Apparel factories in Saipan are threatened by end of quotas

International Herald Tribune ^ | April 12, 2005 | ames Brooke

[hedgetrimmer]

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands This quiet little American territory, a Western Pacific island that struggled for years to improve working conditions in its sweatshops, now may lose many of its apparel factories to free-market forces.

The factories could fall victim to a flood of cheap Chinese clothing that is surging into the United States. And as Saipan's factories close or cut jobs, thousands of workers - most of them Chinese women - are left with a cruel choice: Go back to China's sweatshops and earn a fraction of their current pay or stay in Saipan, where the prospects for legal work are dim at best.

"There have been ups and downs in the past," said Lu Jian Ping, a seamstress who has been here for 13 years, working to support her son, a university student in China. But now that she has been laid off along with 400 workers at her factory, she is convinced that "this time is different."

Just since garment trade quotas ended worldwide on Jan. 1, four of Saipan's garment factories, which have long benefited from tariff-free access to the American market, have closed their doors. Orders to the rest have plummeted. About 1,585 workers have lost their jobs.

[hedgetrimmer]

In interviews, several Chinese women said they could go home to do the same sewing job in China, but for 30 cents an hour, or 10 percent of Saipan's $3.05 wage rate. Or they could stay in Saipan, where the most lucrative option is a furtive life of hunting male tourists who will pay $50 for a "special massage."

Ain't free trade grand?

"I believe garments are 65 percent of the economy," Alex Sablan, president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, said.

In the name of "free trade" the Islands' economy has just been devastated. Note that Saipan has been trading with the US with no tariffs. By favoring China, and the removal of the tariffs favoratism for the communist nation, the free traders have devastated an American territory.

According to the manufacturers association, the clothing industry spends almost $50 million on the island for food, gasoline, supplies, land leases, insurance and freight. Taxes collected amount to $70 million, or a third of the commonwealth budget.

[hedgetrimmer]

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[Laz711]

I agree with you, but Saipan is not a territory. It is part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a Federal Protectorate [sp]. It is close to Guam (where I currently live until Monday), which is a territory. The fact that we are allowing this to happen is absurd, these islands need all of the business that America can give them, they are dirt poor and Guam, the jewel of Micronesia, is (IMHO) just barely above third world level (think some of the areas in Mexico around tourist spots, that is what Guam is like)

[GATOR NAVY]

You're right that Saipan is not a Territory like Guam, but it's not part of the FSM either. It's part of the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas. It has the same political relationship with the U.S. as Puerto Rico.

[Laz711]

Sorry, Commonwealth, not Federated states, you are correct, oops.