SGMA protests AP coverage of garment lawsuit

The Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association has complained to the Associated Press that its coverage of a recent partial settlement of a class action lawsuit against the Saipan factories effectively turned the attorney for the workers into an AP reporter.

In a letter to AP president and CEO Louis D. Boccardi, SGMA executive director Richard Pierce said that the August 10 dispatch out of Los Angeles quoted plaintiff’s attorney William Lerach repeatedly on all aspects of the case and provided no opportunity for SGMA to respond.

The AP story repeated allegations in the class action suits of “beating, forced abortions, vermin infested quarters, barbed wire and armed guards,” as well as 12-hour work days seven days a week.

“As you correctly report,” Pierce said, “these are allegations and the best to spin on the story to date. However, the allegations by these anonymous plaintiffs and their attorneys are utterly untested in any setting except the media where it is devastating from our point of view.”

Pierce said that SGMA would have provided a comment to that effect if asked since organization members dispute the unproven charges and believe they will win in court.

Pierce also objected to comments often heard from federal officials and U.S. labor unions about Saipan factories owned by Chinese, Japanese and Korean investors stamping “Made in the USA” on labels.

“In point of fact, we are part of the United States, though we now generally state on labels “Made in the Northern Marianas Islands”. As regards to ownership of factories, we sometimes have a sense of racism at work. Would it be OK if the ownership happened to be British, Dutch and German?”

Pierce also clarified that “There are no factories owned by Japanese nationals, and many of the so-called Chinese companies are owned by U.S. citizens who happen to be ethnic Chinese.”

Pierce urged the AP to reexamine its coverage of the CNMI in light of the current U.S. House Resources Committee investigation which has turned up evidence that officials at the U.S. Interior Department waged a public relations campaign against the CNMI as well as members of Congress who have supported its continued control of local immigration and minimum wage.

“I would like to emphasize that we are not asking for anything other than professional and fair coverage of industry,” Pierce told Boccardi.