Honduran Children used to Produce NFL and NBA Jerseys
by Lindsay Melone
November 2005
What do Ben Roethlisberger, Chris Webber, Donovan McNabb, and Tracy McGrady have in common? Children in the United States are often seen wearing the jerseys of these men, along with other professional athletes whom they idolize. Almost every boy in our country owns at least one flashy, expensive jersey, and they wear it with pride as they support their favorite player or team. However, no one stops to think about the unfortunate child who actually made these jerseys in the Han-Soll factory in far away Honduras. The popular National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) jerseys are sewn by children who are forced to work in a dangerous, illegal, and unrighteous environment ("Han-Soll").
Honduras, like many other Central American countries, is home to a vast amount of child slave labor. One of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, its economic growth is extremely dependent on trade with the United States. The Han-Soll factory is a Korean-owned Honduran factory creating products that are shipped to America. Composed of two plants, it employs about 1500 workers ("Honduras"). Producing NBA and NFL jerseys for the retailer Reebok, these items are sold at sporting goods stores throughout the United States including the NBA store, Champs, Foot Locker, Modell's, and Sports Authority ("Eve"). The factory is able to produce about 1.3 million jerseys per month, which amounts to around 15.6 million per year. The jerseys are sold at a relatively high price, averaging about seventy-five dollars per jersey ("Han-Soll"). I believe it is extremely immoral that these multi-million dollar companies acquire their jerseys from a sweatshop where not only slave labor is taking place, but child slave labor is the norm. These children are given no rights, as they have no power to control the working environment in which they are placed.
Young females are the prime workers at the Han-Soll factory. They must undergo both physical and emotional abuse on a daily basis. These laborers must work between ten to thirteen hours a day, amounting to up to sixty-four hours a week ("Eve"). Throughout the long day, the workers are given only one break, for lunch, which lasts a half hour. They are given no other resting period throughout the entire day ("Han-Soll"). Beyond the long hours that the workers must endure, they are also treated disrespectfully and harshly by their supervisors. It is not uncommon to hear workers being screamed, cursed, and shouted at. The employees are told not to speak unless completely necessary, and must ask for special permission to use the bathroom. Should a young lady become pregnant, she gets are singled out and discriminated against. Also, if a worker becomes ill and must take a sick day, she risks losing three days worth of wages ("Eve").
The long, draining work day that these young people must undergo might be more tolerable if they receive respectable pay. However, these workers earn a base wage of a meager sixty-five cents per hour. They receive only nineteen cents for each jersey sewn, which is less than one third of a percent of the jersey's retail price ("Eve"). Workers sew an average of forty jerseys a day, which is equivalent to about 400 in a period of two weeks. Through sewing these 400 jerseys, a worker makes about seventy-five dollars, which is the price that a single jersey is sold for in the United States. The basic cost of living in Honduras is higher than the wages that these factory workers can earn, forcing them to live in terrible conditions ("Han-Soll").
Wendy Diaz is a fifteen-year-old girl who began working in the Honduras at the age of thirteen. Her working day began at 8:00 a.m. and did not end until 9:00 p.m. In some instances, she and the other teenage girls were forced to work all night long. The employees were only permitted to use the bathroom twice a day. Wendy struggled to work in what she describes to be enormously hot conditions. She is one of countless young children forced to endure this devastating experience (Newman 36).
Although the workers know they are being treated poorly, they have no idea what the laws are regarding their hours, pay, and care. In April of 2005, eighteen of the Han-Soll factory members secretly met with Child Slave Labor activists for an interview. They noted that if their employers were to find out about this meeting, they would surely be fired. When asked about the Code of Conduct at their factory, the workers admitted they did not know the laws because they were only posted in English and Korean, neither of which they could understand. Instead of being told the Code of Conduct by their employers, the employees are only told the rules of work. The main law that is reinforced into the minds of the workers is that if the client asks for a certain amount of production in a specific time period, this must be completed. Nothing regarding their personal rights at the factory had ever been mentioned ("Han-Soll").
When the jerseys that are made in the Han-Soll factory are shipped to the United States, the wholesale value per jersey is $5.03. This means that when Reebok, the NFL, and the NBA sell the jerseys for seventy-five dollars, they have marked up the price by 1400 percent. In order to advertise the jerseys, Reebok spends roughly over three dollars per jersey, which is seventeen times more than the person who made it gets paid ("NFL"). There is no reason why companies such as Reebok, the NBA, and the NFL should take advantage of the young, helpless workers that work in the Han-Soll factory.
A popular NFL jersey that is often sold is that of Terrell Owens, a player for the Philadelphia Eagles. He makes over nine million dollars per year, which is almost 600,000 dollars per game. Likewise, NBA player Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves makes sixteen million dollars per year, which amounts to almost 200,000 dollars per game ("Han-Soll"). These men are just two of hundreds of players who make millions of dollars per year. Why is it that these associations can pay its players such large sums of money, but they will not put any of their funds toward improving the pay and conditions in the Han-Soll factory. These huge businesses have the power to make vast improvements in their supplier companies. However, they do not seem to have the desire to try to make a difference.
The media also plays an important role in stopping child slave labor. By exposing what is happening in Honduras, and many other countries like it, the media can serve as an informant to the people in the United States. Many Americans are unaware that the NFL and NBA jerseys being sold in our malls have been sewn by child slaves. By exposing the Han-Soll factory, the media has the power to teach Americans about the truth behind the products that they buy. However, it seems as if what is happening in countries outside of our own is not a concern for the American press along with the citizens of the United States (Bales 146-147). Not only must the large companies such as Reebok, the NBA, and the NFL work toward stopping child slave labor, but all Americans must participate as well by refusing to buy products made in factories such as Han-Soll.
The young workers in the Han-Soll factory should not be forced to tolerate the conditions that they endure each day. It will take a large group effort from the companies for which the jerseys are made, along with the American public, to put a stop to child slave labor. In the twentieth century, this problem needs to be tackled. With the help and awareness of others around the world, the lives of the children who have been unfairly placed into a life of slavery, may soon be restored.
Sources Used:
http://www.nlcnet.org/news/han_sol_report_web.pdf
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ho.html
http://blog.oneamericacommittee.com/comments.pl?sid=187&op=&threshold=0&commentsort=1&mode=nested&tid=1&cid=13067
http://www.gregspotts.com/main/2005/07/on_eve_of_house.html
Mariko Curran