Join Oct. 27 Forum to Learn How Factory in Developing World Pays Living Wage
Alta Gracia is the first known apparel factory in the developing world to pay a living wage. For the first time, the 120 workers at the factory in Villa Altagracia, a small impoverished town in the Dominican Republic, are being paid enough to support themselves and their families.
Next week, a panel of experts will discuss the promise and challenges of the Alta Gracia project during a forum Oct. 27 at 9:30 a.m. in the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. Panelists include Georgetown professor John Kline, Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) Executive Director Scott Nova, AFL-CIO International Affairs Director Cathy Feingold and Robert Stumberg of the Georgetown University Law Center.
For more information, contact Georgetown’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at 202-687-2293 or kilwp@georgetown.edu.
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.
