The apparel companies say that factories, whether in New York or New Delhi, should not be considered sweat shops if they pay the local minimum or prevailing wage. The unions and the human rights groups, on the other hand, contend that such wages are often too meager to support a family and hence factories should be considered sweat shops by the US unless they pay wages high enough to meet basic needs. Unions and human rights groups also insist that factories in which employees are required to work more than 48 hours a week should be defined as sweat shops. The apparel companies say that factories should be free to require a 60-hour work week. Any standards adopted would have great potential to influence factory conditions in developing countries which export apparel to the American market President Clinton may strongly back the recommendations.
Wages vary widely among countries for sewing.
To ensure that American workers do not have to compete against apparel from sweat shops abroad, the task force is said to be leaning towards setting up a monitoring organisation to ensure compliance of factories at home and abroad that are under contract to companies that adopt the task force standards. It is also discussing a proposal under which all such companies would be entitled to place no sweat labels on their clothes. The task force has reportedly agreed that factories should generally not use workers under 15 though in some countries they would be allowed to employ 14 years olds. It said the White House apparel industry partnership was created in August last. On the crucial wage issue, Mr. Jay Mazur, president of the US Textile Employees Union, asserted that most minimum wages are not adequate to enable the workers to meet their basic needs.