is possible. [snip]
In practice, the numbers do not add up. If a person earns $3.05 an hour, works 40 hours per week for four weeks per month, gross earnings total only $488 a month. Even working an additional 20 hours of weekly overtime (which, in theory, is paid at time and a half) only adds $366 a month. Consequently, a person working 60 hours a week at the CNMI minimum-wage level would gross $854 per month. At that rate, it would take almost six months to work off a $5,000 debt (some debts are much higher), not counting interest.
But these calculations do not even take into account the cost of food, board, medical and/or other essential expenses which the worker must pay. To make matters worse, the immigration office only grants one-year work visas, albeit with the possibility of renewal. Therefore, many people come to CNMI, work and pay off their debt only to return home empty-handed. [snip]
The CNMI has a thriving sex tourism sector, catering primarily to Japanese tourists, although specific clubs also serve foreign workers and local citizens. According to an article in the Saipan Tribune, "Saipan is the largest among the three islands in Northern Marianas, is being advertised as a top destination for sightseeing and sex tours in the Pacific. Tourists can engage the services of prostitutes for a fee ranging from $20 to $200.[14] The sex business sector consists of karaoke clubs, night clubs, strip clubs, restaurants, and call girl services. Many establishments only offer "consummation hostesses" who lure customers and encourage consumption of expensive beverages. Some establishments, however, offer sexual services.
Officially, the CNMI government denies the existence of the sex tourism industry. Anicia Tomokane, formerly of the Mariana Visitor's Bureau, claims, "We don't have sex tourism in Saipan. Those are just allegations. We don't have that and we don't promote it."[15]
Another branch of the CNMI government, however, appears less sanguine about the sex industry. In a letter to the Secretary of the CNMI Department of Labor and Immigration (DOLl), Remedio Sablan, Special Assistant for Women's Affairs in the CNMI Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, posed delicate inquiries about the labor situation of large numbers of female migrant laborers: "It has been brought to my attention that approximately 300 women from Russia are expected to arrive in the CNMI for employment. If I may inquire on where these 300 women are to be employed at and what type of work are they going to do here."[16]
Some government agencies appear more honest than others about the CNMI sex industry. Women working in CNMI sex businesses are almost all migrants from the Philippines, PRC, Russia, and South Asia. GSN investigators visited 14 sex trade establishments and interviewed 21 women in and outside of nightclubs. GSN investigators asked these women how they came to Saipan, what they were promised, what has happened since, and whether they will make any money.
Jobs Promised, Jobs Received
In GSN interviews, over half of the women reported victimization by deceitful recruiters. Most women had expected "to work as a waitress," but ended up either forced into sexual slavery or to work as a consummation hostess, or both. Tina, the Filipina referred to above (p. 8), stated that she was recruited to work as "a waitress in a nice hotel, in a real restaurant, not in a club." She went on to say that her recruiter sent photographs of sixty women to the bar owners in Saipan and they picked out 10 to traffic to CNMI. According to Tina, none of the women knew they were going to work in "nightclubs." A Nepali woman who had "bought" the right to work in a hotel job learned upon arrival in Saipan that she would be working in a disco hosting foreign men.
Maribel, a Filipina, came to the CNMI to work as a waitress but was forced into sexual slavery by two restaurant owners, citizens of the United Kingdom and the United States. GSN investigators were shown a copy of Maribel's job contract, which stated clearly that she was to greet, take orders, serve food, "and do other related duties and responsibilities of a waitress." [snip]
Many of the Chinese women working in clubs with local clientele, for example, said they had come to the CNMI ostensibly to work as waitresses, unaware that they would have to work in a nightclub and/or be forced into sexual slavery. These women had been trafficked into the CNMI specifically for sex work without their knowledge or consent. Many have husbands and children in the PRC, to whom they transfer money whenever possible.
The stories of deception and coercion uncovered by GSN investigators are echoed in a recent indictment brought by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).[17] In this indictment, three people (two ethnic Korean, Chinese citizens and one Korean citizen) are said to have recruited and transported numerous women from the PRC to Saipan to place them in situations of sexual slavery. The DOJ Civil Rights Division alleges that recruiters had promised the women legitimate jobs as waitresses in Saipan. The women had paid a recruitment fee for work in the CNMI. Upon arrival in Saipan, however, they were forced to provide consummation services to men in a nightclub, to be escorted outside club premises by these male customers, where they are frequently raped with impunity. Numerous fees were deducted from their wages, including original transportation fees and other costs.
In sex trade establishments catering to foreign tourists, particularly Japanese-type clubs in Garapan's central commercial area--"Little Tokyo"--traffickers and owners appear to exercise tight control over their workers.
GSN learned that club owners and supervisors exercise strict control over the hostesses from their sleeping compounds to the clubs in which they work. Club owners claim to monitor the women's movements for safety reasons, but a number of hostesses told GSN that such tight supervision was related mainly to profits. Mirabel, a Filipina woman, explained, "They pay for me to come here, so if someone want to be my boyfriend, my supervisor want money from him." Another reason the women are closely monitored is to prevent them from running away or asking for help. [snip]
According to a private attorney, the Chinese women in the DOJ case were required to perform sex with clients on the premises where the club "had special booths with very high walls and doors that could be shut at the end with a little hole so that the boss could watch to make sure that the girls are doing what they are supposed to do. Which meant let the men do whatever they wanted to them." These services usually are arranged directly with club owners, who are paid directly by clients. The cost of sexual services ranges from $30 to $250. Some women earn a percentage of the payment for sexual services others are not paid at all. [snip]
Another club worker, a Russian called "Tatyana," almost broke down in tears as she admitted to a GSN investigator that, after one year of work, she will have saved no money to take home.
The dire situation of these women is gaining some attention from U.S. government authorities. Over the past two years, the U.S. Labor Department has intervened repeatedly and is slowly collecting back wages for an unknown number of night club workers, including $600,000 from "Japan Enterprises," which runs a chain of clubs on Saipan. [19]
Coercion and intimidation prevent workers from reporting most wage violations. [snip]
The CNMI constitution allows for employment of nonresident workers as maids and house servants. Average Chamorro and Carolinian families, as well as mainland United States "transplants," can afford to employ imported domestic workers. Almost 40 percent of CNMI households have at least one domestic worker.[21] Every year, recruiting agencies in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, and other South Asian countries send workers to clean the homes and take care of the children of CNMI families. GSN found that CNMI host families frequently abuse domestic servants and rarely pay wages on time, and sometimes not at all.[22] [snip]
Roopa was forced to work seven days a week, and rarely able to get days off. She shared with a GSN investigator the ordeal of never getting any days off. "[My employers] don't like to give me holiday," crying she said, "Sometime I feel sorry, I go near window and there some girls walking and going shopping. I feel sorry and I asking myself why they not giving me holiday. They promise me they give me holiday Sunday. When I asking, they say they can't."
Cases of similar abuses are common. Working all day in private homes, frequently banned from communication with outsiders--including church attendance-and residing far from friends and family, domestic workers are among the most isolated people in the CNMI. [snip]
On Trafficking
The Global Survival Network, like the International Human Rights Law Group, the Foundation Against Trafficking in Women and the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, uses the following definitions from the Human Rights Standards for the Treatment of Trafficked Persons[13] when discussing "trafficking in humans," "trafficked person" and "trafficker."
Trafficking: All acts and attempted acts involved in the recruitment, transportation within or across borders, purchase, sale, transfer, receipt or harboring of a person
(a) involving the use of deception, coercion (including the use or threat of force or the abuse of authority) or debt bondage
(b) for the purpose of placing or holding such person, whether for pay or not, in involuntary servitude (domestic, sexual or reproductive), in forced or bonded labor, or in slavery-like conditions, in a community other than the one in which such person lived at the time of the original deception, coercion or debt bondage
Trafficked Person: A person who is recruited, transported, purchased, sold, transferred, received or harbored as described in "Trafficking" above, including a child (as defined by and consistent with the principles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child), whether the child has consented or not
Trafficker: A person who, or an entity that, intends to commit, is complicitous with, or acquiesces to, any of the acts described in "Trafficking" above. [snip]
DeLay's Delays
DeLay has been extremely effective in stalling federal attempts to improve labor or immigration regulations in the CNMI. It is worth noting that these regulatory improvements would encompass not only garment workers, but would cover CNMI and nonresident workers in most occupations as described in this report. (Due to the prohibition on sex work, sex workers remain unprotected by labor laws.)
DeLay's assurances have bolstered the confidence of CNMI officials and key CNMI businesspeople, as evidenced in meetings between a GSN investigator and members of the CNMI Legislature, garment factory owners and supervisors. Posing as a potential client, a GSN investigator secured a meeting with a top CNMI garment executive ("the Mogul"), who is influential with the CNMI government and close to U.S. politicians. The Mogul was ebullient. He boasted of tight connections with powerful members in the U.S. congress, and stated that Republican opposition to reform in the CNMI would not waiver. He was highly confident of the eventual failure of U.S. federal efforts to reform CNMI labor and immigration practices.
In the following transcription of conversation between the Mogul and a GSN investigator, the Mogul [this is Willie Tan of the Tan Family, the GOP's Hong Kong based Chinese patrons] is talks about wage regulations and the economic stability of the CNMI garment industry.
GSN: I'm hearing about issues with wages and federal regulation.
Mogul [Willie Tan]: The federal government has a ten-years transition plan--if they can pass a law through congress. But, the congress not listening to this. The worst scenario, we have a ten-years phase out. Ten years phase out. But--if they pass the law. But the congress don't agree with that. So far.
GSN: What do you forecast in terms of congress? Is that going to change?
Mogul [Willie Tan]: I have a real good friend of Tom DeLay, the Majority Whip. And Tom tell me, say, [The Mogul], as long as we are in power they can't even see the light at the end of tunnel, they don't even see the light. So now it going to be two years, because Tom become real powerful this congress because Tom is the one who basically do--is the peacemaker. So guaranteed next two years no problem. Now, it look like George Bush son will become the next president.... Quite possibly. If we are Republican, we have no more problem again, so we going to have six years.
GSN: So you think as long as the Republicans are in control there won't be a problem?
Mogul [Willie Tan]: We have no problem. Even if the Democrat, they can pass it, they still have 10 years. Can't do it. But of the Democrat we only have three enemy, but they make a big thing about it. One is from California, George Miller, always a union guy. One is a Allen Stayman, from the Department of the Interior, who used to work in the Senate, and one is Jeff Farrow. Only three guy making our life so miserable. But so far they win nothing for last 15 years, nothing, because they unreasonable. But let's say the unreasonable now become reasonable, they have a ten years phase-out period, phase out plan, but they even cannot come close to that. But not many people understand because they don't deal with this issue, but I deal with this issue so I understand.
GSN: Yeah, well...
Mogul [Willie Tan]: I'll be in DC next Friday, I'm going to Washington DC, I fly out Friday, I fly Friday out of Hong Kong next week. I'm going with Cambodian government, the airplane is actually from Cambodia, but at same time I go to visit Tom, you know, some of my friends who are always helping me, they looking at schedule me to visit him.
GSN: That's another important thing for us to know, that's political backing and stability...
Mogul [Willie Tan]: Don't worry. If these people are placing here--but, publicity wise, sometimes people talk more than they understand, but we understand the bottom line. We understand the bottom line.
GSN: So you're telling me worst case scenario is ten-year phase out...
Mogul [Willie Tan]: Ten year phase out.
GSN: And best-case scenario...
Mogul [Willie Tan]: And they must see the light at end of tunnel, is two years from now. Because Tom DeLay will never let it go.
GSN: You're sure?
Mogul [Willie Tan]: Sure. You know what Tom told me? He said, [Mogul], if they elect me as majority whip, I make the schedule of the congress. And I'm not going to put it on the schedule. They got to go through all committee before it come to me. Even if it come to me, I'm not going to schedule it. What, are they going to have a motion to get it from my committee, they will not do that--who are you? So Tom told me, forget it, [Mogul], not a chance.
GSN: And you're sure his loyalties aren't going to change?
Mogul [Willie Tan]: We very close friend. And you know what he did, he call those guys. He call up the guy who is in charge of the committee, his name is Don Young from Alaska.
GSN: Yeah, I know who he is.
Mogul [Willie Tan]: And he said Don, nothing wrong with CNMI. He say, you gotta go there. If this is slave labor, mistreatment, those kind of thing, go after them. It's all not true. And they change--what's the problem? You guys are trying to do something right into wrong. Tom explain to them. So, Don Young backed off. [snip]
Recommendations
The Global Survival Network recommends that the U.S. federal government uphold its commitments to U.S. and international human rights and labor regulations with regard to the critical situation in CNMI by:
* extending the Immigration and Nationality Act of the United States to the CNMI
* extending the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to the CNMI
* revoking the CNMI's ability to use the "Made in the USA" label unless more than 75 percent of the labor that goes into the manufacture of the garment comes from U.S. citizens and/or aliens lawfully admitted in to the U.S. for permanent residence, citizens of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and/or aliens admitted into the United States as refugees under section 207 on the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and/or aliens granted asylum in the United States under the INA
* revoking the CNMI's ability to transport textile goods to the United States free of duties and quotas unless the garments meet the above criteria
* granting temporary residency permits (including the right to work) for victims of trafficking during any and all court cases, including civil actions
* granting legal assistance to victims of trafficking who seek redress through the courts (both criminal and civil actions)
* protecting trafficked persons from violence, threats and intimidation during criminal, civil and other legal proceedings
* providing trafficked persons with social and health services during the temporary residence
* giving all trafficked people who do not receive money through an Administrative Order $8,500 prior to their voluntary repatriation
* allowing all trafficked persons to apply for amnesty under the refugee and asylum laws applicable in the mainland U.S. and
* funding non-governmental organizations that aid victims of trafficking with social, psychological, physical and legal assistance. [snip]
Global Survival Network
The Global Survival Network (GSN) is a U.S.-based non-governmental organization (NGO) that works to expose and remedy flagrant violations of human rights and environmental regulations though investigations, media campaigns, and global networking. GSN staff includes investigators and human rights activists with backgrounds in international development, environmental and wildlife protection, undercover investigation, public awareness campaigning, and political advocacy. GSN also works collaboratively with other NGOs from around the world and with a network of activists, volunteers, and consultants.
GSN supports two main programs: the Human Trafficking Program and the Wildlife Trafficking Program. Both programs focus on investigative research leading to exposes recommendations for reform, and participation in remedial measures. [snip]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Footnotes
[1] Saipan Garment Industry," ABC-TV, March 13, 1998 and "Factory Work Conditions-Marianas," Inside Edition, September 25, 1997.
[2] American Samoa has control over immigration laws.
[3] CNMI Population Profile: Based on the 1995 Census of Population and Housing, by Statistics Division of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Population/Demography Programme Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Noumea, New Caledonia, 1998.
[4] "For workers, island jobs can be a losing proposition," Philadelphia Inquirer, February 8, 1998, Jennifer Lin.
[5] "Stretching Federal Labor Law Far Into South Pacific," The New York Times, February 20, 1999, Seth Faison. "Government warns of layoffs-Young says he doesn't see the need to eliminate garment sector," Saipan Tribune, February 24, 1999, Cookie B. Micaller.
[6] "Chinese skirting tariffs, stealing U.S. jobs with Marianas' sweatshops," Gannett Company, Inc., January 15, 1998. John Omicinski.
[7] "Government warns of layoffs-Young says he doesn't see the need to eliminate garment sector," Saipan Tribune, February 24, 1999, Cookie B. Micaller.
[8] ibid
[9] Correspondence Allen Stayman, Director, Insular Affairs, Department of the Interior to David A. Wiseman, Chairman, Government Relations Committee, Saipan Chamber of Commerce, January 13, 1999. personal copy
[10] Pedro P. Tenorio was the governor from 1982-1990, followed by Lawrence Guerrero (1990-1994), and followed by Roilan C. Tenorio (1994-1998). The present Governor is Pedro E Tenorio, who also served as governor from 1982 to 1990.
[11] "CNMI Implements Wage Hike in Garment and Construction Industries," Pacific Employment Law Letter, August 1997, Carlsmith Ball Wichmand Case & Ickiki.
[12] 1998 includes 3,000 noncitizens from nearby islands.
[13] See Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women's web page at http://www.inet.co.th/... for the most recent version.
[14] "Sex tours ad will hurt CNMI tourism: Marianas Visitor Bureau," Saipan Tribune, June 2, 1998, Linablue E Romero.
[15] "CNMI sends 15 to sex-tourism talks," Pacific Daily News, May 22, 1997, Floyd Whaley.
[16] Correspondence from Special Assistant for Women's Affairs, Remedio Sadlan, to Secretary, Department of Labor and Immigration, October 14, 1997. Personal copy.
[17] See United States of America vs. Kwon, Soon Oh, Kwon, Mo Young and Meng, Ting Yu. Case Number 98-00044.
[18] Overtime is at 1.5 times salary.
[19] "Crackdown on Labor Law Violations in Saipan Results in $2.1 Million in Back wages," U.S. Department of Labor Press Release, USDL: 99-20, January 20, 1999.
[20] The recruiter was a woman.
[21] Federal-CNMI Initiative on Labor, Immigration, and Law Enforcement in the CNMI, Fourth Annual Report, 1998 p.5.
[22] For further details about abuses of domestic workers, see: "Shame on American Soil," Readers Digest, June 1997, Henry Hurt.
[23] U.S. $1=8 Yuan
[24] While being paid the Chinese men interviewed received 70 cents over the minimum wage.
[25] "Benavente pleads innocent," December 8, 1998, Ferdie de la Torte.
[26] According to what the garment manufacturing representatives told Investigator A most garments produced in CNMI can be sold for four to five times the production cost.
[27] For further reading, see "Your pricey clothing is their low-pay work," Philadelphia Inquirer, February 8, 1998, Jennifer Lin.
[28] Personal correspondence from Aron Cramer, Vice President, Business and Human Rights, Business and Social Responsibility and James C. Lin, Chairman, Saipan Garment Manufactures Association, July 6, 1998. Personal copy.
[29] "Stalemate in Talks on Saipan Workers: Tug-of-war between local officials, federal government on sweatshop law," San Francisco Chronicle, January 20, 1990, Robert Collier.
[30] See for further details: "Beneath the American Flag: Labor and Human Rights Abuses in the CNMI: A Report by congressman George Miller and Democratic Staff of the House Committee on Resources," March 26, 1998, p. 13.
[31] "Statement of Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on S. 1275 The Covenant Implementation Act," Bruce Babbitt, March 31, 1998.
[32] "Stalemate in Talks on Saipan Workers: Tug-of-war between local officials, federal government on sweatshop law," San Francisco Chronicle, January 20, 1990, Robert Collier.
[33] "Crackdown on Labor Law Violations in Saipan Results in $2.1 Million in Back wages," U.S. Department of Labor Press Release, USDL: 99-20, January 20, 1999.
[34] "Big bucks-by the minute!" Seattle Times, July 2, 1998.
[35] "Plan for PR builds--Chamber offer shows need to hire a lobbyist," Saipan Tribune, Front page, March 1, 1999.
[36] Strategy: Pack public hearings, attack critics, provide free trips, (The Seattle Times), Danny Westneat, March 22, 1998 www.seattletimes.com/news/local/htm198/firma032298.html
[37] "Memo raises questions about Marianas lobbying," The Hi//(Washington, DC), Jock Friedly, March 25, 1998 p. 14.
[38] Correspondence from Dick Armey and Tom DeLay to Governor Froilan C. Tenorio, June 6, 1997. Personal copy.
[39] See "Tom DeLay, Defender of Sweatshops," Salon (an online magazine), February 4, 1999, Jeff Stein. www.salonmagazine.com Transcript of the press conference, personal copy.
[40] "Salute to an outstanding friend of the NMI," Saipan Tribune, November 18, 1998, Opinion-Editorial Section, John S. Delrosario, Jr.
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