Marc Dixon
Florida State University
Private monitoring emerged in response to the sweatshop problem that exploded in the U.S. and around the globe during the late twentieth century. Following public outcry over the abysmal conditions in clothing production, companies were encouraged to monitor and ultimately improve the working conditions in the factories where their clothes were made. In this important book, Jill Esbenshade skillfully pieces together a mass of evidence that challenges the wisdom and effectiveness of private monitoring as practiced in the global apparel industry. While much of the book is devoted to that end, the final section tackles the budding alliance of student and consumer activists with workers at the point of production, and the potential for an alternative approach to combating sweatshops.
Although workers are included in the subtitle of the book, they are conspicuously absent from the monitoring process. As the author details, giant retailers and brand name clothing manufacturers dominate the production system. They may set terms and prices for the legions of contractors that actually assemble the apparel, but they retain no legal responsibility for the conditions under which the work is performed. In combination with diminished regulation and the drastic decrease in unionization, these arrangements enable sweatshops to flourish. Esbenshade argues that encouraging private companies to monitor the factories where their clothes are made does not challenge this basic problem. Rather, private monitoring represents a new, more paternalistic form of labor relations where giant retailers and brand name clothing manufacturers control the process and workers are not involved.
The author makes a persuasive argument about the limits of private monitoring with a case study of Los Angeles. Domestically, monitoring for sweatshop conditions is typically carried out by private compliance firms or by company representatives themselves. Despite early critical acclaim, the government supported private monitoring process is severely flawed. Monitoring can be a haphazard process. Individual monitors often lack training and there are few standards across the industry. Many visits to clothing factories are announced and provide time for contractors to hide or clean up violations. Interviews with individual workers about conditions in the plant, when they do occur, are primarily done on site where the threat of employer reprisal is very real. Importantly, violations of the freedom of association and collective bargaining rights are rarely looked into as part of the monitoring process.
Equally if not more troubling is the inherent conflict of interest at the center of private monitoring. It is in the brand name clothing manufacturers’ interest to look for contractors with the lowest prices and best quality. Yet, these very same manufacturers are placed in charge of monitoring their own contractors for wage and hour violations, child labor, and other poor work practices—a situation that amounts to “the fox guarding the chicken coop” (p.98). The situation is much the same when these companies contract out to private compliance firms. The brand name manufacturer pays these firms and the reports issued are confidential and stay in the hands of the manufacturer. Not surprisingly then, the author’s analysis of Department of Labor data shows that private monitoring in Los Angeles has not prevented a majority of contractors from being out of compliance with basic labor laws.
The global situation is even bleaker. Violations of health and safety regulations, wage and hour standards, and unionization rights are widespread. In addressing the conditions globally, many corporations have adopted codes of conduct for their contractors. Esbenshade shows that there have been some improvements in working conditions as result of these codes, although they typically do not involve long-term solutions or worker involvement. The data for the international case are not as systematic and the direction and effectiveness of monitoring there remain somewhat unclear. What is clear, however, is that the implementation of corporate codes face significant hurdles. The pricing arrangements of the industry limit implementation because brand name clothing manufacturers simply do not pay enough to allow contractors to make the appropriate changes and remain in business.
The last section of the book examines the struggle for alternative, independent monitoring, and the prospects for an emerging worker-consumer alliance. The same arrangements that have empowered brand name clothing manufacturers and retailers relative to workers have also given leverage to consumer activists. Esbenshade argues that the fusion of activism at the point of consumption with that at the point of production has the potential to bring workers into the monitoring process and ultimately to increase their standing in the employment relationship. Such a possibility is illustrated with a first hand account of the birth of independent monitoring in a campaign in the mid-1990s against a contractor in El Salvador producing primarily for The Gap. Unlike private monitoring, this approach places workers at the center, is carried out through NGOs that are independent of the contractors and clothing manufacturers, and can be used to facilitate union organizing. It gained currency in the U.S. with the student anti-sweatshop moveent. Students challenged the practices of manufacturers of university apparel and scored some impressive victories, including the formation of the Worker Rights Consortium that promoted worker-centered, independent monitoring.
I would have liked to see more on the fusion of consumer/student and worker activism. While there have been some impressive developments in this regard, it is unclear if such a movement can alter the basic structure of the apparel industry. Garment workers, like other less powerful movements and groups, face the unenviable task of continually courting external, often elite support (Western consumers in this case) to secure new gains. The jury is still out as to whether such worker-consumer alliances can lead to long term organization and worker strength, although the prospects are not necessarily encouraging.
This is an ambitious book that draws on rich interview data and case study materials to weave together a complex story of the various corporate, grass roots, and worker efforts to police an abusive industry. It succeeds on all fronts. It should be of interest to students of social movements, stratification, and labor, and for those who are concerned about how their clothes are made.