Illegal Procedure? Dallas Cowboys Called on Sweatshop Connections
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Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spent $1 billion to build the gilded palace his legendary National Football League team plays in eight Sundays a year. But in the gift shops inside Cowboys Stadium and in sports apparel stores around the nation, Cowboys fans are buying fancy jackets, jerseys and other gear made by Cambodian workers earning just 29 cents an hour for 10-hour days, six days a week.
And now the Cowboys merchandising arm—Silver Star Merchandising—is pursuing deals with major U.S. universities for exclusive rights to produce the schools’ logo apparel, reports ESPN’s Outside the Lines. A recent episode spotlighted the Cambodian supplier’s factory where workers:
fear the wrath of their supervisors if they talk to a co-worker sitting next to them or take too long at the bathroom. They say they are essentially forced to work overtime daily and describe a hostile work environment in which supervisors yell and insult them. They work while sick because either they can’t afford to go to the doctor or fear they will be fired if they miss work.
One of the schools Silver Star has its sights set on is Ohio State and student activists Read the rest of this entry »
ALPA’s Prater Honored by American Labor Museum
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| ALPA President Capt. John Prater |
Air Line Pilots (ALPA) Capt. John Prater was honored last night as an outstanding labor leader at the annual Sol Stetin Awards Gala. The awards are presented every year by the American Labor Museum, located at the historic Botto House in Haldeon, N.J.
The awards—named in honor of late Textile Workers President Sol Stetin—have been presented annually since 1982, and honor outstanding individuals for their contributions to working people. Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) President Michael Goodwin, who also serves as museum president, said Prater has:
exemplified himself in the airline industry, representing commercial airline pilots, negotiating and servicing ALPA members and is recognized by his peers and colleagues for his great work.
Oct. 29: Student Day of Action Against Rite Aid
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In eight cities across the country today, college students will visit their local Rite Aid drug store, not to pick up toiletries or prescriptions but to picket and protest the company’s persistent pattern of worker rights abuse.
The protests are part of the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) national day of action against Rite Aid, the country’s third largest retail drugstore chain. USAS International Campaigns Coordinator Teresa Cheng says students are especially concerned about employee abuse at Rite Aid’s massive Southwest Regional Distribution Center in Lancaster, Calif., where 550 workers are in the sixth year of a struggle to join union and bargain a contract.
Student activists will hold actions today outside Rite Aid stores in State College, Pa; Palo Alto, Calif.; Boston; Los Angeles; Ithaca, N.Y.; Seattle; Chapel Hill, N.C.; and Washington, D.C.
Alta Gracia Plant Shows Fair Practices Possible in Apparel
The first-known apparel factory in the developing world to pay a living wage is operating in Villa Altagracia, a small impoverished town in the Dominican Republic. For the first time, the 120 workers at the factory will be paid enough to support themselves and their families.
The factory and brand, Alta Gracia, is named after the town and is owned by Spartanburg, S.C.-based Knights Apparel, the leading supplier of college-logo apparel to U.S. universities, according to the Collegiate Licensing Co. Alta Gracia pays the workers about three-and-a-half times the average pay of the country’s apparel workers—and allows workers to join a union without interference.
Student Anti-Sweatshop Activists Score Big Win for Honduran Workers
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In what is being hailed as the biggest victory ever by student anti-sweatshop activists, Russell Athletic, the largest supplier of team uniforms and logo-wear, has agreed to reopen a Honduran factory shut down in January shortly after its workers formed a union and will rehire the 1,200 union members.
When Russell shut the factory and moved production to cheaper nonunion plants, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) mobilized on college and university campuses across the country. Their actions persuaded nearly 100 schools, including Harvard, Michigan, Miami, North Carolina and Stanford universities, to end their agreements with Russell for violating the workers’ rights.
Today Is World Day for Decent Work
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Today is World Day for Decent Work, and union members in more than 100 countries are mobilizing to address the global economic and employment crisis and demand fundamental reform of the world economy.
The deepest global recession since the 1930s has led to a jobs crisis with millions of people out of work. The International Labor Organization (ILO) predicts that as many as 50 million more workers could be kicked out of jobs worldwide in the next year and could lead to a dramatic increase in the number of working poor.
Live online coverage of the activities around the world, including videos, photographs and messages from events in every continent, will be broadcast on a special website, www.wddw.org, which will be updated via a 24-hour live feed.
Student Week of Action Promotes Employee Free Choice Nationwide
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This past week, students across the country mobilized to pass the Employee Free Choice Act in the Student Labor Action Project‘s annual Student Labor Week of Action.
The Week of Action commemorates the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez and their efforts on behalf of dignity and justice for workers. Student organizations taking part included United Students Against Sweatshops and the United States Student Association.
In 28 states and the District of Columbia, hundreds of students from dozens of campuses held rallies, community service days, petition drives, educational forums and other public events to promote workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain and to mobilize for a fair economy.
Student Week of Action Focuses on Employee Free Choice
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This week, Jobs with Justice’s Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) kicks off a week of action in support of the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and the freedom to form unions and bargain cooperatively to create a strong economy.
As part of SLAP’s week of action, held each year to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and Farm Workers founder César Chávez, students in 28 states and the District of Columbia are getting involved in the campaign for the Employee Free Choice Act. In coordination with the student week of action, Jobs with Justice will hold a “Resistance and Recovery” week of events.
You can find out about student actions in your area here.
Students, Workers Urge Georgetown to Defend Workers’ Rights
Students at Georgetown University today called on the school to honor its ethical commitments and cut ties with an apparel manufacturer that students say busted a union and violated workers’ rights at a plant in Honduras.
At a rally on the university’s campus in Washington, D.C., Moises Elias Montoya Alvarado and Norma Estela Mejia Castellanos, who work at Russell Athletics’ Jerzees de Honduras factory—which produces Georgetown logo apparel—described how the company closed the plant this past weekend and shipped the work to cheaper nonunion plants. The Jerzees de Honduras factory, located near Pedro Sula, Honduras, is the only unionized Russell plant in the country.
“We have been campaigning for a year and a half to end the abuses in our factory and ensure that we are treated with dignity and respect,” said Montoya Alvarado.
