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Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 12:27:56 -0500
From: "Robert J.S. Bob Ross" <rross@clarku.edu>
Subject: [Fwd: protest at PVH outlets]
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-- Robert J.S. Ross Professor and Chair Department of Sociology Clark University 950 Main Street Worcester, Massachusetts 01610 Voice: 508 793 7376 Fax: 508 793 8816 Webpage: http://www.clarku.edu/~rross --------------C0C8FCB88543F7997C7D1C8E Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inlineReturn-path: <clr@igc.apc.org> Received: from igcb.igc.org by CLARKU.EDU (PMDF V5.1-8 #D3060) with ESMTP id <01J5ELKEIGS09TO10R@CLARKU.EDU> for rross@CLARKU.EDU; Wed, 16 Dec 1998 12:16:24 EST Received: from igce.igc.org (igce.igc.org [192.82.108.49]) by igcb.igc.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id JAA16858; Wed, 16 Dec 1998 09:12:00 -0800 (PST) Received: from pppe-81.igc.org (clr@pppe-81.igc.org) by igce.igc.org (8.9.1/8.9.1) with SMTP id JAA17592; Wed, 16 Dec 1998 09:04:19 -0800 (PST) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 09:04:19 -0800 (PST) From: Campaign for Labor Rights <clr@igc.apc.org> Subject: protest at PVH outlets X-Sender: clr@pop.igc.org To: clr@igc.org Message-id: <2.2.16.19981216090811.3a2f14d0@pop.igc.org> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Labor Alerts: a service of Campaign for Labor Rights To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to CLR@igc.org Web site: www.summersault.com/~agj/clr Phone: (541) 344-5410 Fax: (541) 431-0523 Membership/newsletter. Send $35.00 to Campaign for Labor Rights, 1247 "E" Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. Sample newsletter available on request.
A CALL FOR LEAFLETING !!! at Phillips-Van Heusen outlets and JC Penney stores posted December 16, 1998
[Information provided by the U.S./Guatemala Labor Education Project: (773) 262-6502, <usglep@igc.org>]
Local activists are being asked to leaflet at Phillips-Van Heusen direct outlets or, in cities where that is not an option, at JC Penney stores. It would be particularly helpful if leafleting actions could take place prior to January 2 (that is, during the prime holiday shopping season). Admittedly, this is short notice for local activists, many of whom are away for the holidays or otherwise engaged in family activities. However, the recent decision by PVH - to close the only maquiladora in Guatemala with a workforce represented by a union and operating under a collective bargaining agreement - calls for a response.
PVH employees at the Camisas Modernas factory learned of their dismissal on Friday, December 11. They had arrived at work expecting to receive their Christmas bonus. The action came less than 6 weeks after Phillips-Van Heusen put its name to the Apparel Industry Partnership's "preliminary agreement." PVH's stated reason for the closure was a decline in business. However, the company continues to produce at non-union facilities in Guatemala. Clearly, union busting was the goal.
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 after the company's decision to close its unionized facility.
The situation looks bleak for the employees. Under economic duress, many accepted severance payments. This is a galling outcome for a struggle which has been waged on and off at this factory since 1990 - first to win recognition for the union and, later, to pressure the company to engage in collective bargaining with the union. In 1997, there appeared to be a final resolution of the labor conflict, with management bargaining a contract which granted all of the main demands of the union.
A decisive element in the 1997 victory was the intervention of Human Rights Watch (HRW). PVH CEO Bruce Klatsky was (and still is) a member of the HRW board. Embarrassed by a report which HRW was about to release, detailing PVH abuses of worker rights and PVH violations of Guatemalan labor law, Klatsky moved the company into negotiations.
Just prior to closing Camisas Modernas, PVH sought to minimize the damage to its reputation by notifying HWR and fellow Apparel Industry Partnership member, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, telling them that the action was dictated by a decline in work orders.
The PVH closure of Camisas Modernas represents a serious setback to free trade zone organizing in the region. It also would seem to verify what many suspected about the Apparel Industry Partnership: that its corporate members intended it to be a cover for sweatshop business as usual.
Hopefully, some modicum of justice for the dismissed workers can be wrested from the situation. Whatever the outcome for them, international human rights activists must not sit quietly by, allowing PVH and its apparel industry cohorts to bask in the glow of praise for their participation in the White House task force on sweatshop issues. Sooner than we had expected, the reality of the Apparel Industry Partnership has been demonstrated. We in the labor rights movement are obliged to make sure that the public gets the message.
Even a protest action involving as few as 2-4 people would be helpful. Demonstrators can raise their visibility through the use of picket signs or a banner. Such high-visibility techniques can be effective, even when participants are confined to the public sidewalk around the perimeter of a shopping mall parking lot.
The protests are against Phillips-Van Heusen. Where they take place at JC Penney stores, we want to take care not to convey an anti-JCP message, since the latter company has been somewhat cooperative in other sweatshop disputes.
The information in this paragraph is based on research done a year and a half ago: PVH stores go by the following names: Van Heusen, Bass (shoes and apparel), Bass Kids, Cape Isle Knitters and Windsor Shirts. In addition, PVH owns the following labels: 417, Geoffrey Beene, Jantzen and Izod. In addition to JC Penney, other stores that carry PVH products include: Macy's, Brudines, A&S, Dayton Hudson and Marshall Fields (all selling PVH's Geoffrey Beene label) and LL Bean, Land's End and Sears (all selling PVH's Pickwick label).
Due to shortness of time, we will not be mailing out action packets. Instead, on Friday, December 18 we will post another alert in which we will provide the text for: a leaflet, a background sheet, a press release and a sample letter to PVH.
PLEASE!!! If you are planning a PVH protest - even a very small one - during the holiday shopping season, notify Campaign for Labor Rights by phone (541) 344-5410 or email <CLR@igc.org>. We want to know about the plans for these actions!!! And please send us a report on your action afterward.
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