PVH update, action request
Campaign for Labor Rights
/* ---------- "PVH update, action request" ---------- */
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PVH UPDATE AND ACTION REQUEST
posted May 27, 1999
[This alert was prepared by the U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project
(US/LEAP) - formerly the U.S./Guatemala Labor Education Project
(US/GLEP) -
(773) 262-6502, <usg...@igc.org>.]
In this alert:
Update
June 17 stockholder meeting
Action request: PVH leafleting on/about June 11-13
Human Rights Watch weighs in
Background
HRW letter to PVH
1999 sweatshop activist organizing packet
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UPDATE
PVH Workers Win Skirmish, Block Removal of Machinery
June 17 Stockholders Meeting Targeted for New Round of Leafleting Events
Phillips-Van Heusen workers who lost their jobs in December when PVH shut
down the only factory with a union in Guatemala's maquiladora sector
successfully prevented PVH from removing machinery from the factory last
week. PVH workers have been maintaining a round-the-clock vigil outside the
Camisas Modernas factory since it was abruptly closed on December 11, 1998.
On Monday, May 17, PVH-hired contractors from Georgia showed up at the
factory to begin the process of dismantling and removing the equipment. The
PVH workers locked one of the Georgians in the factory, leading to a call
for police. Six truckloads of police showed up at the factory gate, by which
time the man from Georgia had been allowed to leave the factory. The
situation was relatively calm until the PVH legal representative showed up
and began agitating that the police use force to allow the machinery to be
removed. Union leaders demanded to see documentation allowing for the
removal of the machinery. When none was produced, the PVH contractors and
legal representative departed with the expectation that they would be back
the next morning with the necessary papers.
Overnight, the PVH workers prepared to block removal of the machinery,
hammering nails into boards and gathering chains to be used to halt moving
vehicles. Workers began chanting, "The blood of Camisas Modernas workers
will be on the hands of PVH."
The tense situation prompted urgent contacts with PVH CEO Bruce Klatsky and
the U.S. ambassador in an effort to avert a potentially violent
confrontation. On Tuesday morning, May 18, upon getting an update of the
developing situation on the ground and hearing of the workers chant, Mr.
Klatsky ordered an end to the effort to remove the machinery.
PVH says it had to move the machinery because its lease had expired and the
landlord required that the factory be cleaned up and left in its original
condition. (Note: PVH rented the actual physical space but owned the
machinery, equipment and materials, and managed the factory as a
legally-incorporated subsidiary of PVH in Guatemala.) While this particular
machinery may not be essential to a re-opening of the factory, workers
viewed the attempt to remove the machinery as another sign of bad faith and
a final nail in the coffin of Camisas Modernas.
While PVH backed off this ill-advised attempt to remove the factory
machinery, it has not made progress towards a resolution of the underlying
conflict posed by the closing. Workers and their supporters continue to
demand that PVH reopen the factory, either under PVH management or
under a
new buyer. PVH has reiterated that it will not reopen the factory but has
said it would help look for a new buyer who would rehire the workers,
recognize the union and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement.
However, there have been no negotiations with the workers or union in this
regard.
The U.S. campaign has been in a holding pattern the past month or so as
negotiations appeared to be imminent. Now that these negotiations have
failed to move forward, the PVH campaign is about to heat up again. Several
initiatives are in the works that will go public over the next couple of
weeks in an effort to increase pressure on the company to find an acceptable
resolution.
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JUNE 17 STOCKHOLDER MEETING
A key target date is June 17, 1999, the day of the PVH stockholder meeting.
The meeting will be in New York City at 10:00 am. For information about the
leafleting event outside the meeting, contact the Global Sweatshop Coalition
in New York City: (212) 645-5230, <nic...@earthlink.net>. Leafleting will
take place in front of Chase Securities at 270 Park Avenue and will
begin at
9:00 am, so that demonstrators will be on hand as shareholders arrive.
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ACTION REQUEST:
PVH leafleting on/about June 11-13
Leafleting events at PVH outlets or retailers selling PVH brands the weekend
before (June 11-13) the stockholder meeting or any day the week before would
help send a message to PVH that this campaign is not going away until PVH
workers go back to work with a contract.
Although previously circulated materials for leafleting are valid, we expect
to have some new materials available by June 9, based on new
information we
are currently compiling. They will be posted in a future alert from Campaign
for Labor Rights.
Targets: In addition to its 700 outlets that go under the various names of
its leading labels, e.g. Van Heusen, Geoffrey Beene, Bass and Izod, PVH
apparel is sold by major U.S. department stores including JC Penney, Dayton
Hudson (Marshall Fields), May's (owner of Lord & Taylor, Hechi's, Filene's,
Famous-Barr, Kaufmann's, Foley's, Strawbridge, and Meier & Frank), Federated
(owner of Macy's, Bloomingdale, Lazarus, Birdies, Bon Marche, Rich's,
Goldsmith, Stern's, Arrow Postal and Charter Club), and Mervyn. Not all
these stores, especially the lower-end ones, carry PVH apparel. You may wish
to research the targeted store first to be sure that it carries one of the
more recognizable and prominent labels.
New targets! Gant stores are back on the target list because even
though PVH
sold its Gant label to a Swedish company called Pyramid earlier this year,
PVH owns nearly 20% of Pyramid. PVH has also begun marketing DYN men's dress
shirts under a new licensing arrangement with Donna Karan. And PVH earlier
this year signed a new licensing agreement to market John Henry and
Manhattan men's dress shirts.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WEIGHS IN
In another PVH-related development, Human Rights Watch Executive Director
Kenneth Roth sent Mr. Klatsky a letter on May 6 letter stating that "PVH's
decision to close the Camisas plant is a setback for worker efforts to
exercise their right to freedom of association in Guatemala. The single
successful unionization effort in the country's maquiladora sector - an
effort made possible by PVH's decision, on HRW's recommendation, to
recognize the union in the first place Ğ has now been reversed." The letter
also states, ". . .we have not found evidence to support the allegation that
the closure was motivated by an intent to penalize the Camisas workers for
having exercised their right to freedom of association. However, our
conclusion must be qualified by our lack of expertise to evaluate the market
factors said to be behind this decision." The full text of the HRW
letter is
included at the end of this alert.
US/LEAP is developing a response to the HRW letter and believes the workers
were most definitely penalized because they exercised their right to freedom
of association. The so-called "market factors" claimed by PVH are a
code for
labor costs: The PVH workers organized a union in order to improve
wages and
working conditions. Their success substantially raised the cost of Camisas
Modernas over contracting operations. PVH closed its high-wage factory to
concentrate its production at low-wage sweatshops in Central America,
thereby penalizing its workers for their success at forming a union that
obtained the only collective bargaining agreement in Guatemala's maquiladora
sector and a union that made a difference. (Perhaps if the union had been
weak and accepted the low wages, long hours and sweatshop conditions of PVH
contracting operations, then PVH would have kept the factory open.)
BACKGROUND
Phillips-Van Heusen abruptly closed its unionized plant in Guatemala on
December 11, the day before a scheduled Christmas break. The five
hundred-plus workers at PVH's Camisas Modernas factory won a major victory
in 1997 after a six-year struggle when they secured the only collective
bargaining agreement in Guatemala's maquiladora (apparel-for-export) sector.
This campaign calls on PVH to reopen the factory and stresses the fact that
PVH CEO Bruce Klatsky is a member of the Apparel Industry Partnership - a
White House-initiated task force to end sweatshops - as a source of
leverage. Mr. Klatsky is a member of the board of Human Rights Watch.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH LETTER TO PVH
May 6, 1999
Mr. Bruce Klatsky
Chairman of the Board and
Chief Executive Officer
Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation
200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Dear Bruce,
Thank you for meeting with Human Rights Watch (HRW) representatives to
discuss the recent decision of Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) to close its Camosa
facility in Guatemala City. We appreciate your openness in discussing this
matter with us.
As we explained, the reason we sought a meeting with you is because of
allegations that PVH had closed the Camosa facility in retaliation for the
workers there having formed a union and entered into a collective bargaining
agreement. If that were true, that would be a serious violation of the right
of free association and a breach of the principles that PVH has pledged to
uphold. In addition, even if the plant was closed for other reasons, we
sought to discuss steps that PVH could take to mitigate the harm done to
workers' efforts to exercise their right to free association in Guatemala.
You told us, as you have publicly, that the closure of the plant was not
motivated by the presence of a union but by the recent loss of a major
dress-shirt customer as well as longer-term economic trends in the industry.
Noting that this closure was far from an isolated case, you described
it as
part of a broader industry need for special orders, irregular timetables,
and greater flexibility which only subcontractors can economically provide.
Two decades ago, PVH owned 21 shirt factories in the United States,
where as
today it owns only one. With the closure of the Guatemala plant, PVH also
owns only one shirt factory outside the United States, in Costa Rica.
Although the Camosa plant was governed by a collective bargaining agreement,
you explained, the previous five plants that PVH had closed were not
unionized. With respect to the Camosa plant, we understood from all sides
that PVH's relations with the union had been constructive, that PVH had
negotiated a new contract ahead of the expiration of the prior contract,
that productivity had increased, and that neither costs nor wages had risen
appreciably more than productivity.
As noted, our most urgent concern in addressing the plant closure was to
determine whether it was motivated by a desire to thwart the workers'
exercise of their right to free association. Having reviewed material
provided to us by PVH, union members, and their international
supporters, we
have not found evidence to support the allegation that the closure was
motivated by an intent to penalize the Camosa workers for having exercised
their right to freedom of association. However, our conclusion must be
qualified by our lack of expertise to evaluate the market factors said to
lie behind this decision.
Regardless of motivation, PVH's decision to close the Camosa plant is a
setback for worker efforts to exercise their right to freedom of association
in Guatemala. The single successful unionizing effort in the country's
maquiladora sector - an effort made possible by PVH's decision, on HRW's
recommendation, to recognize the union in the first place - has now been
reversed. To mitigate that effect, you agreed to take the following steps:
* If workers attempt to exercise their right to freedom of association by
organizing a union and engaging in collective bargaining in any other
facility with which PVH does business, PVH will monitor developments closely
and make clear to the subcontractor that continued PVH business depends on
permitting unfettered exercise of that right.
* PVH will use its influence to press its subcontractors to respect all
international human rights standards and to agree to the transparency that
facilitates the monitoring of adherence to those standards.
* PVH will encourage its subcontractors to hire its former workers as a
priority to fill job openings.
* Without distributing a list of union members among PVH's former employees,
which would be counterproductive, PVH will be vigilant for any sign of
blacklisting and will use its economic clout to oppose any such trend that
it might discover.
* Although notice of the plant's closing was not provided (which you said
was due to fear of violence), you explained that PVH had provided severance
payments to all workers greater than the amount required under
Guatemalan law.
* We discussed the legal requirement of extra payments to pregnant or
lactating women and union organizers who are dismissed. While there is some
ambiguity concerning whether these requirements apply only when people are
individually dismissed or also when a plant is closed, PVH will err on the
side of generosity toward pregnant and lactating women by paying them the
enhanced severance amount specified by law. We understand that the union
organizers have declined this special treatment.
We believe these steps will be helpful in protecting the right of free
association in Guatemala. Because of broader interest in this issue and
Human Rights Watch's role in documenting past conditions at the Camosa
plant, we will make this letter available to the public.
Sincerely,
Kenneth Roth
Executive Director
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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.