Personal appeal for solidarity with Nicaraguan maquila workers

Tue, 7 Apr 1998 17:39:00 +0100
Dale W Wimberley (dale.wimberley@vt.edu)

Some of you know that I have been closely involved in cross-border
solidarity supporting unionization efforts of garment workers in the
Nicaraguan free trade zone. Over the past year and a half I've followed
the Nicaraguan maquila situation closely. Last summer I was part of a
Witness for Peace labor delegation to Nicaragua and stayed in the home of
one of the union members.

This is my personal plea for your solidarity with these workers. I urge
you to send a letter to the JC Penney CEO as described at the end of this
message. Also, please forward this message to other likely sympathizers.

BACKGROUND:

Since 1996 there have been several "urgent action" appeals from the
Campaign for Labor Rights and related organizations to support these
workers' efforts to organize - generally fax campaigns to corporate and
government officials. The determination of the workers, spurred on by the
empowerment they experienced during the revolutionary period of 1979-1990
and assisted by international solidarity, has paid off. There are now 5
legally recognized unions in the Nicaraguan maquilas (out of fewer than 20
maquilas), one of which has gotten a contract with its employer.

Earlier this year nearly all the 1800 workers at Nicaragua's Chentex plant
(a jeans-making maquila) held sitdown strikes (and they received
cross-border solidarity) to get legal recognition. Their success prompted
some activists to surmise that - with the lowest garment worker wages in
the Western hemisphere - Nicaragua's maquila unionization could well become
a foundation on which garment maquila workers elsewhere in the region could
build their unions.

Now comes a potentially pivotal point in the Nicaragua maquila struggle.
for the first time, a company has threatened to move its plant out of the
country due to union activity. Chentex has threatened to move operations
to Mexico. Perhaps this is merely a bargaining ploy; perhaps not.
Cross-border solidarity is urgently needed to put pressure on Chentex
owners via their major customers - US retailers.

See below for action to take. For more background information, see this
website:
http://www.montgomery-floyd.lib.va.us/pub/compages/cjca/sweat

Thanks for your solidarity!

Dale Wimberley

>Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 09:29:26 -0700 (PDT)
>X-Sender: clr@pop.igc.org
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>To: clr@igc.org
>From: Campaign for Labor Rights <clr@igc.apc.org>
>Subject: Nicaragua factory threatens cut-and-run
>
>Labor Alerts: a service of Campaign for Labor Rights
>To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to CLR@igc.apc.org
>Phone: (541) 344-5410 Web site: http://www.compugraph.com/clr
>Membership/newsletter. Send $35.00 to Campaign for Labor Rights, 1247 "E"
>Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. Sample newsletter available on request.
>
>NICARAGUA FACTORY THREATENS CUT-AND-RUN
>1,800 workers at recently unionized Chentex would lose jobs
>
>[This alert was prepared April 3, 1998 on behalf of a coalition which
>for Peace (202) 544-0781 <witness@w4peace.org>; the National Labor Committee
>(212) 242-3002 <natlabcom@aol.com>; the U.S./Guatemala Labor Education
>Solidarity Center of the AFL-CIO; and the International Textile Workers
>Federation.]
>
>***********************************
>See ACTION REQUEST at end of alert!
>***********************************
>
>In recent months, we have posted alerts on the certification of a union at
>the Chentex clothing factory in Nicaragua's Las Mercedes free trade zone.
>This was the third union in the zone to receive official recognition from
>the Nicaraguan Labor Ministry.
>
>Just when it seemed that the free trade zone in Nicaragua had been cracked
>open to labor organizing, Chi Shing, the Taiwanese consortium which owns
>Chentex and two other factories in the zone, announced that it will close
>Chentex in June and shift production to Mexico. Management sought to justify
>the planned move by references to unsubstantiated allegations of union
>violence.
>
>Cut-and-run is the central strategy of transnationals. Threats to move
>production are used regularly in union busting and rollback in both the
>industrialized nations and the Global South. It is crucial that we mobilize
>strongly in defense of the Chentex workers, to demonstrate to Chi Shing
>management - and to all cut-and-run companies - that there is no place for
>them to hide in the global economy.
>
>Two of the biggest labels produced at Chentex are Bugle Boy pants and
>Arizona Jeans, both of which are sold in J.C. Penney stores. The coalition
>working on Nicaraguan sweatshop issues is mounting a campaign to pressure
>J.C. Penney into exerting its leverage on Chentex and Chi Shing.
>
>We have drafted a sign-on letter for leaders of national religious
>organizations. The letter seeks a commitment from Penney's to sever ties
>with Chi Shing if it moves production from Nicaragua to Mexico. In support
>of that letter, we are asking local activists to sign the following letter.
>
>***************************
>URGENT ACTION REQUEST
>***************************
>
>Please sign and send the following letter today and send a copy to Campaign
>for Labor Rights at 1247 "E" Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. It would be
>especially helpful if you could collect signatures in public situations such
>as tabling events, union meetings, places of faith and campuses.
>
>James E. Oestereicher, CEO
>J.C. Penney
>P.O. Box 10001
>Dallas, TX 75024
>
>Dear Mr. Oestereicher:
>
>I am writing to express my serious concern about the recent news that one of
>your contractors has threatened to close its factory in Nicaragua and move
>its production to Mexico. The Chentex factory produces Bugle Boy pants and
>Arizona Jeans, both of which are sold in your stores.
>
>I understand that this announcement comes just one month after a union
>received legal recognition at the Chentex factory and is widely seen as an
>attempt to suppress the right of the union to bargain collectively. This is
>the latest in a series of anti-union tactics by the company, including
>efforts to discredit union leaders by disseminating reckless and
>unsubstantiated allegations. I also understand that five workers recently
>have been fired from the factory, in what appears to be yet another
>union-busting tactic.
>
>Abandoning some 1,800 workers simply for exercising their right to join a
>union, as guaranteed under Nicaraguan law and internationally-recognized
>conventions, hardly seems consistent with the moral standards to which your
>company has publicly committed itself.
>
>We urge you to make a public commitment that J.C. Penney will sever all of
>its business relations with Chi Shing if that consortium closes its Chentex
>factory in Nicaragua, and to communicate your concerns directly to Chi Shing
>and inform its management of your decision to sever relations if the
>consortium does shift operations from the Chentex factory to Mexico.
>
>As a consumer, I take a personal interest in the conditions under which
>products are made. The rights of working people matter to me. You can
>demonstrate to me the seriousness with which you regard these concerns, not
>by writing back that you have "looked into the matter," but by informing me
>that you have made an arrangement to meet with the religious and human
>rights representatives who have written to you.
>
>I eagerly await your response.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>NAME:
>
>ADDRESS:
>

Dale W. Wimberley
Department of Sociology
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University