John Shattuck Chat: Connecting Students to the World; Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley

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Cindy: What is your opinion on the labor standards in America?

Shattuck: Cindy, the law protecting labor unions and their rights to organize and bargain for higher wages is quite good in the United States. But there continue to be many areas where labor standards are too low and people have real problems in the work place, either by not having adequate protection against injury or by not being well represented in their efforts to get fair wages.

Fanny: What are your opinions on sweatshops in other nations? Are there any intentions of the U.S. intervening with their standards to make it better? Should American companies (such as Nike) be penalized for having sweatshops in other countries?

Shattuck: Fanny, That is a very good question.

Fanny: Thank you!

Shattuck: Every year my office puts out a report on human rights problems in all countries of the world and the report covers sweatshops among other issues. The report is used by our government to make decisions about what countries should be penalized because of their labor practices. Two countries have been penalized recently for having sweatshops, Burma and Pakistan. We also work closely with U.S. companies that are doing business overseas to encourage them not to employ child labor or to engage in labor practices which violate other human rights.

Fanny: Can you penalize U.S. companies for their violations overseas?

Shattuck: Many companies have voluntarily agreed to follow this approach, and the United States government will give awards to companies which have outstanding records on human rights. The first awards will be given this year.

Rico: What are your views on how the women's civil rights movement in the workplace has changed, as opposed to that of the '60s?

Shattuck: Rico, The women's movement is a major part of the struggle for civil rights in the United States, and it has transformed many aspects of our society. In the '60s there were very few women in the workplace, and those that worked were mostly in public education and low-paying service jobs. Today women occupy an increasing percentage of the work force. This represents significant human rights progress in our own country, but we all know that there are many issues of discrimination against women that still need to be addressed.

Harry Kreisler: Mr. Shattuck wants to ask you a question or two.

Shattuck: Can you think of some specific examples where your human rights have been violated? And what did you try to do about it?

Adriana: Yes, discrimination. But I didn't do anything about it since for me, this issue is so hard to fight against.

Shattuck: Adriana, did you ever think about writing down the details of the way you were discriminated against and then talking to a civil rights group like the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)?

Melanie: I too have dealt with discrimination, but since I understood why, I let it go. I've also been discriminated against within my own race, dealing with other students. I got into a fight. I was made fun of for being part Chinese.

Shattuck: Melanie, discrimination is one thing and violence is another. It's often difficult not to react violently to discrimination, but it is very important to talk about the problem, but not engage in violence. Talking about violations of your rights is a very good subject for school so that people can understand how deep and difficult issues of discrimination are.

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