Sweatshop activism news: 5/5/99
Campaign for Labor Rights
/* ---------- "Sweatshop activism news: 5/5/99" ---------- */
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SWEATSHOP ACTIVISM NEWS
posted May 5, 1999
In this alert:
CISPES labor rights delegation to El Salvador
Women's delegation to Guatemala
PVH solidarity statement from Nicaraguan union
Gap fax action
1999 sweatshop activist organizing packet
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CISPES LABOR RIGHTS DELEGATION TO EL SALVADOR
Students! Workers! Activists! Join the CISPES summer labor delegation
to El
Salvador.
July 23 - August 1, 1999
CISPES (Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador) invites you
to help strengthen the international labor movement and build cross-border
solidarity. Get involved with the CISPES Summer of Solidarity and go to El
Salvador. While there, you will:
* Meet organizers of the Salvadoran labor movement
* Witness the harsh effects of neoliberal policy
* Hear testimony from maquila workers
* See how workers are fighting for their rights
* Discuss youth organizing with FMLN juventud
* Visit FMLN-governed municipalities
* Help build cross-border solidarity
Approximate costs:
Airfare ($300 - $500)
$150 Administrative Fee
$350 In-country costs (meals, housing, etc.)
$300 - $500 for material aid for grassroots organizing
TOTAL: $1,300
Contact CISPES by July 5: (212) 229-1290, <cispe...@igc.org>. Web site:
<www.cispes.org>.
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WOMEN'S DELEGATION TO GUATEMALA
Mujeres Activas! Learn Spanish in Guatemala. Delegation to Guatemala for
women organizers and activists co-sponsored by NISGUA and STITCH.
WHERE: Antigua
WHEN: June 19-27
COST: $900 plus airfare
Delegates will spend half of each day learning Spanish in a language school
and half-days meeting with Guatemalan women and labor organizers. Plans also
include cultural activities and a weekend visit to a banana plantation.
Applications are due by June 1. Register as soon as possible, as group size
will be limited to 10. Contacts:
Amy E. Johnson (202) 518-7638, <nis...@igc.org >
Jennifer Hill (954) 792-3930, <jeh...@igc.org>
Hannah Frisch (773) 924-5057, <hf...@aol.com>
Kim Medina (510) 832-8765, <medi...@aol.com>
Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) supports the
social movement in Guatemala for a democratic, multi-ethnic and
multi-cultural society and builds people to people links between activists
in the U.S. and Guatemala.
STITCH is a network of North American women who support Guatemalan women
organizing to earn a living wage and to be treated with fairness and dignity
on the job. We mobilize public support in the United States for the
campaigns of Guatemalan working women and we set up training exchanges so
that North American and Guatemalan women can learn leadership and organizing
skills from each other.
Complete application and return it to: Hannah Frisch/STITCH, 4933 S.
Dorchester, Chicago, IL 60615.
Name:
Address:
Phone:
Email:
Occupation:
1. What do you hope to gain / contribute by participating in the delegation?
2. Please tell us about any relevant activism or leadership roles you have
taken.
3. Is there anything that will prohibit you from participating in the entire
delegation and do you have any special schedule, meal or travel needs?
4. Please describe any previous visits to Guatemala or Central America.
5. What level is your Spanish: beginner, intermediate or advanced?
6. Please provide the names, addresses and phone numbers of two people who
are familiar with your activist work.
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PVH SOLIDARITY STATEMENT FROM NICARAGUAN UNION
English translation by Melinda St. Louis (Alliance for Global Justice, Latin
America Emergency Response Network, Campaign for Labor Rights):
No to the closing of Phillips Van Heusen!
The Federation of Textile Union Workers affiliated with the CST denounces,
to national and international audiences, the cut-and-run maneuver of closing
the factory and sending hundreds of women into unemployment.
We support the struggle of the workers in the Guatemalan Camisas Modernas
factory to reopen the factory. It is shameful that Phillips-Van Heusen has
closed the only export factory in Guatemala where the workers were unionized
and represented by a collective bargaining agreement - and has shifted this
production to factories with miserable wages and where labor rights are not
respected. The behavior of today's companies - looking all over the world
for the lowest wages - requires that workers and our allies act regionally
or even globally if we are to gain respect for our rights.
We, the Federation of Textile Unions/CST, urge the workers of Camisas
Modernas to continue resisting for their valiant struggle so that their
human and labor rights are not violated. We urge our allies, who helped us
organize unions in Nicaragua's Free Trade Zone, to support the Phillips-Van
Heusen workers in the Camisas Modernas - and to demand that they reopen the
factory.
In solidarity,
Pedro Ortega Mendez
Srio Gral Federacion
Textil vestuario piel y calzado
C.S.T.
Original text in Spanish:
No al cierre de la fabrica Phillips Van Heusen
La Federacion De Sindicatos Textil afiliados a la CST denunciamos a la
opinion publica nacional y international, de las manobras de los impresarios
Golandrinos de cerrar la fabrica y mandar al desempleo centenares de mujeres.
Apoyamos la lucha de las trabajadoras de la fabrica Camisas Modernas en
Guatemala para reabrir la fabrica. Es indignante que Phillips-Van Heusen
haya cerrado la unica fabrica de exportacion en Guatemala donde las
trabajadores sindicalizados eran representados por un contrato
colectivo - y
haya trasladado la esa produccion a fbricas con salarios miserables y donde
no se respetan los derechos laborales. El comportamiento de las
empresas hoy
- buscando por todo el mundo por salarios mas bajos - requiere que los
trabajadores y sus aliados actuen regionalmente o incluso globalmente si
vamos a ganar el respeto a nuestros derechos.
Nosotros La federacion de sindicatos textil/CST, les instamos a continuar
resistiendo a las trabajadoras de Camisas Modernas por su lucha valiente
para la justicia y que sus derechos humanos y laborites no sean violados.
Les instamos a nuestros aliados, quienes nos ayudaron en organizar
sindicatos en la zona franca de Nicaragua, a apoyar a las trabajadoras de
Phillips-Van Heusen de la fabrica Camisas Modernas - y a demandar que
reabran la fabrica.
En solidaridad,
Pedro Ortega Mendez
Srio Gral Federacion
Textil vestuario piel y calzado
C.S.T.
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GAP FAX ACTION
Tell The Gap to end labor abuses in Saipan!
Thousands of Asian women working for top clothing manufacturers are forced
to work under slave-like conditions on the U.S. commonwealth island of
Saipan. A recent class action suit charges that these companies are making
megaprofits while 25,000 temporary immigrant workers are paid starvation
wages under inhumane conditions. Among those named in the suit is San
Francisco-based Gap Co. Tell CEO Donald Fisher to end Gap's use sweatshop
labor conditions.
Send a FREE FAX today. Go to the Corporate Watch web site:
<http://www.corpwatch.org/trac/corner/alert/gap.html>.
For more background information, see:
"Lawsuit Charges Gap, Wal-Mart, Others for Sweatshops":
<http://www.corpwatch.org/trac/corner/worldnews/other/283.html>.
Sample letter:
Donald Fisher, Chairman
The Gap, Incorporated
One Harrison Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
fax: (415) 427-7037
Dear Mr. Fisher,
I want to express my concern about the sweatshop conditions and labor abuses
on the island of Saipan. As a global company contracting in dozens of
countries worldwide, The Gap has an obligation to its customers and its
workers to reverse the race to the bottom in labor standards throughout the
garment industry.
In Saipan, The Gap has a responsibility to:
* Protect workers' rights, including the freedom of association and
collective bargaining.
* Abolish the use of labor contracts that deny workers their basic
human rights.
* Ban the collection of recruitment fees and create a trust fund to repay
such fees for all present and former workers, and pay return passage
for any
present or former workers who wish to return home.
* Set up a credible, enforceable independent monitoring system, with
semiannual public reports, to ensure an end to all labor, health and safety
abuses.
I look forward to hearing your response.
Sincerely,
NAME:
ADDRESS:
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1999 SWEATSHOP ACTIVIST ORGANIZING PACKET
Campaign for Labor Rights has prepared a multi-theme, multi-campaign packet
for local activists who are organizing around sweatshop issues. Updated and
additional materials will be mailed automatically during the year to
everyone who orders the initial installment. The initial packet includes
brochure masters (INS and immigration issues, living wage, What can I buy?),
leaflet masters, masters for consumer cards, masters for sign-on letters,
background information on campaigns (farmworkers, Disney, Nike, Phillips-Van
Heusen, The Gap) and a resource list. Order by email <C...@igc.org> or phone
(541) 344-5410. Include your postal address: Packet is in hard copy. Whole
packets only; it is not practical to break down packets and send selected
pieces. Packet includes a donation form and a return envelope. Suggested
donation: $10.00.