The Apparel Industry Partnership's Free Labor Association: A Solution to the Overseas Sweatshop Problem or the Emperor's New Clothes
![handle is hein.journals/nyuilp32 and id is 1069 raw text is: THE APPAREL INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIP'S FREE
LABOR ASSOCIATION: A SOLUTION TO THE
OVERSEAS SWEATSHOP PROBLEM OR THE
EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES?
MARIA GInLEN*
I. INTRODUCION
The globalization of the world's markets and the rise of
multinational corporations (multinationals) to a stature rival-
ing that of nation-states has transformed the world's labor
markets.' To remain competitive in this global market, mul-
tinationals have increasingly moved their production facilities
to developing nations in order to take advantage of plentiful,
cheap labor that remains relatively unprotected by unioniza-
don or governmental regulation.2 This phenomenon is espe-
cially apparent in the apparel industry where the quickly
changing trends of fashion and the mechanization-resistant
nature of fabric render apparel manufacturers uniquely reli-
ant on human labor.3 Since the early 1970s, developing coun-
tries have almost doubled their share of the apparel market
and now account for over sixty percent of the world's clothing
exports.4 This increased activity has generated competition
among developing countries to attract contracts from multina-
tionals, resulting in a downward effect on wages and working
* J.D. expected May 2001, New York University School of Law. I vSsh
to thank Dean John Sexton, Professor William Nelson, Jed Diamond, Eric
Christiansen, Liza Perkins, and the Journal of International Law and Politics
editorial staff.
1. See OZAY HMEw-r E'r AL., TowARDs A FAIR GLoikal. L BOUR M.REr 3
(1999).
2. See BuRFAu OF INT'L LABOR AFFAiRS, U.S. DEP'T OF LnoR, THE Ap-
PAREL INDUSrRY AND CODES OF CONDUCT:, A SOLirION TO TME INERhL.
TIONAL CILD LABOR PROBLFNI? 15, 22 (1996) [hereinafter THE APP.AREL Ib'-
DUSrY AND CODES OF CoNDucr].
3. See Michael Piore, The Economics of the Sweatshop, in No SwExT. FASH-
ION, FREE TRADE, AND THE RIGHTS OF GARi.MENT N oRKFRs 135, 138 (Andrewv
Ross ed., 1997).
4. THE APPARL INDusRY AND CODES OF CONDUCT, supra note 2, at II.C.
1059
Imaged with the Permission of N.Y.U. Journal of International Law and Politics](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/nyuilp32&div=32&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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