Speech: Harawira - Imports Made by Slave Labour

te-pati-maori

Thu Jul 30 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Speech: Harawira - Imports Made by Slave Labour

Thursday, 30 July 2009, 9:22 am
Speech: The Maori Party

He whakatika i te Pire Mana Arai me te Taake Hanga nō Rāwaho (Te Aukatinga o ngā Hanga i mahia ai e Te Kaimahi e Tukinotia ana)
Wenerei, te Rua Tekau ma Iwa o Hurae
Hone Harawira, Mema Paremata mo te Tai Tokerau
Customs and Excise (Prohibition of Imports Made by Slave Labour) Amendment Bill

I ahau e rangahau ana i te Pire nei ka puta mai te pukuriri.

Tata atu ki te kotahi rau rua tekau pāuna, te utu ki te hoko i ngā hū omaoma wahine, no Adidas. Ko tērā te putea, e riro ai te kaimahi o Adidas, mo ngā marama e toru.

Kia kaua hoki tātou e pōhēhē he wiki-mahi whā tekau hāora noa iho, te roa.

Whitu tekau hāora te roa o te wiki-mahi mo ngā manomano kaimahi o ngā whare hanga-hū o Adidas ki Haina. Kei te takahi a Adidas i ngā ture mahi o Haina, kei te whati anō hoki i ō rātou ake aratohu.

Ahakoa tērā, kei te mahia tōnutia.

Kua whakatūria e Nike ngā whare tōtā i Haina, i Indonesia, i Vietnam hoki – 20 heneti ia haora, te putea, ka riro mā te kaimahi ki Vietnam.

Ehara i te mea ko te putea pāpaku, me te roanga o te wiki mahi noa iho, te raru. Te kino hoki ngā tūāhua mahi o ngā whare tōtā nei.

I roto i te wāhanga waru haora, ka taea te kaimahi ki te haere kotahi ki te wharepaku. Mo te inu wai, e rua ngā wā. Maiangi ai te tangata i te wherū, i te hau kino, i te wera rawa atu.

Te mōrikarika hoki o ngā kamupene kaitā nei, e taetae ana ki ēnei whēnua, ki te takahi i te wairua tangata. Nā te ngoikore o ngā ture whenua, ki te tiaki i te kaimahi, ka tūkinotia te kaimahi.

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Noreira, e tautoko ana te Paati Māori i tēnei Pire, kia aukatihia ngā mea kua hangaia ki te whare tōtā, me kī, kua hangaia e ‘te kaimahi taurekareka’.

Roa te wā e noho tārewa ana tēnei take

Whā tau ki muri i heria mai e Trade Aid tētahi petihana ki te Paremata, i hainatia ai e te 17,000 tāngata, kia aukati i te hoko i ngā mea nō tāwahi kua hangaia e te ringa o te kaimahi taurekareka.

Engari, i a Trade aid e whakarite ana i te petihana nei, ko tā te Kāwanatanga kē, he whakatutuki i ngā kirimana hokohoko watea no rāwahi – ahakoa horekau he ture tiaki i te kaimahi.

Ahakoa Reipa, ahakoa Nāhinara – he orite tonu, kaore he paku aha ki a rāua.

Engari, he kaupapa nui rawa tenei ki a mātou o te Paati Māori.

I ngä tau e rua ki muri, i puta mai te kupu āwangawanga a te Kai Titiro o te UN mo te mahi taurekareka; nui atu i te tekau mā rua miriona, te tokomaha, kua horohia e tēnei ngārara, te mahi taurekareka.

Nā, kua ara mai te pātai nui: mena ka aukatihia te pūtea ka riro ki ngā kaimahi nei, ka pēhea rātou e whai oranga ai?

Kua toitū te Paati Māori hei kaitautoko i te whakakorenga, o te rawa kore. Kei te tino whawhai hoki mātou, kia patua i te pöhara, e pa ana ki te hunga tamariki.

Ēngari, he pōhēhē noa iho nō tātou, kua kore tēnei āhuatanga e kitea i Aotearoa nei.

Hei tā te Roopu Tiaki i ngä Tamariki Pohara, i tērā tau he hau-ono te tokomaha o ngā tamariki e noho ana i roto i te whare tino pōhara.

Nōreira, me kaha tātou ki te whawhai i ngā kino maha o te ngārara nei.

Kei te tautoko pūmau mātou i te Pire nei. Ka huri ngā whakaaro ki tēnei mea te mahi taurekareka, me ōna whakapānga weriweri ki te hunga tamariki, ka koropūpū te riri i roto i a mātou.

Neke atu i te whā miriona, ngā tamariki ki Brazil, tekau mano ki te hauauru o Īnia, tekau mā rima mano ki Pakistan e mahi ana i ngā whare mōrearea, ki te tuitui i ngā pōro poiwhana, mō ngā kamupene pērā i a Adidas.

Nā te kino o ngā tūāhua o ngā whare tuitui nei ka pāngia te tamariki ki te matakerepō, ki te ringa hauā, ki te mamae o te tuarā, ki te mamae o te kakī.

Nō reira, e tautoko ana mātou i te Pire nei? Ae Marika!

I a mātou e tautoko ana i te Pire nei, ko te tumanako, kia whai wā te Kāwanatanga ki te aro atu ki ngā ahuatanga o te rawa kore, e pā atu ana ki te tamariki.

Speech In English

In researching this Bill I got very, very angry.

One pair of Adidas trainers in the UK can cost anything up to £120 for the latest women’s sports shoes. That’s three times as much as a month’s wage for an Adidas worker.

And we’re not talking a 40 hour week either.

For the thousands of Chinese workers who fill the factories in China, making Adidas trainers, their average working week is 70 hours. That’s a breach not only of Adidas’ own workplace standards, but it’s also a violation of China’s labour laws.

But it still happens.

Nike sweatshops can now be found in Indonesia, China, and Vietnam - Nike workers in Vietnam earned on average 20 cents per hour.

It’s not just the low pay and the long hours that’s the problem. The conditions are appalling as well.

Workers are only allowed to go to the bathroom once in an eight hour shift, and they can't drink water more than twice a shift. Many of the workplaces have inhumane conditions causing workers to faint from exhaustion, the fumes, the heat.

It is outrageous that these top corporate giants are able to come into these countries, and exploit the fact that they have no protective labor laws in place to look after their workers.

And so the Maori Party will certainly support this Bill, to ban the importation of goods made in whole or in part by slave labour.

It has been a long time coming.

Four years ago, Trade Aid brought a petition to Parliament, signed by some 17,000 people, requesting New Zealand to legislate to ban import or slave labour products.

But of course, while Trade Aid was preparing its petition, the Government of the day was busy passing free trade agreements with little or no protections for workers.

Labour or National – it doesn’t seem to matter to either of them.

Well it does matter to the Maori Party.

Two years ago the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery said that he was deeply concerned that the minimum estimate of the number of people in slavery is over 12 million and that the problem appears to be increasing.

The one issue that has caused some concern for our caucus is, if the slave wages are taken away from these people, what will they live on?

The Maori Party has made a conscious commitment to respond to the global call to action against poverty, with a particular focus on the eradication of child poverty.

Of course it’s not as if New Zealand has got our own backyard looking pristine and clean.

The Child Poverty Action Group said that in 2008 one in six New Zealand children still lived in a household below the very lowest poverty lines.

So we need to tackle it on all fronts.

There is no question that we would not support this Bill. Our anger is particularly profound, when we think of the ever-growing problem of child slave labour.

Some four million children in Brazil, some ten thousand children in western Indian’s Punjab region; and some fifteen thousand children in Pakistan are found working in unsafe and unhealthy conditions, sewing, of all things, soccer balls for companies like Adidas.

The factory conditions are so harsh and dangerous, that it is not uncommon for children to lose their eyesight, deform their fingers, suffer from chronic back and neck pain, and more.

So will be supporting this Bill? Too right.

And while we’re supporting this Bill, maybe there will be some support for our Government taking some action to respond to the persistent poverty that continues to drag us down, including of course, our shameful record in addressing child poverty.

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