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Ralph Nader and League of Fans urge Major League Baseball to adopt worker rights standards for product licensing agreements February 10, 2004In response to recent reports of poor labor practices in factories that produce "official" Major League Baseball licensed goods, Ralph Nader and the sports reform project League of Fans sent a letter to Commissioner Bud Selig and Players Association Executive Director Donald Fehr asking that they adopt internationally recognized worker rights standards as a condition governing all of their product sourcing and licensing agreements. The letter follows.
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Allan H. "Bud" Selig
Donald M. Fehr
Dear Gentlemen:
Recently, the worker and human rights organization National Labor Committee released a 60-page report detailing the labor practices of the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company (subsidiary of K2 Inc.) in Latin America as well as accounts of labor practices at other plants where Major League Baseball and Major League Baseball Players Association licensed products are manufactured.
Highlighted in the report where first-hand experiences of several workers at the Rawlings plant in Turrialba, Costa Rica where the official baseballs for Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and the NCAA College World Series are produced along with other goods and apparel.
The worker injustices and human rights abuses outlined in the report are disgraceful. Your respective organizations must not ignore their roles in this exploitation and abuse of worker rights committed under Major League Baseball and Players Association product sourcing and licensing agreements.
We cannot tell you that it comes as a shock to us that Major League Baseball properties do not have any workers rights guidelines in their licensing agreements. Baseball's business practices tend to disregard such principles of human decency as getting in the way of higher profits.
Nor are we surprised by the irony of the Players Association's strike fund being supported by royalties from products which might be made by third world workers stripped of their own rights. The irony is bitter.
In the National Labor Committee's report, some of the above mentioned Rawlings workers, under condition of anonymity due to their fear of being fired or reprimanded, spoke out about: forced overtime; low wages with little chance of a raise; numerous workplace injuries, many of those permanent; extreme heat; a tense work environment with constant pressure to work faster and with speaking prohibited; locked bathrooms used only with permission; many temp workers fired and rehired every three months to eliminate the possibility of legal rights; and the inability to organize an independent union or to bargain collectively without fear of firing.
In the January 25, 2004 New York Times article titled "Low-Wage Costa Ricans Make Baseballs for Millionaires," regarding the Rawlings plant in Turrialba, Costa Rica, it was reported that "Officials at Major League Baseball headquarters in New York referred questions about the plant to Rawlings." Mr. Selig, does this mean that Major League Baseball doesn't take interest in or have concern for what goes on in the facilities where exploited workers make your licensed goods?
From the same piece, "The head of baseball's Players Association, Donald Fehr, said workplace injuries at the plant had not been brought to his attention." Mr. Fehr, now that these working conditions have been brought to your attention, what will the players union do to support justice for those workers?
Gentlemen, we join in the National Labor Committee's call for Major League Baseball and the Players Association to:
"... immediately adopt internationally recognized worker rights standards and effective enforcement mechanisms, as a core condition governing all of its product sourcing and licensing agreements."
American consumers and baseball fans currently have no guarantee that any licensed Major League Baseball products are not being made under sweatshop conditions that violate basic human and worker rights standards. We ask that you demand guarantees, with confirmation from independent organizations through a transparent factory monitoring program, and provide full disclosure of the names and addresses of the factories used around the world to make your licensed goods.
It's time for Baseball's leadership to do something virtuous. With the backing of mega-millionaire owners and millionaire players, the power and influence that your respective organizations wield could easily effect change for the benefit of thousands of hardworking human beings and their families, and guarantee internationally recognized worker rights standards in the factories where Major League Baseball and Players Association licensed products are manufactured.
We look forward to your considered responses.
Sincerely,
Ralph Nader
Shawn McCarthy
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Response from Major League Baseball
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Read the National Labor Committee's report on the Rawlings plant in Turrialba, Costa Rica (.pdf file)
Take Action!
1) Contact Bud Selig and Donald Fehr and urge them to include internationally recognized worker rights standards in Major League Baseball and Players Association licensing agreements.
Allan H. “Bud” Selig
Donald M. Fehr
2) Refuse to purchase "official" Major League Baseball merchandise until worker's rights are recognized and respected by Baseball. Inform others and encourage them to do the same.
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Ralph Nader and League of Fans Urge Major League Baseball to Adopt Worker Rights Standards for Product Licensing Agreements Ralph Nader and League of Fans Urge Major League Baseball to Adopt Worker Rights Standards for Product Licensing Agreements |