Follow up letter to Michael Eisner

Disney have not responded to War on Want nor, to our knowledge, to the letters and postcards from our supporters. However, in press statements they have said the company has "experienced poor conditions in Bangladesh" but that when Disney inspected Shah Makhdum, they did not find the conditions described by the workers. As the NLC says “We learned from a reporter that Disney claims to have secretly visited the Shah Makhdum factory five times in the course of 2001 and did not find a single violation. (Who could possibly be doing their monitoring?)”

This leaves the question of why Disney pulled out? Disney claim that their subcontractor decided to cease buying goods from the manufacturer and that "We're encouraging people to continue manufacturing in Bangladesh, including at Shah Makhdum". But the whole system of subcontracting parts of the production process rather than owning factories has allowed trans-national corporations to evade their duties to their workers for too long. They claim it is someone else’s problem, over which they have no control.

This has to be a total fabrication. In a factory where Disney supplied the vast majority of the work they could tell their subcontractors to do more or less anything. As the NLC have stated "All it would take is one word from Michael Eisner and the jobs could return to the factory”.

Disney’s claim that "the publicity may not have helped" is clearly an attempt to silence the campaign groups working on sweatshops by threatening the very lives of the people we’re campaigning for. It is a mirror image of the way large corporations silence worker opposition by threatening that speaking out equals losing your job.

It is symptomatic of the ability of corporations in the global economy to pick up and throw down workers as if they were bits of machinery. Please help us take action to ensure Disney faces up to its responsibilities.

Mr. Michael Eisner
Chief Executive Officer
Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521

Dear Mr. Eisner,

You may remember that I wrote to you several months ago to express deep concern regarding the Shah Makhdum factory in Bangladesh. I have not heard from you since writing that letter, but as the situation has not improved for the workers at Shah Makhdum, and I would very much like to hear your latest position.

Women in Bangladesh desperately need the jobs which the textile sector has brought them. When companies “cut and run” in the face of Western concern about working conditions, the workers are devastates. As you will know yourself, pulling out of countries like Bangladesh means dumping workers onto the street, penniless, facing hunger and misery.

I believe the message Disney has sent out with this withdrawal of orders threatens your workers everywhere with the message that if they stand up for their basic working conditions, then they will be fired. We must urge you to act immediately, since time is running out for these women and their children.

Winnie the Pooh garments have been sewn at the Shah Makhdum factory in Bangladesh for many years now. I understand that your work at Shah Makhdum is sub-contracted, but that in no way means that Disney is a powerless participant in this situation. As the factory’s formerly biggest customer, Disney has immense power to ensure that production resumes at the factory, but under the type of working conditions which should be expected by any human being in the world.

The type of pay and working conditions which workers’ at Shah Makhdum have had to labour under arte beyond the imagination of most western consumers. As has been proved many times in the past, the companies which own the brand labels being manufactured in developing world factories have considerable power to change the situation of the workers in those factories. That is why we believe Disney owes the women Shah Makhdum justice, not punishment. This is why we are calling on you to immediately return Disney’s work to the Shah Makhdum factory, while working with your contractor to clean up the factory and finally guarantee that the rights of these women be respected.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Your sincerely,