-----Original Message-----
From: Campaign for Labor Rights <clr@igc.apc.org>
To: clr@igc.org <clr@igc.org>
Date: Saturday, December 12, 1998 10:19 PM
Subject: PVH closes unionized plant in Guatemala
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>PHILLIPS-VAN HEUSEN CLOSES UNIONIZED GUATEMALA PLANT!
>(PVH is a member of the White House task force on sweatshops!)
>
>[Information provided by the U.S./Guatemala Labor Education Project: (773)
>262-6502, <usglep@igc.org>]
>
>*******************************************
>See URGENT ACTION REQUEST at end of alert
>*******************************************
>
>Guatemalan workers arriving at the Phillips-Van Heusen apparel-for-export
>factory on Friday, December 11, were expecting Christmas bonuses before
>starting a three-week vacation on Saturday. Instead, they found security
>guards blocking entry to the factory gates and were given a written notice
>informing them that PVH had closed the factory, Camisas Modernas, the only
>maquiladora in Guatemala with a collective bargaining agreement.
>
>In a statement to PVH Guatemalan workers, the company stated that the
reason
>for the abrupt closure was the loss of an important client. PVH stated that
>it now has over-capacity in its own facilities. However, most of PVH
apparel
>is manufactured by contractors and PVH says it will continue to contract
>work in Guatemala.
>
>The bottom line is that PVH has closed its unionized, higher-wage plant and
>is concentrating production in non-union, low-wage sweatshops. Of special
>note: PVH is a member of the Apparel Industry Partnership, the White-House
>initiated task-force to end sweatshop abuses at home and abroad.
>
>The PVH factory made national and international news last year when its
>workers won a six-year struggle to obtain union recognition and a contract,
>marking an important breakthrough in respecting worker rights in the
Central
>America maquiladora sector and the fight against sweatshops. An
>international support campaign helped secure the victory when PVH Chief
>Executive Officer Bruce Klatsky agreed to abide by findings from a special
>investigation by Human Rights Watch, which found that the company was under
>legal obligation to negotiate with the workers. Klatsky is a member of the
>board of Human Rights Watch.
>
>While international supporters and the workers will develop a more complete
>plan of action, immediate communication of your concerns to PVH is needed.
>
>***************************
>URGENT ACTION REQUEST
>***************************
>
>Please copy, sign and fax or mail the following letter to Bruce Klatsky,
CEO
>of Phillips-Van Heusen. Please also send the SIGNATURE PORTION of your
>letter (with your name and address) to Campaign for Labor Rights via email
><CLR@igc.org> or fax (541) 431-0523. The union at the Phillips-Van Heusen
>Camisas Modernas factory will be heartened to learn of your support. Those
>wishing to call Bruce Klatsky can do so at (212) 541-5200, ext. 7200.
>
>Bruce Klatsky, CEO
>Phillips-Van Heusen
>1290 Avenue of the Americas
>New York, NY 10104
>Fax: (212) 247-5309
>
>Dear Mr. Klatsky:
>
>Last year your company received positive press and pubic support for
>negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with your workers in
Guatemala
>and raising their wages. I am shocked and outraged that now, the day before
>their Christmas vacation, you have fired your 500 Guatemalan workers and
>shut the factory in order to concentrate production in low-wage sweatshops
>that characterize the apparel industry world-wide. Under the circumstances,
>PVH involvement in the Apparel Industry Partnership (AIP: White-House
>task-force to end sweatshops) seems highly questionable. I urge you to
>reconsider the decision to close Camisas Modernas, which is an assault on
>workers and their supporters who are fighting for a living wage and basic
>rights, and reopen the plant, rehire the fired workers and restore PVH as
an
>industry leader in Guatemala. If a reduction in orders requires PVH to cut
>back its production in Guatemala, you should be doing so at the company's
>low-wage sweatshop contractors and resume operations at Camisas Modernas,
>which pays some of the best wages in the maquila sector in Guatemala.
>
>The Apparel Industry Partnership "Workplace Code of Conduct," to which PVH
>is a signatory, states: "Employers shall recognize and respect the right of
>employees to freedom of association and collective bargaining." Such a
>commitment rings hollow when PVH dismisses the only maquila workers in
>Guatemala who are represented by a union and operate under a collective
>bargaining agreement - but continues to produce at non-union factories.
This
>action by PVH means that the company now will be the focus of intense
>scrutiny both by those who for several years have followed these workers'
>struggle for justice and by critics of the AIP who suspect that it will
>serve as a cover for sweatshop business as usual.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>NAME:
>ADDRESS: