? ?GAP refuses to disclose the whereabouts of all its factories so its impossible to know what goes on everywhere. But ...
GAP says it looks after its workers but last year Panorama found these claims were untrue, motivated by a desire to attract customers to its shops.
Saipan is a small island north east of Australia belonging to the USA. Working conditions in its sweatshops sound like a concentration camp. The workers live in barracks enclosed with inward pointing barbed wire. Guards monitor workers, often subjecting them to lock downs, curfews, threats, and physical harm.
The workers are forced to sign contracts that take away basic human rights. They mustn't form unions, are not allowed to marry, get pregnant or even fall in love!
Because Saipan is part of the US factories must keep to various saftey standards. Investigations on the island found over 1000 violations including insufficient clean drinking water, unsanitory toilets, and overcrowding.
In 1998 GAP paid its chief excutive over £30 million. Last year that figure more than tripled - he made over £100 million. GAP's Cambodian workers make £7 per week. They are asking for a modest £10 which is just to buy basic needs. In Russia the workers get 7p an hour and are reported to be working under slave like conditions.
There's more... Last year there were over 50 anti-GAP protests worldwide. This number looks set to increase as more people learn about GAP's practices.
In Honduras, a delegation from the National Labor Committee in June 1999 reported a Gap factory in Honduras where workers are subjected to forced pregnancy tests, forced overtime, exceedingly high productive goals, locked bathrooms, and wages of $4/day that only meet 1/3 of their basic needs.
The workers said that if they tried to organize a union or even become more informed of their rights, they would be fired. They had never heard of the Gap's code of conduct.
It's not just about abusing its workforce. The founders and owners of GAP, the Fisher family, recently bought some of the last “old growth” Redwood forest in Califonia. These forests take thousands of years to grow. In fact a single tree can live for over 2000 years. Over the past 150 years 97% of California's Redwood forests has been cut down. This has made them the focus of an international boycott called for by Californian environmentalists trying to save Redwood forests.
The response of GAP founders and owners, the Fisher family, has been extremely poor. Some logging has been halted by court orders. The Fisher's claim it's their investment, they have to make money from it. The family is reported to be worth $11 billion!!! ($11,000,000,000) so this is a pretty poor excuse.
Read about the Fisher family's treatment of the Redwood forests in California by the activists who are in the front line: www.gapsucks.org or read their e-mail to people here.
Read about GAP's practice in poorer countries at: www.globalexchange.org. Look for the transcripts of Panorama's program there.