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Kudos to Apparel Industry
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Posted on Mar 07 2001
The Issue: Apparel Industry’s trophy as model industry in the Commonwealth of the NMI.
Our View: The industry deserves the accolades for ensuring the health and safety of its workers.
The NMI’s apparel industry worked the clock to ensure the safety and health of its workers. Despite the seeming collective efforts by NMI’s detractors to derail the “Pacific’s Little David”, the industry took huge leaps to improve working conditions and health of its employees.
The good review it recently received from OSHA wasn’t handed down on a silver platter. It had to hire safety, health and other professionals on its own to resolve discrepancies, including self-policing via a set of rules approved by the entire membership.
In the midst of the most trying times it had to endure, it proved to be the sturdiest income earner since the beginning of the Asian crisis in these isles. It has provided direct and indirect revenues to the local coffers in the millions of dollars. It has provided jobs for thousands in both sectors enabling local employees to “bring home the bacon”, so to speak.
Amidst the sturdy role it has played in the local economy–when tourism took a nose dive–perhaps the most important question for local leadership to ponder is: Beyond Apparel and Tourism, is there any other realistic economic alternative in the horizon for these isles? It definitely is riddled with uncertainty.
The apparel industry has earned its stripe as a model industry. This should send a clear message to other industries to get their acts together and follow suit. Furthermore, let us be more tolerant to an industry that has served the role of a sturdy economic pillar when nothing else works in our teeny corner of the world.
However its accomplishment in ascertaining the health and safety of its workers, local leadership must be forward-looking to regain the confidence of current and future investors. It pays to work with a “fish in boat” than the millions of fish out in the open waters that refuse to bite the bait. Let us move on and carve out a brighter future for posterity. Si Yuus Maase`!
