What does one say in regards to their job when they are only receiving 12 cents an hour in an inhumane working environment? "Yes, I like my job, but it’s not enough to get by on. It is not enough to eat or send all my children to school. We are forced to live on the little bit we have. Life is difficult"(http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue308/rat.htm). This is a devastating quote from a young man named Remi, who works for one of four Haitian plants subcontracted by the giant US- based entertainment empire, The Disney Company, who produces twenty-two billion dollars in sales out of Haiti annually.

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. After decades of foreign intervention and political unrest, a more democratic system was established. The primary aim of the government currently in office is to build up the Haitian economy and to create employment. One fashion of doing so is attracting foreign investors.

Majorities of these foreign investors are foreign companies, mostly originating from the United States. By 1989 Haiti was the third largest exporter of apparel to the USA in the entire Central American and Caribbean region. Most importantly, these US- based companies were no longer paying legally mandated benefits and the dollar value that the US companies were paying fell by thirty-nine percent (http://www.cleanclothes.org/companies/disney.htm).

To make matters even worse, Disney has recently moved their sweat shops out of Haiti and into China, allowing them to cut employee hourly wages from 12 cents to a mere eight cents (http://www.sweatshopwatch.org/swatch/headlines/1997/disney_aug97).

The Walt Disney Company has tremendous prestige in the eyes of many consumers. Everybody grew up with Disney throughout their childhood and adult lives, yet it is almost unimaginable to think that a company as powerful and magical as Disney would be mistreating these Haitian workers, and now currently Chinese workers, in the manner that they are.

After doing in-depth research regarding Disney and their sweatshops in Haiti and China, we have come across some extremely offensive and extraordinary ethical issues. As a group, we have decided to discuss two theories that we feel are intrinsic upon the treatment of Disney workers in Haiti through our extensive research.

As mentioned earlier, Disney is one of the most eminent and successful companies in the world. We feel that Disney has a moral obligation to help the people of Haiti. The company should act out of duty. These Haitian employees, working for a mere twenty-eight cents an hour, are the same people that made top Disney executives such as Michael Eisner, billionaires. Why should they be mistreated and undermined? From this, we can look into Kant’s Theory. The theory states that rational beings must never treat other rational beings as the means to an end. Every human being has an inherent worth; therefore, they must act in ways that respect people’s humanity. Disney has no respect for these hard working employees whatsoever. Inherent worth? Disney is only seeing the outcome of these abusive and gruesome eight hour work days, where people like Remi are only bringing home $2.22 for a full days work, and the Disney Shop then sells little kids T-shirts for $19.99(http://www.nlcnet.org/DISNEY/Disapp.htm). Disney should feel morally obliged to treat others, as they would want to be treated since we are all individuals.

The human rights, values and well being of these workers are being ignored and abused on Disney’s part. All of these two things should be every bit as important to a company as it’s bottom-line. Remi claims that if any of the employees attempt to complain about anything or try to organize a union, that they will not only be fired, but blacklisted as well (http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue308/rat.htm). With this, Disney is showing their employees that their happiness both in and outside of the workplace doesn’t matter to them. Disney is obviously only concerned about the outcome of their frightening long workdays- the money to be made by their company. Through Remi and other workers’ accounts, we clearly can conclude that the Disney Company has no concerns or regards for their workers happiness.

Disney’s behavior brings us to the morality of judgements within the Utilitarianism Theory. This theory is based upon happiness, or gratification. Within this theory, the "Happiness principle" talks about lifting the happiness within society and also declining the amount of pain. The theory also proves how Disney does not strive to improve these terrible working conditions, thus creating an immoral action.

According to the theory, ones happiness should not be any more important than anyone else’s. Why should Disney’s happiness and success surpass the needs of these poverty-stricken workers?

Sad but true, Remi’s story is not extraordinary; he is one of hundreds that have to go to work every single day in these devastating conditions. Conditions such as low wages well below Haiti’s minimum wage, poor and unhealthy working environments, and abusive treatment by employers, are regular occurrences experienced by the Haitian workers.

Disney pays its workers in Haiti one dollar a day, working out to twelve cents an hour, clearly a violation of Haitian law. The law in Haiti is a minimum wage of two dollars and forty cents an hour. Disney’s current paying wage covers less than twenty-five percent of the minimal needs of a family of five, with the minimum wage covering less than sixty percent (http://www.nlcnet.org/DISNEY/Disapp.htm).

Remi claims that he, like may others, walks forty-five minutes to the factory from his home in the slums of Port-au-Prince to save money. Still by walking, after buying food and water and paying for his daughter’s schooling his paycheck is almost gone. It is said that Haiti is not a cheap place to live; food can be almost as expensive as it is in the US. A simple meal of rice and beans with tomato paste and bread costs a family $2.89, almost three times the amount that Remi brings home after an eight hour workday (http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue308/rat.htm). This does not include Remi’s weekly rent of $5.13 for his modest one-room house, clothes, or other necessities. Many parents sewing Disney clothing all day cannot afford to buy milk for their children, who are being raised on sugar water to blunt their hunger. Parents cannot afford medicines or vitamins for their children, or even eyeglasses for themselves.

Workers producing Disney garments are tired and thin looking. They and their families are always at the edge of hunger. According to workers, the plant is hot, dusty, and poorly lit. Many, including Remi, complain about having trouble with their eyesight and respiratory problems. The machines are extremely old and fragile, causing workers to become injured quite frequently. The toilets are filthy. Rats are everywhere. The holding tank for drinking water is covered with only a light piece of metal, which the rats have no trouble getting into. Workers claim that the rats, which have been poisoned, were seen floating in the water.

Employees are paid on a "piece-rate" system: "what you do, is what you get," claims one plant manager. Eight to ten hour workdays, Monday through Saturday is a regular schedule except when there are extra orders to be filled. Workers are then asked to work on Sundays, without being paid overtime or receiving any sort of compensation. Many employees find themselves working fifty days straight, without a single break or day off. Employees are also sometimes shortchanged on their pay, and are always underpaid sick days and vacation time.

Special pressure is also put on women workers who are pregnant, attempting to force them to quit, so the company won’t have to pay the mandated maternity benefits. Forget about childcare or infirmaries for the workers’ babies.

As mentioned earlier, It is virtually impossible for workers to protest any of this vulgar treatment. "If you say a word, they fire you" claims one worker. Managers deny their employees their legal right to organize. Workers claim that when you enter the factories, "you enter misery." If anyone attempts to talk to their bosses, they will be fired immediately. Supervisors are constantly screaming at the workers to meet the quota and to work faster. If anyone attempts to get up and go to the bathroom, they will reprimand you and tell you to sit back down. The pressure is intense for these employees.

The average wage for Haitian workers sewing Disney garments is 33 cents an hour, or $2.64 per day, which works out to an annual income of $686.40. The workers in Haiti are not paid by the hour, but rather by the number of pieces they sew. Production is set according to a piece rate system, and a quota. The daily quota set by the company is tremendously high, even experienced workers, who earn the maximum 42 cents an hour, fail to meet this quota. In effect, their wages are dropped down from 42 cents an hour to the minimum 30 cents an hour. For example, in eight hours, the workers must attach 1,600 collars on Disney T-shirts; which amounts to close to 200 pieces every hour, which is repeated several times a day. For closing both shoulders on a jersey, the worker receives $0.002775, which indicates the piece rate. The pressure of workers to meet the quota is so overwhelming that oftentimes, workers will take only 10-minute lunches, just so that they can resume sewing. (www.nlcnet.org/outfit.pdf).

The total sewing and assembly cost of a 101 Dalmatians garment amount to a little over 6 cents; the garment is sold for $19.99. As a result, the wages earned by the women in Haiti who assemble the garments amounts to only 3/10ths of one percent of the sales price of the outfit (www.nlcnet.org/outfit.pdf). All the while, the workers still do not have any idea as to what the garments sell for in the U.S, and have never even heard of Walt Disney. They are not even aware of the wages that U.S. workers, assembling the same apparel are paid

The conditions that the workers and their families are forced to live in, as a result of the wages, are despicable. Below is a breakdown of costs that a typical Disney garment sewer pays to get by on a typical workday:

Transportation to and from work: $0.27

Small breakfast: $0.67

Lunch: $1.00

1 glass of juice: $0.27

(www.nlcnet.org/salary.pdf).

Just getting to and from work, and consuming only two meager meals uses up about 84 percent of a worker’s daily wage of $2.64. Thus, a worker can expect to go home with only 43 cents to provide for their families. With 43 cents left for the day, most workers go without supper, since they obviously cannot afford it. Breakfast and lunch are the only meals they consume in an entire day, which they purchase on credit most of the time.

Without the money needed to prepare their own suppers, some families choose to purchase a vegetable stew from a local vendor. This costs $1.00 (www.nlcnet.org/salary.pdf). This meal is enough for one person, but the families can only afford to share it. Almost every worker is in debt and living on credit, holding on in any way they can to survive. Their creditors, who seek payments for their debts, are constantly confronting the workers. It is a mystery how workers in Haiti manage to live, while keeping their families alive, since what they earn is beyond doubt a starvation wage, far below what is needed for survival.

Conditions in the Disney factories are miserable. The factories are unsanitary, rat infested, and the toilets provided for the workers are unsuitable for human use. They work all day on rough wooden benches, and must provide their own cushions.

Supervisors are continuously placing extreme demands on the workers, pacing the assembly lines, clapping their hands and demanding the workers to work faster. Oftentimes, this is accompanied by threats, and cursing. Many of the workers claim that they are treated in an inhumane manner, with no respect, whatsoever. As told by one of the factory workers, "The owners won’t even talk to us, and if they don’t like your face, or you’re sick, they fire you" (www.nlcnet.org/DISNEY/Disapp.htm).

Workers have also complained that they are sometimes shorted of their pay, as well as always being underpaid for sick days and vacation time. Even those that work overtime shifts on Saturdays are not being paid the bonus required by law. Medical insurance isn’t even provided for the workers, and there is no childcare, no medicine available, and no infirmary.

Sexual harassment is also common; the workers claim that if you are pretty, and young, and are wanted as a supervisor’s mistress, you must submit to him, or else you will be fired. Workers cannot speak up, or complain to management about conditions, or pay, as they will be fired on the spot. If the workers try to defend themselves – to meet, to learn their rights, to organize, they are fired, illegally.

The workers stand alone, drawn into the global economy by multinational companies like Disney, yet they lack the most vital information or tools to support themselves. They have never heard of corporate codes of conduct that the U.S. companies say guarantee the human rights of any worker anywhere in the world making products for that company.

Disney, being the second largest media/entertainment conglomerate in the world, needs to set an example to other U.S. corporations, especially those that also engage in sweatshops in developing countries (www.nlcnet.org/DISNEY/Discut2.htm).

The workers in Haiti are asking Disney for a meeting to discuss raising wages to 58 cents an hour, as opposed to the average 33 cents. This overly modest plea would keep the workers in poverty, but would aid in lifting them out of the utter misery that they are living in. If the wage increase were accepted, the 58 cents would add only 3 cents to the direct labor cost in each garment, amounting to only one half of one percent of the sales price. This would leave Disney and its contractors with 99.55 percent of the sales price of the garment. It would be absurd of Disney to claim that they are not making a considerable profit. Besides, if this garment were produced in the U.S., the labor cost would be equal to 10 percent of the sales price. Disney has declined to meet with the Haitian workers, saying that they are holding very good jobs (www.nlcnet.org/DISNEY/Discut2.htm).

There is a lot of greed driving this organization. In 1996, Disney CEO Michael Eisner granted himself a stock option worth $181 million, in addition to his $8.7 million salary. If only the $181 million grant were redirected by the Disney company to Haiti, it would be possible to double the wages of all 19,000 assemble workers in the country for 16 years (www.nlcnet.org/DISNEY/Discut2.htm).

There is no doubt that Haitian workers desperately need jobs. At the same time, however, they need jobs that respect their human rights, and pay them wages that permit them and their families to survive. Disney could continue to well fulfill its commitment to family values by going to Haiti to meet with the workers and raising their wages to 58 cents an hour.

Disney sends out publications with quotes from Eisner, in praise of their great humanitarian efforts. Disney therefore needs to make sure that they fulfill the ideals they set forth, in order to avoid facing the heat stirred by public and media scrutiny. Disney needs to reconsider their practices of labor, as the public and media are realizing that corporations like Disney are responsible for such human and workers rights practices. In fact, Disney has received powerful statements, challenging the company’s capability of engaging in ethically incorrect labor practices. For example, they received over 6,000 letters from grammar school students (www.nlcnet.org/DISNEY/Discut2.htm).

The decisions Disney has made in regards to their involvement in poverty-stricken nations such as Haiti and China exhibit their lack of moral character. These actions can be judged according to two major moral theories. One is able to turn to the arguments of Utilitarianism and Kantian ethics to demonstrate the apparent wrong doings of the Disney Corporation.

Utilitarianism is applicable to the current Disney labor situation for several reasons. Utilitarianism states that people should act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone involved and affected by our actions. Of course, the definition of good has been argued; but in the case of Utilitarism it refers to pleasure. Utilitarianism is concerned with increasing the amount of pleasure in society and decreasing the amount of pain. Utilitarianism as formulated by Bentham and Mill advocates the greatest happiness principle: an action is moral if it results in the most happiness for the greatest amount of people. Consequently, actions are wrong if they produce happiness for fewer members of society than an alternative action might. For these reasons, Utilitarianism often argues for social improvement to attain the greatest amount of pleasure for the majority and decrease pain.

Similarly, Utilitarianism makes no distinctions between the happiness of people. The theory implies that no one person’s happiness is more important than another person’s happiness. Utilitarianism suggests the moral equality of all members of society.

Additionally, Utilitarianism also explores the long-term effects of actions. The results of an action are not solely based upon the immediate results. The pleasure produced for the majority further down the road is a significant factor. An action may not seem to cause immediate harm or happiness. However, to fully apply Utilitarianism one must consider the long-term results.

Kantian ethics is the next relevant theory used to illustrate the unethical practices of the Disney Corporation. Kant believes actions are inherently right or wrong and do not waver depending on any particular circumstances. Kant argues that morality is essentially a matter of good will and the treatment of human beings as an end, and not a means. Applying Kant’s insights, one is able to decipher what it means to be ethical and how the Disney Corporation is blatantly acting against the precepts of Kantian ethics.

Primarily, Kant believes that ethics are closely related to one’s intentions. He believes that nothing is good unless it is accomplished as a result of good will. Actions are only good when people act freely from a sense of duty. Therefore, acts that produce good results but are motivated by selfish desires have no moral significance.

Another extremely important principle Kant offers is that humans should never treat other humans simply as means to an end. This principle is founded on the view that people have inherent worth due to the fact that they are human beings. All human beings should be treated with respect. Kant argues that as rational beings we know how we want to be treated and therefore, we know how to treat other rational beings. Kant believes that people should act in ways that respect others’ basic humanity and ability to think as rational creatures.

By applying the principles of Utilitarianism one is able to identify the Disney Corporation’s unethical labor practices in Haiti and now China. Primarily, the Disney Corporation has acted against the fundamental principle of Utilitarianism. The Corporation’s actions have not produced the greatest amount of happiness for the most people involved. Instead, their disregard for human rights and focus on profits has produced happiness only for the minority of stockholders involved in the Disney Corporation and has caused much pain for the majority of laborers and their dependents. Thousands of factory workers in Haiti and China are also unhappy due to physical ailments caused by working conditions in the Disney factories.

Currently, there is no balance of pleasure over pain. The Disney Corporation’s actions have resulted in a vast amount of pain for the nations and people involved. If the Disney Corporation decreased it’s pleasure--namely their profit-- and decreased the workers’ pain by creating fair working conditions, the principles of Utilitarianism would not be violated. However, the Disney Corporation in persisting in its current policies is disregarding the Utilitarian view of morality and thus acting immorally.

The pain inflicted on the Haitian people is more severe than the pleasure enjoyed by the stockholders. Utilitarianism is not solely based on pleasure, but pleasure outweighing pain. However, the Disney Corporation is perpetually increasing their pleasure, while simultaneously increasing the pain of its own factory workers.

More so, the decision to pull out of Haiti in search of cheaper labor and less regulations on human rights, has caused further turmoil amongst the workers and the nation as a whole. This decision has caused not only immediate damage but long term damage as well. By closing factories in Haiti, Disney is not only affecting all the workers in the plants and their family members, but the nations’ struggling economy has fallen even deeper into uncertainty. The future of the Haitian economy has been shaken due to the Disney Corporation’s decisions. Disney has acted to benefit the minority, the corporation itself, and not the majority, the nation of Haiti and all of the laborers and everyone that is affected by their economic instability.

Furthermore, according to Utilitarianism no one person’s happiness is more important than another person’s happiness. Thus, the happiness of the Disney Corporation and those profiting from it is in no way more important than the happiness of the laborers sewing their clothes and making their profit for them. However, Disney believes that its profits are in fact more important than the basic rights of the workers. Disney employs this belief by consistently exploiting the workers to increase their profit and thus happiness.

An application of Kantian ethical theory also suggests that the Disney Corporation is acting without moral justification. Primarily, one can point to the intentions of the Disney Corporation. The Disney Corporation has not acted from a sense of duty or good will. Instead, they have acted from a self-serving motivation to increase profits and promote business. This is apparent in their blatant inhumane treatment of workers. This treatment is simply maintained to cut costs. This commitment to profit above all else is quite apparent in Disney’s decision to leave Haiti and move production to a cheaper plant, where they continue to treat workers with disrespect and indignity. Disney has not acted out of a will to help the Haitian economy; but rather prove that they are solely motivated by profit. Disney’s factories in Haiti and China may have provided some unemployed workers with jobs and minute wages. However, any good that came out of the situation cannot be considered to have any moral worth because it occurred as a result of self- interest on Disney’s part. If the Disney Corporation actually acted due to a will to be fair and honest, they would have treated their workers in a humane manner, which includes livable wages, safe working conditions, and the freedom to organize.

Individuals within the Disney Company are rational beings and therefore, know how other humans should be treated. However, these same individuals subject workers in factories to savage working conditions. The Disney Company is acting inconsistently and immorally by not treating its workers who are human and therefore, rational beings, as they themselves would want to be treated.

The Disney Company is simply hiring the workers of Haiti and China as a means to ends. They are not concerned with their humanity at all, but rather what the workers can provide in their endless mission to attain more profit. Disney is hiring the workers to serve as means so that they are able to acquire their ends. The laborers are simply seen as human sewing machines that enable Disney to get to their goal. If Disney were to view the workers as people and not simply as a means to an end, they would try to better the current conditions in the lives of their workers by creating a safe working environment which fosters growth in rational human beings. It is the duty of the Disney Corporation to make their business decisions based on the fact that their actions affect rational beings. If Disney fails to do this, they are acting in a way that violates the requirements of Kantian ethics.

In order to restore respect for essential human and worker rights in the factories, Disney may take a number of steps. First, the factories need to comply with the legal 8-hour day, 44-hour workweek. In addition, they must end forced overtime, mandatory extra hours, while adhering to the overtime pay premium. A very modest increase in wages from the current $0.28 an hour to $0.58 would allow the Disney workers and their families to survive, though they would still be very poor. Secondly, Disney should make sure that they guarantee that the factories pay for and provide all legally authorized benefits, including health care, and maternity benefits. Third, Disney needs to take an initiative to establish factory conditions that show respect for globally recognized human and worker rights, including the right to organize. To guarantee respect for basic rights, local human rights organizations should have access to Disney’s contractors’ plants to observe conditions. Finally, Disney representatives should come to Haiti to meet with the workers, learn their story and see how they live. They should meet with the workers in the presence of the National Labor Committee and independent local rights organizations, away from the factory and local management, and in a safe place. This is to allow the workers to speak the truth, without the threat of being fired, and Disney should guarantee that the workers will not be harmed for attending the meeting and expressing their thoughts openly.

Disney must use its leverage as one of the world’s most renowned and prominent companies to demand change. If contractors want to keep Disney’s business, they must open their factories to a series of popular education courses, seminars, and discussions, so the workers can recognize their rights under Haitian law, as well as the human rights guarantees contained in the Disney code of Conduct. The workers must be free to attend these seminars and to discuss their rights without fear. Based on these meetings and knowing their rights, the workers themselves can appoint a committee to help oversee conditions within the plant.

The approaches we have outlined are modest and reasonable, and can be done. All it asks is that Disney support the rights of the workers to learn and exercise their rights, free of retaliation. If all else fails, one of the only remaining means to break this disparaging cycle, raise social standards, and level the playing field, is to involve the U.S. consumer. Consumer pressure can move the whole system forward, as has been done before with companies such as the Gap (www.nlcnet.org/DISNEY/Disapp,htm, 8). Disney is U.S. based, and we, Americans, purchase its products. If we raise our voices, we have the power to influence these multinationals, like Disney. We may not be able to influence the Haitian government, but surely, the U.S. companies must listen to us. If we hold Disney responsible for their human rights practices, and to pay livable wages, surely this may be a primary step in urging other corporations to realize that their workers’ rights need to be respected.

http://www.nlcnet.org/DISNEY/Disapp.htm <May 29, 1996>

http://www.cleanclothes.org/companies/disney.htm

http://www.sweatshop.org/swatch/headlines/1997/disney-aug97 <August 1997>

http://www.afscme.org/about/resolute/r33-017.htm <August 29, 1998>

http://www.angelfire.com/nd/NoahWeb/labor.html

http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue308/rat.htm

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/16gift.htm <December 16, 2000>

http://www.citinv.it.associazioni/CNMS/archivio?multinazionali/disney_.ni <August 1997>