Labor abuses in Honduras

Honduras is known for its cheap labor. If you look at the tag on your shirts, chances are many of them were manufactured right here in San Pedro Sula, where wages and operating costs are low. Most of the plants, however, are reported to be fairly well run, and the jobs are highly sought after as some of the best paying jobs in this economically depressed country.

But this report put out by the National Labor Committee on labor practices in one Honduran Alcoa auto parts processing plant is absolutely shocking. According to the report, workers were systematically abused and denied basic rights guaranteed by the UN and the International Labor Organization. Here is one of the more disturbing excerpts from the report:

At Alcoa, it is not uncommon for workers to have to urinate, or even defecate, in their clothing after repeatedly being denied permission to use the bathroom. The bathrooms are also dirty, lacking lights and toilet paper. Workers who take “too long” may be pulled from the toilet by guards. There have even been cases of women being made to disrobe and lower their underpants to prove they were having their period so they could use the bathroom more than twice a day. Workers arriving 15 minutes late can be punished with the loss of two-and-a-half or three days’ wages. With as little as ten minutes notice, workers on the night shift can be ordered to remain working for another six hours, keeping them at the factory from 4:15 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.—nearly 14 hours. All overtime is obligatory and those who object can be fired. Many lines work this mandatory 13 ¾ hour shift five nights a week, putting them at the factory 68 ¾ hours a week. Especially in Plant III, where the air conditioning has been broken for nearly a year, fainting is common as factory temperatures often reach 104 degrees. Supervisors yell at the workers, “Hey, Donkey, move!” or “Work, you prisoners!” Security guards patrol the shop floor and if they see someone resting for even a few seconds, they will poke that person with their baton and order them to keep moving. Especially at night, workers take strong caffeine pills to stay awake and race to meet their high production goals, as well as pills for muscle pain, and later sleeping pills in order to sleep during the day. Production speed-ups are routine and arbitrarily set by management. In June, workers were told they had to increase their production from nine harnesses a day to 12. This was a 33 percent increase in production, with no wage increase.

Fortunately, this report has attracted some international attention after Alcoa fired all employees who were recognizing their legally guaranteed right to unionize. My hope is that this international awareness will turn consumers´heads to the realities of cheap labor here in Central America, encouraged by so called ¨fair-trade¨agreements. I guess we need to ask ourselves a very difficult and complex question: Are these human rights abuses a fair trade-off for cheaper auto parts?