{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='USA: NEW YORK/SAIPAN: LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST CLOTHING SWEATSHOPS' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bdbdd8eafeecae1364d7' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bdbdd8eafeecae1364d7' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nUSA: NEW YORK/SAIPAN: LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST CLOTHING SWEATSHOPS\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eEnglish/NatLawyers in New York have filed the first ever lawsuit against  U-S retailers for the mistreatment of workers in foreign-owned factories operating on American soil.The factories are located in the U-S territory of Saipan, a...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eEnglish/Nat\u003cbr/\u003eLawyers in New York have filed the first ever lawsuit against  U-S retailers for the mistreatment of workers in foreign-owned factories operating on American soil.\u003cbr/\u003eThe factories are located in the U-S territory of Saipan, a small island in the South Pacific.\u003cbr/\u003eThe workers and human rights groups filed three lawsuits in California and Saipan over the sale of these goods, many marked \"Made in the U.S.A.,\" attorney Al Meyerhoff said at a news conference.\u003cbr/\u003eAmong the 18 companies named in the suits are The Limited, Wal-Mart, Sears, The Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, the May Company, J. Crew, Oshkosh B'Gosh, Associated Merchandising, Cutter \u0026amp; Buck Inc., Gymboree Manufacturing, Lane Bryant Inc., Warnaco and Dayton-Hudson Inc., which owns Marshall Fields.\u003cbr/\u003eThese companies either had no comment or did not immediately return calls.\u003cbr/\u003eMeyerhoff said that Saipan - the main island of the Northern Mariana Islands, an American commonwealth in the central Pacific - \"is America's worst sweatshop.\"\u003cbr/\u003eThe lawsuits accuse the companies of violating federal law by engaging in a racketeering conspiracy with the foreign-owned subcontractors in Saipan in the past decade. \u003cbr/\u003eIt's the first legal  attempt to hold U.S. retailers accountable for alleged mistreatment of workers under the federal Racketeering Influences Corrupt Organization (RICO) laws, Meyerhoff said.\u003cbr/\u003eThe subcontractors allegedly force people to work up to 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and pay them below the legal minimum wage of $3.05.\u003cbr/\u003eMany of the workers earn less than $500 a month, said Carmencita Abad, a Filipino native who spent six years on the island - a sleepy, 13-mile-long sugar cane island - working for one of the companies.\u003cbr/\u003eThe workers, mostly young women, live as many as eight to a room in guarded barracks enclosed by barbed wire. They have no access to drinking water except the bottled water they're forced to buy, and the only bathing water available to many is the sea, according to\u003cbr/\u003eMs. Abad. Many had paid as much as $7,000 to be brought to Saipan \"and they were promised the American Dream,\" said Meyerhoff.\u003cbr/\u003e \"We were afraid to complain,\" said Ms. Abad, adding that she had seen workers beaten when they questioned working conditions.\u003cbr/\u003eShe said that quality inspectors representing The Gap had visited her factory, but conditions did not change after they left.\u003cbr/\u003e\"I took the job because, like millions of people, I wanted to come to America,\" she said.\u003cbr/\u003eThe companies also are being sued under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a centuries-old law enacted to deal with pirates and allows actions to be brought by a foreign national for human rights violations.\u003cbr/\u003e In addition to workers from the Philippines, the labor force on Saipan comes from China, Bangladesh and Thailand. The factories in which they work are owned mostly by Chinese, Japanese and Korean subcontractors to the U.S. companies.\u003cbr/\u003eTogether, the three lawsuits are seeking more than $1 billion in damages, disgorgement of profits and unpaid wages for conditions that allegedly have persisted in the past decade.\u003cbr/\u003eThe federal government last year estimated that the companies collectively saved more than $200 million in duties for $1 billion worth of garments shipped from Saipan, which is duty free and does not fall under U.S. immigration laws.\u003cbr/\u003eThe workers' two class-action suits were filed in federal courts in California and Saipan. The human rights groups - Global Exchange, Sweatshop Watch, Asian Law Caucus and the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees - filed their\u003cbr/\u003elawsuit in California state court.\u003cbr/\u003eThe other companies named in the lawsuits are The Dress Barn and Jones Apparel Group, Nordstrom and J.C. Penney.\u003cbr/\u003e New York, Saipan and Various, USA, 13 January 1999 \u0026amp; File \u003cbr/\u003eNew York, 13 Jan\u003cbr/\u003e1. Wideshot press conference\u003cbr/\u003e2. Cutaway journalists\u003cbr/\u003e3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Al Meyerhoff, attorney \u003cbr/\u003eSaipan, File \u003cbr/\u003e4. Wideshot factories\u003cbr/\u003e5. Various women working in sewing factory\u003cbr/\u003eNew York, 13 Jan\u003cbr/\u003e6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Carmencita Abad, former Saipan worker activist\u003cbr/\u003e7. Midshot presser audience\u003cbr/\u003e8. SOUNDBITE:(English) Bama Athreya, Global Exchange representative\u003cbr/\u003eVarious, USA\u003cbr/\u003e9. Wideshot Sears store\u003cbr/\u003e10. Exteriors J Crew store\u003cbr/\u003e11. WS interior mall in front of Limited store\u003cbr/\u003eNew York, 13 Jan\u003cbr/\u003e12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Al Meyerhoff, attorney\u003cbr/\u003eVarious, File\u003cbr/\u003e13. Wideshot Gap store\u003cbr/\u003e14. 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