UPI: Samoa manufacturer guilty of 'slavery'

The owner of a garment factory in American Samoa faces sentencing in June after being convicted of holding scores of Asian immigrants in virtual "modern-day slavery" in the largest human trafficking case ever prosecuted by the federal government.

Justice Department officials alleged the workers were confined to the factory compound where they were fed meager amounts of food and forced to patronize a company store that kept them in a state of debt.

Testimony during the trial that began last October alleged that the immigrants were also physically abused and threatened with deportation by their supervisors.

The Republican leader of the House, Tom Delay, has been the leading defender of sweatshops located on Samoa. US fashion retailers including The Gap, and JC Penny use clothing manufacturers in American Samoa to pay third world wages while still having clothes with a "Made in USA" label.

As this and other cases make clear, the conditions are often even less healthy then other third world shops. Tom Delay has received many contributions from and even trips to this tropical paradise, unless you have to slave there, from US companies using the slave shop products. He has blocked legislation to improve conditions for the workers. The New York Times in an editorial last year singled out Tom Delay for blocking legislation to relieve conditions.