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DE RUEHBU #0786/01 1582014
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (CCY EDITED REFS AD9F5EC3 MSI8307)
R 062014Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1278
INFO RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0721

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000786 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y - EDITED REFS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREL ELAB PHUM PGOV ECIN ECON SOCI AR
SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: FORCED AND CHILD LABOR IN GARMENT INDUSTRY 
 
REF: (a) SECSTATE 41381 (b) BUENOS AIRES 344 
(c) BUENOS AIRES 519 (d) Gomez-McCarter 5/20/08 E-mail 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Based on interviews with GOA officials, 
International Labor Organization representatives, and union and NGO 
leaders, as well as a review of media articles, some companies in 
Argentina's apparel industry appear to use forced and child labor in 
their production chain.   It is difficult to ascertain the extent of 
the problem, as reliable statistics do not exist.  Estimates 
provided by government officials and NGOS may be inflated, because 
they do not/not clearly distinguish between voluntary sweatshop 
labor, long work hours in family-run businesses, and exploitative 
labor as defined by cable guidance (ref A).  The public, private, 
and NGO sectors work together to investigate and prosecute companies 
that are accused of using forced and child labor.  The government 
has conducted a number of public awareness campaigns and has 
organized training for labor inspectors.  There have been a number 
of isolated reports of forced and/or child labor in small scale 
cultivation of the following goods: sugar, cotton, tobacco, poultry, 
tomatoes, strawberries, flowers, sugar, grapes, and lemons.  Post 
has limited data on the extent of the problem but believes it merits 
further research.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Good: Apparel 
 
Type of exploitation 
-------------------- 
 
According to our sources listed below, some companies in Argentina's 
apparel industry appear to use forced and child labor in their 
production chain.  This includes debt bondage, physical restraint, 
threats to personal and family safety, labor offered under false 
pretenses, the confiscation of worker identity documents, and legal 
action (i.e., jail or deportation for illegal entry) against 
undocumented workers.  Child labor also exists, as children may work 
alongside parents in clandestine shops.  See refs B and C for more 
details on labor exploitation in Argentina. 
 
Sources of information and Years 
-------------------------------- 
 
In recent weeks, Post interviewed GOA officials at the Ministry of 
Labor (MOL), Ministry of Justice (MOJ), and the National Commission 
Against Child Labor (CONAETI).  Post also met with the Buenos Aires 
City Ombudsman's Office, as well as representatives from the 
International Labor Organization (ILO), and leaders of the Garment 
Workers Union and a local NGO, the Alameda Foundation Against Slave 
Labor.  Secondary source research included articles from 2006 - 2008 
in leading dailies La Nacion, Clarin, and Pagina 12, and the 
websites and reports of the MOL, CONAETI, ILO, and UNICEF.  Per 
instructions (ref A) a list of websites will be e-mailed to the 
Department of Labor separately. 
 
The Alameda Foundation is a local NGO formed in December 2007.  The 
organization is headed by Gustavo Vera and Nestor Escudero, both of 
whom have a history of active involvement in the fight against slave 
labor in the textile sector.  Vera also heads the Sewing Workers 
Union.  The foundation provides legal advice to workers of 
sweatshops, denounces cases related to slave labor in the garment 
sector, and informs the public of exploitation cases.  The Alameda 
Foundation and its members work closely with officials from the city 
of Buenos Aires and local prosecutors to bring to justice textile 
factory owners accused of exploitation, as well as the owners of 
clothing brands that outsource production of their goods to these 
factories. 
 
Narrative 
--------- 
 
Most garments produced in-country are sold domestically as both 
generic and branded goods, yet some of these goods have an 
international reach.  According to a January 2007 U.S. Foreign 
Commercial Service Report on the Argentine apparel sector, local 
apparel sales to foreign tourists reached US$ 110 million in 2006, 
reflecting a year-on-year increase of 40 percent over 2005.  Apparel 
exports increased 59 percent in 2003 to USD 47 million, reaching 
markets in Europe, the U.S., Japan, and Central America.  Some 
Argentine brand names have opened stores overseas, including Cheeky, 
which manufactures children's clothes and has a storefront in North 
Carolina.  Both the Buenos Aires National Ombudsman's Office and the 
Alameda Foundation publicly denounce Cheeky for exploitative labor 
practices, but neither this company nor any other has been found 
guilty of such practices in an Argentine court of law. 
 
According to the Alameda Foundation and an MOL official, Bolivian 
immigrants, usually in country illegally, represent the majority of 
forced labor victims.  However there are also instances of 
Paraguayan, Peruvian, and Korean victims.  (Post tried repeatedly to 
meet with counterparts at the Bolivian Embassy to discuss this issue 
without success.)  The Foundation and media report that victims are 
lured by radio and print ads in their home countries that promise 
jobs in Argentina with eight- or nine-hour work days and a living 
wage.  When victims inquire in Bolivia about the jobs in Argentina, 
local representatives help arrange their travel across Argentina's 
long and porous borders.  Upon arrival, victims, often with their 
entire families, are forced to work 12-18 hour days, six days a week 
at below subsistence wages with little or no food, rest, or 
vacation.  Workspaces may double as housing. 
 
News articles and the Buenos Aires Ombudsman's Office repeat 
Alameda's claims.   These same sources state that some owners may 
withhold pay due to "debts" incurred by the recruiter in 
transporting the workers.  The structure of the garment industry, 
where larger companies often outsource production to small-scale, 
unregistered shops on short-term contracts, is a factor in the 
propagation of forced labor.  All operate under a lax regulatory 
environment with limited enforcement of labor standards, especially 
outside the federal capital. 
 
Cases of forced labor appear periodically in leading dailies.  One 
well-known case occurred on March 29, 2006, when a sweatshop in the 
Caballito neighborhood of Buenos Aires city caught fire, killing six 
Bolivian immigrants, a man, a woman, and four children ages two to 
fifteen.  The incident led to a wave of investigations throughout 
the city which closed many sweatshops and brought national attention 
to forced labor practices and illegal sweatshops. 
 
More recently, on March 4, 2008, leading daily Clarin reported that 
police raided a garment sweatshop in the municipality of Florencio 
Varela in Buenos Aires Province after receiving a complaint from a 
worker who escaped and reported abuses to law enforcement officials. 
 The police found seven Bolivian workers, including minors, living 
under slave-like conditions, unable to leave the premises where they 
operated sewing machines and looms.  The police arrested the factory 
owner, who had confiscated the victims' identity documents.  On 
April 4, 2008, Pagina 12 reported that police raided another 
sweatshop in Buenos Aires Province, finding fifteen undocumented 
Bolivians living in similar conditions.  On May 30, 2008, a contact 
at the 5th Federal Court confirmed Alameda Foundation's claim that 
oral arguments will soon begin in an exploitative labor case against 
major local brands Montagne, Lacar, Rasti, and Cheeky. 
 
Incidence 
-------- 
 
Post notes that incidence statistics enumerated below do not clearly 
distinguish between voluntary sweatshop labor, long work hours in 
family-run businesses, and exploitative labor as defined by cable 
guidance (ref A). 
 
A representative of the Buenos Aires City Ombudsman's Office told 
poloff that they estimate that approximately 25,000 garment workers 
toil under slave-like conditions in the city.  He stated that the 
city government successfully closed about 300 sweatshops, while 
another 500 moved outside the city to avoid inspections, but remain 
in Buenos Aires Province.  The City Ombusdsman's Office has 
identified 71 brands believed to manufacture garments in sweatshops. 
 The Alameda Foundation has publicly denounced 85 brands and has 
filed approximately 100 legal complaints alleging forced and/or 
child labor.  Its president, Gustavo Vera, is quoted in the press 
suggesting some slightly higher estimates of sweatshop activity, 
claiming that "between 700 - 900 were closed, another thousand moved 
to the province of Buenos Aires, and 3,000 remain in the city." 
According to press reports, federal and local governments closed 
down 712 sweatshops in the city of Buenos Aires over the 
eighteen-month period January 2006 - June 2007.  A senior Ministry 
of Labor official told poloff that 60% of the informal workforce in 
the apparel industry is Bolivian.  A 2004 MOJ/INDEC/ILO survey of 
Argentina found that of 456,207 children between the ages of five 
and seventeen working in a manner that interfered with school 
attendance, 27.9% of five to thirteen year olds and 36.8% of 
fourteen to seventeen year olds worked in some type of business, 
garment shop, or farm.  Apparel-specific data is not provided. 
 
Efforts to Reduce Exploitative Labor 
--------------------- 
 
The GOA's MOL is responsible for conducting labor inspections to 
ensure that companies register their workers and pay social security 
and other benefits proscribed by law.  While it is responsible for 
conducting child labor inspections throughout th country, it 
delegates the responsibility of safety inspections to the provinces 
and the autonomous city of Buenos Aires.  If forced or child labor 
is detected or suspected in the course of a routine inspection by 
the GOA MOL, it reports this to the relevant provincial authorities 
for further action.  The MOL has signed an agreement with the 
Ministry of Education whereby child laborers identified in MOL 
inspections will be given a scholarship to enable them to attend 
school until 18 years of age.  In addition, if the child's parents 
are unemployed, they will receive financial aid, labor training, and 
job referral assistance for two years.  The Ministry of the Interior 
in April 2006 instituted the "Patria Grande" program, which 
regularizes illegal immigrants born in MERCOSUR or associate 
countries.  According to a source at Argentina's National Migration 
Office, the Program has helped fight forced labor.  Once immigrants 
receive citizenship documents they may apply for legal work and are 
unlikely to return to illegal, potentially exploitative jobs 
conditions. 
 
The Buenos Aires City government, notably the City Ombudsman's 
Office, the Under Secretary of Labor, and the Under Secretary of 
Human Rights, have led the city government's efforts to combat 
forced and child labor in the apparel industry.  They work 
cooperatively with the ILO and the Alameda Foundation to call for 
and/or lead investigations into alleged sweatshops, and publicly 
denounce numerous brand names.  However, no case involving a major 
brand name has been successfully tried in Argentine courts. 
 
In 2007, the National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI), 
under the Ministry of the Economy, launched its voluntary 
certification program for clothing companies as a result of the 
public outcry triggered by the March 2006 sweatshop fire in 
Caballito.  To combat forced labor in the apparel industry, INTI 
offers certificates of quality to clothing companies, including 
factories and suppliers along the entire production chain. 
Interested firms undergo a series of inspections and audits by INTI 
to gain certification.  The applicant company must show that it 
provides its employees with decent, safe, environmentally-friendly 
working conditions free of violence, discrimination, and 
forced/child labor.  As an incentive, INTI signed an agreement in 
2007 with the Ministry of Defense and the Buenos Aires Provincial 
Education Ministry, whereby the Ministries would favor certified 
companies in their purchases. 
 
National and provincial governments work with the ILO, UNICEF, and 
other international organizations to build capacity and 
institutionalize norms related to forced and child labor across 
production of all goods in Argentina.  The National Committee for 
the Elimination of Child Labor (CONAETI) conducts research on the 
issue, develops national programs and policies aimed at combating 
child labor, organizes training workshops with provincial labor 
inspectors, and coordinates policy with Provincial Committees for 
the Elimination of Child Labor (COPRETIs).  Many of its programs 
have been developed with outside assistance from the ILO and UNICEF. 
 It has conducted several public awareness campaigns in schools 
throughout the country, including a national campaign entitled "No 
to Child Labor" co-sponsored with the Ministry of Education. 
 
Private companies also support the fight against forced labor.  For 
example, Spanish Telecommunications company Telefonica created the 
Telefonica Foundation, whose Pronino program invests in educational 
opportunities for "at-risk children."  In 2007, the program 
benefited 52,991 children, up 108 percent from the year before.  In 
addition, the civic organization Conciencia, funded in part by 
private companies, none of which are garment manufacturers, 
contributes money to a few child labor prevention programs in 
Argentina, including Pronino. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Goods that Merit Further Research 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Based on Post interviews with the aforementioned 
organizations, the Argentina Rural Workers Union (UATRE) and media 
reports, there have been a number of isolated reports of forced 
and/or child labor in small scale cultivation of the following 
goods: sugar, cotton, tobacco, poultry, tomatoes, strawberries, 
flowers, sugar, grapes, and lemons.  Post has limited data on the 
extent of the problem, but believes it merits further research.  A 
2004 MOJ/INDEC/ILO survey of Argentina found that of 456,207 
children between the ages of five and seventeen working in a manner 
that interfered with school attendance, 27.9% of five to thirteen 
year olds and 36.8% of fourteen to seventeen year olds worked in 
some type of business, garment shop, or farm.  Farm-specific data is 
not provided.  The study also showed that in rural areas, where 
cultivation of the goods above occurs, 78.5% of five to thirteen 
year olds and 38.1% of fourteen to seventeen year olds are working 
for their parents or other relatives.  UATRE Secretary General 
Venegas agrees that many children work on family farms out of 
necessity.  However, he agrees that this should not interfere with 
school, and must take into consideration the dangers associated with 
childrens' exposure to pesticides. 
 
In November of 2006 tobacco growers, together with CONAETI and the 
ILO, launched the "Porvenir" program in Misiones Province to 
promotes and ensure school attendance by children of tobacco 
workers. 
UATRE Secretary General Geronimo Venegas noted in an interview with 
Post that his labor union has a history of fighting exploitative 
labor practices through worker documentation initiatives.  In 2002, 
the union successfully implemented a country-wide program to provide 
agricultural laborers with worker log books, which is mandatory for 
work.  Only legal, documented workers could receive a log book.  The 
log book is not issued to illegal immigrants, undocumented workers, 
or children. 
 
WAYNE