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Saipan is the largest island in the Northern Marianas, a US commonwealth in the Pacific Ocean. The whole area is an export promotion zone. The island hit the news two years ago when American transnational garment companies were caught red-handed exploiting women migrant workers (mainly from China) in horrendous conditions, and marking the goods 'Made in the USA'. Some companies in the class action court case that followed the revelations settled out of court, but the case still remains partially unresolved.
This article summarises research in the Jinshan district of Shanghai to investigate workers migrating to work in sweatshop conditions in Saipan. Wishing to talk to ex-Saipan workers, I visited Jinshan district on 14 and 26 January 2001. Five questionnaires were completed. Two were filled in by Saipan returnees and three by relatives of those still in Saipan. This report is also based on information from informal conversations with around 10 families of Saipan migrant workers, 1 a couple of villagers, and a preliminary literature review.
"Why did we go? We just wanted to earn more. I felt very happy when I heard of the hourly rate there. I reasoned that I could not earn as much here working for three years than there in one year!" Ms Wang, - Saipan returnee.
Earning less than Rmb7,000 per year (US$1.00 = about Rmb8.00) in a garment factory in Jinshan district,2 Ms. Zhou heard that she could probably earn five times more working in Saipan. She went to the Hanyan Sun Sea Garment Factory (SSGF) in Zhejiang province. SSGF claimed to be able to send workers to Pacific Investment Corp. Ltd. in Saipan through a mediating agency in Zhapu. 3 She was relieved that SSGF agreed to claim (falsely) that she had been its employee for two years - one of the basic criteria to pass the examination. She was also relieved when she was the only one from her batch of 20 candidates who passed the Rmb300 examination. During the following six months, she paid a lump sum of about Rmb23,000 to SSGF which guaranteed work in Saipan for two years, covering costs of return tickets, visa, work permit, accommodation, and food. In order to pay such a huge amount, she turned to relatives...