 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I. Identification
The 1988 Brazilian Federal Constitution and the 1990 Statute of the Child and
the Adolescent set the minimum age for employment at 14 years old. (Brazilian
Embassy Web Site) Unfortunately, the laws were not upheld. According to a study
completed by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 1990,
over 14 percent of children between the ages of 10-13 were illegally employed.
This percentage increased to 21 percent in the rural Southeast and to 29 percent
in the rural Northeast. (Brazilian Embassy Web Site)
In 1995, little improvement was demonstrated to the U.S. Department of Labor who conducted a similar study to IBGE's. The Department of Labor concluded that it was a regular occurrence to see minors working illegally on Brazilian orange plantations. Although the Brazilian Association of Citrus Fruit Exporters ABECITRUS is aware of the over 10,000 cases of minors employed as fruit pickers, "its efforts to eradicate the problem have fallen short, despite a 1996 pledge (created by Brazilian child labor leaders like Nelson Morelli) to combat child labor in orange juice production." (United States Teamsters Web Site) In addition to Brazilian authorities and orange producers, the two largest U.S. orange juice producers signed the pledge to end child labor as well. These notable signatories included, The Minute Maid Company (owned by the Coca-Cola Company) and Tropicana Company (a division of PepsiCo) who blend U.S. concentrate with Brazilian concentrate. Tropicana uses 4-5% of Brazilian concentrate where as Minutemaid uses substantially more.
Moreover, a number of American companies hide their imported juices, including those made from oranges picked by children, in juices made from concentrate. Tropicana fresh juices are made by adults in Florida, while Tropicana orange juice from concentrate contains oranges picked by children in Brazil and Mexico. Similarly, FloridaGold orange juice from concentrate contains Brazilian juice, squeezed by children. A complaint was filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concerning FloridaGold orange juice's deception of consumers about its country of origin but the FDA didn't think mislabeling of orange juice was a matter of public importance and has allowed the complaint to languish. (http://www.madeusa.org/oj.htm)
Interestingly, as of 1996, Brazilian industry leaders and Cutrale (a Brazilian orange juice processor) claim the problem has been eradicated.(US Teamsters Web Site) The U.S. Teamsters Union does no accept the claim as legitimate and is currently exploring other avenues. For example, the Sanders Amendment, passed by the United States Congress in the fall of 1997 is "a new law that authorizes the Customs Services to prevent goods made by children from entering the country."(US Teamster Web Site) The Union is confident that this Amendment may be the missing link to stop further importation of Brazilian oranges.
While the Teamsters researched the possibilities created out of the passage of the Sanders Amendment, the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) set out on a mission to conduct another investigation on the Brazilian orange industry. The 17 day mission in March of 1998 allowed the team to gather additional information to attach to their first mission in December of 1997. (US Teamsters Web Site) Their findings further strengthen the argument for placing an import ban on Brazilian oranges that are picked by minors.
Along with the ILRF's recent mission, the Teamsters and Brazilian labor unions continue to meet in order to develop a monitoring system. According to the United States Department of Labor, children picking and boxing oranges in Brazil are paid $3.00 for working a 14-hour day, or 21 cents per hour.
The first TED search query used Region in order to determine which region in the Americas had the highest level of rights violations among the TED cases studied. The frequency counts indicate that 72% of the cases taken from the Western region of South America had rights violations. The western region includes: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. The second region most frequently counted for rights abuse was Eastern South America with a rate of 64%. The countries within Eastern South America are: Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The third region examined was Southern North America. It had the lowest percentage of rights violations at 45%. The countries include: Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Tobago, Cayman Islands, and Belize.
Query #1
|
The second TED search query delve into the Western region of South America where my particular case study originates. ORANGE takes place in Brazil, located in the Western region of South America, The search found that Chile and Ecuador have the highest percentages of rights in violation at 100% and Bolivia and Colombia had the lowest percentage of 60%. Brazil fell in the middle at 67% and the average between the six countries within the region was 79%.
Query #2
|
These finding indicate that the region on average frequently suffers violations of rights. Interestingly, the industries within the region that have the highest frequency count of abuses are the wood and energy industries. The second highest frequency are the food and agriculture industries. This may suggest that primary and secondary products production (energy, wood, food, and agriculture) require the most human capital and make up the bulk of the export markets, thus creating a greater possibility of rights violations.
Query #3
|
RELATED WEB SITES:
RELATED TED CASES:
II. Legal Cluster
LAW: Currently there is no import ban on Brazilian oranges, however the Teamsters are researching the possiblities of using the SANDERS AMENDMENT in their defense. The Sanders Amendment was introducd by Representative Bernard Sanders (Independent Party, Vermont)on September 15, 1997. This Act (1-IR 2475), titled `the Bonded Child Labor Elimination Act', was passed as a law banning import of bonded child labor products in October of 1997. However, the Sanders Amendment ban imports of products made by children of forced labor, not children who work on their own accord. Unfortunately, there is a difference and currently the U.S. Teamsters are searching for the loophole to include the underage Brazilian orange pickers.
III. Geographic
Cluster
a. Geographic Domain: South America
b. Geographic Site: The State of Sao Paolo, Brazil
c. Geographic Impact: The United States
IV. Trade Cluster
The U.S. Teamsters argue that Brazilian Orange Growers hire underage laborers to pick the oranges, thus creating lower labor costs which in turn lowers the overall cost of imports to the United States orange juice producers. The most notable U.S. orange juice producers are Tropicana (PepsiCo) and Minutemaid (Coca Cola). Both companies choose to buy the cheaper imported concentrate rather than buy concentrate from the Florida Orange Growers Association who abide by U.S. labor laws which prohibit the employment of children under the age of 14. Moreover, the Florida Association has to pay its labor minimum wage set by the government thus raising its overall costs that are transferred to either to the orange juice producer or the consumer.
The agreements drawn up during the Uruguay Round do not include child labor rights. Moreover, because the International Labor Organization does not have an enforcement arm, the U.S. Teamsters will have a difficult time trying to use child labor as the avenue to ban Brazilian oranges picked by minors. One possible solution the U.S. Teamsters can use to assist its client in gaining an import ban is to employ the WTO the Anti-Dumping (AD) Agreement. The AD Agreement ". . . governs the application of anti-dumping measures by Members of the WTO. Anti-dumping measures are unilateral remedies which may be applied by a Member after an investigation and determination by that Member, in accordance with the provisions of the AD Agreement, that an imported product is "dumped" and that the dumped imports are causing material injury to a domestic industry producing the like product." (http://www.wto.org/wto/goods/antidum2.htm)
Article 1 of the AD Agreement states the basic principle that a Member can not impose an anti-dumping dispute until it has properly conformed with the provisions of the AD Agreement. Basically, that the Member can prove that there are dumped imports, material injury to a domestic industry, and a causal link between the dumped imports and the injury.
Article 2 explains how a Member determines dumping. The Agreement defines dumping as calculated on the basis of a "fair comparison between normal value (the price of the imported product in the ordinary course of trade in the country of origin or export) and export price (the price of the product in the country of import)." (http://www.wto.org/wto/goods/antidum2.htm)
Article 3 of the AD Agreement defines the rules that determine material injury or hindrance to the establishment of a domestic industry. It states that the basic requirement be a through examination, based on evidence of the amount and price effects of dumped imports and the impact and effects of dumped imports on the domestic industry.
These three articles of the AD Agreement can be useful to the U.S. Teamsters in trying to persuade the United States as a Member of the WTO to bring a dispute against Brazil. However, it would take a great amount of time to initiate and conduct a through investigation to try and prove the existence of dumping.
As the "Battle in Seattle" (Millenium Round) has recently ended in Seattle, Washington it is certainly appropriate to discuss such issues mentioned above. Although I believe that child labor is wrong and should be addressed at an international level, I do not think that the WTO is the place to dispute such claims. Three things need to happen: (1) the ILO needs to grow a policing arm in order to enforce international labor standards; (2) governments of countries allowing child labor should develop strategies to get children out of working situations; and (3) the U.S. Teamsters need to call a spade a spade and stop using child labor as its battle cry for the Florida Orange Growers Association.
a. Directly Related to Product:YES, Oranges
b. Indirectly Related to Product: No
c. Not Related to Product: Yes
d. Related to Process: No
Oranges (Sitrus Sinensis Osbeck)are a member of the citrus family. They are regarded as high sources of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and other fruit acids. Citrus fruits consist of forty to fifty percent juice, twenty to forty percent rind and twenty to thirty-five percent pulp and seeds. Furthermore, they contain eighty-six to ninety-two percent water, five to eight percent sugars and one to two percent pectin with lesser amounts of acids, protein, essential oils and minerals. Citrus fruits grow on small evergreen trees. (http://members.tripod.com/adm/popup/roadmap.shtml)
Brazil is most known for its navel oranges which constitute the most important Citrus Sinensis variety in the world for fresh fruit production. The distinguishing characteristic of the navel orange is the inclusion of a small "secondary" fruit embedded in the apex of the main fruit. The navel orange originated in Bahia (Baia), Brazil as a bud mutation. (http://members.tripod.com/adm/popup/roadmap.shtml)
The first table outlines 8 years of orange harvests in the state of Sao
Paulo, notably the largest producer of oranges in the country. This
data proves beneficial in decifering how much production is being consumed at
home and abroad. For example, in the 1998-'99 season, 330.0 million 40.8
kilogram boxes were produced, 279.0 million boxes were processed, and only 51.0
million boxes were kept for domestic consumption. This means that 84.5% of all
production in the Sao Paulo region was exported. As Sao Paulo is the largest
producer in Brazil, it is also the location of the largest orchards owned
predominately by multinational corporations who have been cited as hiring
underage labor.
| SÃO PAULO ORANGE PRODUCTION, PROCESSING AND DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION (IN MILLION 40.8 KG BOXES) Information from http://www.abecitrus.com.br/cropus.html |
| SEASON | PRODUCTION | PROCESSING | DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION |
| 90/91 | 262.7 | 210.0 | 50.8 |
| 91/92 | 285.5 | 225.0 | 57.8 |
| 92/93 | 300.0 | 265.0 | 33.0 |
| 93/94 | 307.0 | 240.0 | 65.0 |
| 94/95 | 311.0 | 242.7 | 65.0 |
| 95/96 | 357.3 | 259.1 | 95.0 |
| 96/97 | 363.0 | 268.1 | 93.0 |
| 97/98 | 428.0 | 318.0 | 110.0 |
| 98/99 | 330.0 | 279.0 | 51.0 |
| 99/00* (*approx.) | 388.0 | 280.0 | 108.0 |
| BRAZIL IMPORT/EXPORT DATA ON ORANGE TRADE (Metric Tons) Information from http://www.fas.usda.gov/htp.circular.html |
| SEASON | IMPORTS of ORANGES | EXPORTS of ORANGES | TOTAL BRAZILIAN CONSUMPTION of ORANGES | TOTAL BRAZILIAN PRODUCTION |
| 1995/96 | 0 | 1,181,000 | 17,000 | 1,152,000 |
| 1996/97 | 0 | 1,265,000 | 15,500 | 1,390,000 |
| 1997/98 | 0 | 1,178,000 | 18,000 | 1,158,000 |
| 1998/99 | 0 | 1,208,000 | 18,000 | 1,258,000 |
| LEADING GLOBAL EXPORTERS OF
ORANGES IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE (Metric Tons) Information from http://www.fas.usda.gov/htp.circular.html |
| COUNTRY | SEASON | PRODUCTION | EXPORT | DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION |
| BRAZIL | 98/99 | 1,258,000 | 1,208,000 | 18,000 |
| AUSTRALIA | 98/99 | 17,619 | 1,500 | 45,000 |
| SOUTH AFRICA | 98/99 | 15,785 | 5,000 | 12,500 |
| ARGENTINA | 98/99 | 10,000 | 2,000 | 16,000 |
| LEADING GLOBAL EXPORTERS OF
ORANGES IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE (Metric Tons) Information from http://www.fas.usda.gov/htp.circular.html |
| COUNTRY | SEASON | PRODUCTION | EXPORT | DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION |
| UNITED STATES | 98/99 | 900,000 | 250,000 | 1,180,000 |
| MEXICO | 98/99 | 38,000 | 35,000 | 3,001 |
| ITALY | 98/99 | 32,319 | 21,546 | 23,855 |
| SPAIN | 98/99 | 30,000 | 58,000 | 22,000 |
V. Environment
Cluster
VI. Other Factors
b. Graphics