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Opinion

Horrible labor conditions endure

Timothy O'Brien
Opinion Columnist

America was founded on the slave trade. If you don't understand that, then you don't understand American history. 

Steven Deyle, a professor in the UH history department and author of Carry Me Back, a study of the domestic slave trade, made that statement in a job talk he gave prior to joining the UH faculty. Slavery and indentured servitude in the United States involved wretched working and living conditions: back-breaking labor, bad food and no pay. It was a system that could not sustain itself. 

Throughout the world -- including in the United States -- horrific labor conditions continue to exist. Workers handle toxic chemicals without adequate protection, children are forced into labor and millions of workers toil in sweatshops making designer clothes that Americans purchase without a thought or a care about how or where they were manufactured. 

During the election season, voters should know where candidates stand on sweatshops. Gov. John E. Baladacci of Maine has taken the lead on the issue at the state level. In 2001, legislators in Maine enacted the Sweatfree Procurement Act. This law was written to stop unsuspecting taxpayer support for sweatshop abuses and create a market for fair labor standards. In Feb. 2006, Baladacci sent a letter to all governors asking them to join him in the Governors' Coalition for Sweatfree Procurement. In September, both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania governors did the right thing and got on board. 

Let's take a look at where some of our Texas politicians fall on this issue. Gov. Rick Perry's office claims it never received Baladacci's letter. Perry refused to issue a statement on sweatshops. 

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst also refused to take a position for or against sweatshop procurement. Texas Sen. Rodney Ellis, who represents a large swath of Houston, has also refused to take a public stand against slave labor, child labor and sweatshops. District 147 Texas House Rep. Garnet Coleman will not speak up against his corporate masters on the sweatshop issue although he will say he has done something. 

At the local level we have District D councilwoman Ada Edwards whose district includes UH. Edwards claims to be pro-union and a supporter of the Service Employees International Union that represents janitors. Edwards, who blathers on ad nauseam about discrimination against blacks, has refused to come out publicly against sweatshops. 

Councilwoman Carol Alvarado represents District I, which encompasses the largely Hispanic East Side as well the Freedmen's Town district. Alvarado has taken lots of union money to support her campaigns. Alvarado claims to be pro-union, but she can't be pro-union and not take a stand against the city of Houston buying goods sourced from sweatshops. 

The behavior of these politicians reflects the plantation mindset. Perry is similar to the plantation master who uses house servants like Ellis and Coleman and others to work against their own.

O'Brien, a history Ph.D. candidate, 
can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu