Wednesday, June 20, 2007
More Press!
See today's UW Daily for coverage of the protest (here). And, in case you missed it, the front page of yesterday's Seattle P.I. (here). Help keep this story in the news by sending letters to the editors of both papers!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Quick Ways To Continue Support
1. Call Macy's, Talbots, and Liz Claiborne.
2. Sign our online petition.
3. Come to the garage sale June 23rd an 24th [6822 16th Ave NE].
4. Email a U.S. senator or representative.
Talking points for calling the brands:
1. DEMAND that threats, intimidation, and attacks against union leaders immediately stop. [Say that a union leader was surrounded by a group of men and received death threats. This violates countless laws and basic human rights, and the lives of these women are literally in the brands' hands.]
2. DEMAND that Cimatextiles be immediately reopened and that enough business is redirected to the factory to ensure that it operates at full capacity. [Say that Cimatextiles and Choishin are two of the only unionized factories in these brands' supply chains, and that they are not following their company codes of conduct if they don't stand up for factories in which the right to freedom of association is actually respected.]
3. DEAMND that the union workers of Cimatextiles (SITRACIMA) be immediately reemployed and receive all the benefits they are entitled to under law and from past agreements. [Say that the companies should act to stand up for union workers and one of the few factories in which freedom of association and other priniciples in their codes of conduct are respected. Also, note the fact that the factory closed illegally, the workers haven't received the severance agreed to with management, and that company codes of conduct, and Guatemalan and international laws are being broken.]
4. DEMAND that new orders be immediately redirected to Choishin to ensure that the factory operates at full capacity. [Say that work orders have decreased and that the companies should stand up for unionized workers and factories in which their codes of conduct are actually respected.]
5. DEMAND that the union workers of Choishin (SITRACHOI) remain employed and that their rights are respected. [Say that the companies should stand up for unionized workers and factories in which their codes of conduct are actually respected.]
Contact information:
Liz Claiborne Inc: Dial 212-626-3442 and ask to speak to CEO Bill McComb.
Email: consumer_relations@liz.com
Talbots: Dial 781-749-7600, ask to speak with Consumer Relations.
Email: customer.service@talbots.com
Macy's: Dial 646-429-5255, ask to speak with Holly Thomas, PR Director
Email: holly.thomas@macys.com
2. Sign our online petition.
3. Come to the garage sale June 23rd an 24th [6822 16th Ave NE].
4. Email a U.S. senator or representative.
Talking points for calling the brands:
1. DEMAND that threats, intimidation, and attacks against union leaders immediately stop. [Say that a union leader was surrounded by a group of men and received death threats. This violates countless laws and basic human rights, and the lives of these women are literally in the brands' hands.]
2. DEMAND that Cimatextiles be immediately reopened and that enough business is redirected to the factory to ensure that it operates at full capacity. [Say that Cimatextiles and Choishin are two of the only unionized factories in these brands' supply chains, and that they are not following their company codes of conduct if they don't stand up for factories in which the right to freedom of association is actually respected.]
3. DEAMND that the union workers of Cimatextiles (SITRACIMA) be immediately reemployed and receive all the benefits they are entitled to under law and from past agreements. [Say that the companies should act to stand up for union workers and one of the few factories in which freedom of association and other priniciples in their codes of conduct are respected. Also, note the fact that the factory closed illegally, the workers haven't received the severance agreed to with management, and that company codes of conduct, and Guatemalan and international laws are being broken.]
4. DEMAND that new orders be immediately redirected to Choishin to ensure that the factory operates at full capacity. [Say that work orders have decreased and that the companies should stand up for unionized workers and factories in which their codes of conduct are actually respected.]
5. DEMAND that the union workers of Choishin (SITRACHOI) remain employed and that their rights are respected. [Say that the companies should stand up for unionized workers and factories in which their codes of conduct are actually respected.]
Contact information:
Liz Claiborne Inc: Dial 212-626-3442 and ask to speak to CEO Bill McComb.
Email: consumer_relations@liz.com
Talbots: Dial 781-749-7600, ask to speak with Consumer Relations.
Email: customer.service@talbots.com
Macy's: Dial 646-429-5255, ask to speak with Holly Thomas, PR Director
Email: holly.thomas@macys.com
Update From Union Leaders
We spoke with the union leaders on Friday; they had a crisis because the workers have still not been paid their severance pay as promised. The workers showed up to be paid and when the company started the procedures to pay them, they were calculating the amount owed the workers at a much lower rate than the workers believed they were due.
The workers have now gone two weeks without receiving any payment and the company keeps putting off paying them. People are desperate, were yelling, and there were moments when it seemed violence might break out. A union leader said the Jefe de Personal was making comments that were tantamount to incitement, saying things like "Aqui se va armar un gran relajo" (Hard to translate, something like 'major stuff is going to go down here') which instead of calming people down, made them more upset. Then the company said that workers could receive their payment right then (at the lesser amount that the company was offering according to its own calculations), or else nothing. Some workers (by one estimation about 80) agreed to receive the lesser amount because they needed the money and felt it was so uncertain that the company would ever come through on its promises that they should just take what they could get; others refused on principle. Then the company announced they wanted to suspend the entire payment process.
At some point then the workers went to the offices of the Labor Inpsectorate (we spoke with a union leader as she was on her way home from that meeting). She said the Labor Inspectors had interviewed them. In a meeting yesterday -- they have been having meetings because the company keeps putting off paying the workers, in violation of the deal they made with the union, and yesterday the workers held a public manifestation to demand payment -- one of the Labor Inspectors said that he, too, was receiving threats in conjunction with this case. So it's not only the workers, but now government officials investigating the case that have been threatened.
The head of the Sitracima union received a threatening text message on her cellphone the night of June 13. She did not want to repeat to us what the message said because she said it had extremely obscene words on it and she was riding on a bus. But she still had the message on her cell phone yesterday and another worker had seen it.
While workers from Choishin have not been under as much pressure as those at Cimatextiles, they believe they are headed down the same path because they have begun to see decreasing orders. A union leader told us that three lines in Choishin are currently producing clothes only for the local market (not for export), and that in the warehouse she has seen a lack of material waiting for production. So they know the orders aren't coming in, and they are very concerned that they are going to be next.
She also expressed her gratitude to us for all the actions we are taking on their behalf and her eagerness to keep in touch.
The workers have now gone two weeks without receiving any payment and the company keeps putting off paying them. People are desperate, were yelling, and there were moments when it seemed violence might break out. A union leader said the Jefe de Personal was making comments that were tantamount to incitement, saying things like "Aqui se va armar un gran relajo" (Hard to translate, something like 'major stuff is going to go down here') which instead of calming people down, made them more upset. Then the company said that workers could receive their payment right then (at the lesser amount that the company was offering according to its own calculations), or else nothing. Some workers (by one estimation about 80) agreed to receive the lesser amount because they needed the money and felt it was so uncertain that the company would ever come through on its promises that they should just take what they could get; others refused on principle. Then the company announced they wanted to suspend the entire payment process.
At some point then the workers went to the offices of the Labor Inpsectorate (we spoke with a union leader as she was on her way home from that meeting). She said the Labor Inspectors had interviewed them. In a meeting yesterday -- they have been having meetings because the company keeps putting off paying the workers, in violation of the deal they made with the union, and yesterday the workers held a public manifestation to demand payment -- one of the Labor Inspectors said that he, too, was receiving threats in conjunction with this case. So it's not only the workers, but now government officials investigating the case that have been threatened.
The head of the Sitracima union received a threatening text message on her cellphone the night of June 13. She did not want to repeat to us what the message said because she said it had extremely obscene words on it and she was riding on a bus. But she still had the message on her cell phone yesterday and another worker had seen it.
While workers from Choishin have not been under as much pressure as those at Cimatextiles, they believe they are headed down the same path because they have begun to see decreasing orders. A union leader told us that three lines in Choishin are currently producing clothes only for the local market (not for export), and that in the warehouse she has seen a lack of material waiting for production. So they know the orders aren't coming in, and they are very concerned that they are going to be next.
She also expressed her gratitude to us for all the actions we are taking on their behalf and her eagerness to keep in touch.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Save me from my Materialism Garage Sale!
We are holding another benefit garage sale this weekend. We hope to raise a lot more money, but we need help! Please check out the garage sale wiki: http://maquila.wikispaces.com/
to sign up and PLEASE POST FLYERS TODAY AND TOMORROW AND FRIDAY!!!
You may also:
1) Donate stuff
2) Help staff the sale
Drop off things at 5325 27th Ave. NE (the corner of 27th and 54th, by McDonald's in U-Village) or Call lauren (206) 718-6898.
to sign up and PLEASE POST FLYERS TODAY AND TOMORROW AND FRIDAY!!!
You may also:
1) Donate stuff
2) Help staff the sale
Drop off things at 5325 27th Ave. NE (the corner of 27th and 54th, by McDonald's in U-Village) or Call lauren (206) 718-6898.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
More Pictures
Here are some pictures, taken by Kiri, of the protest.
Rod rallies the students before the mock trial.
Marching to Talbots for the mock trial.
Marching to Macy's for the sleep-in and the outside protest.
Rod being pulled up by Macy's security guards.
Back to Westlake Park.
We rallied for a few minutes and after receiving text messages from the detained students, decided to return to Macy's until our compañer@s Rod and April, and our legal observer Larry Hildes, were released.
Aimee stayed on the megaphone, with support from members of UW SLAP, SU, UWGP, and Amnesty Intnernational, to keep the pressure on Macy's to release our compañer@s.
They were eventually released.
After the protest, the group retired and held a small cook out and garage sale, and, raised $400. We will send the money directly to the union to support the women as they face uncertain challenges in the wake of a deal rife with uncertainty and distrust. We will continue fundraising this coming weekend.
Rod rallies the students before the mock trial.
Marching to Talbots for the mock trial.
Marching to Macy's for the sleep-in and the outside protest.
Rod being pulled up by Macy's security guards.
Back to Westlake Park.
We rallied for a few minutes and after receiving text messages from the detained students, decided to return to Macy's until our compañer@s Rod and April, and our legal observer Larry Hildes, were released.
Aimee stayed on the megaphone, with support from members of UW SLAP, SU, UWGP, and Amnesty Intnernational, to keep the pressure on Macy's to release our compañer@s.
They were eventually released.
After the protest, the group retired and held a small cook out and garage sale, and, raised $400. We will send the money directly to the union to support the women as they face uncertain challenges in the wake of a deal rife with uncertainty and distrust. We will continue fundraising this coming weekend.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Phone update
Angelina talked with our primary contact at SitraCima. Here are some updates she wrote up and emailed out.
---
Here are the details of what's up with them:
1. The union has committed to staying in the factory at all times, including these overnight sleeping shifts, until every last worker receives her severance pay as promised. They have been sleeping in the factory every night since May 14.
2. Aside from all the prior history, there are reasons to suspect bad faith on the part of management. As everyone who's met with the women in Guate will remember them explaining, one of the ways management has opposed the union in the past is by buying off some workers to be loyal to them and criticize the union, so as a result of this at various times there have been groups of workers who opposed the union within the factory. These groups were reactivated this past week. The union leaders and management were in negotiations midweek, but then the union leaders said they could not definitively agree to everything in the agreement until they'd presented the plan to the General Assembly of their membership today (Saturday) for a vote. Between the time the deal was struck and today, the Chief of Personnel went and told the workers in their anti-union groups that he himself had achieved all these things in one day, and that the union was going to claim it had been in some "negotiations" but that was all a lie, this was his proposal. These rumors spread quickly in the factory, and (this part I don't quite understand) workers in these anti-union groups filed a complaint against the union in the Labor Inspectorate. So now four Labor Inspectors are coming out on Monday to inspect the union to find out about its alleged misdeeds. (?)
3. Some of these ani-union workers have been threatening our contact, the SitraCima leader. Everyone knows they work closely with management, but management has been careful not to themselves threaten her. At least this week. More commonly, she is insulted, sometimes really grossly, but sometimes the comments are threatening.
4. The union had approx 150 members prior to this crisis and now has 60.
5. Our contact emphasized that it was very important to the women in the union that they were not only fighting for their wages, jobs, etc. but also for their dignity. It offends them very deeply that management would attempt to justify their dismissal by saying they do poor quality work. They are proud of the work they do and want to be treated with respect. It's about that as much as it is about economics.
6. There is still supposedly no work to be done in Cimatextiles, but according to the workers all that work has now just shifted over to Choishin, where they've added on a night shift (and brought in workers from other factories) to handle all the additional work. The night shift works from 7 pm to 5 am.
---
The above was written by Dr. Angelina Godoy, from a phone conversation with our contact at SitraCima, and posted by Travis.
---
Here are the details of what's up with them:
1. The union has committed to staying in the factory at all times, including these overnight sleeping shifts, until every last worker receives her severance pay as promised. They have been sleeping in the factory every night since May 14.
2. Aside from all the prior history, there are reasons to suspect bad faith on the part of management. As everyone who's met with the women in Guate will remember them explaining, one of the ways management has opposed the union in the past is by buying off some workers to be loyal to them and criticize the union, so as a result of this at various times there have been groups of workers who opposed the union within the factory. These groups were reactivated this past week. The union leaders and management were in negotiations midweek, but then the union leaders said they could not definitively agree to everything in the agreement until they'd presented the plan to the General Assembly of their membership today (Saturday) for a vote. Between the time the deal was struck and today, the Chief of Personnel went and told the workers in their anti-union groups that he himself had achieved all these things in one day, and that the union was going to claim it had been in some "negotiations" but that was all a lie, this was his proposal. These rumors spread quickly in the factory, and (this part I don't quite understand) workers in these anti-union groups filed a complaint against the union in the Labor Inspectorate. So now four Labor Inspectors are coming out on Monday to inspect the union to find out about its alleged misdeeds. (?)
3. Some of these ani-union workers have been threatening our contact, the SitraCima leader. Everyone knows they work closely with management, but management has been careful not to themselves threaten her. At least this week. More commonly, she is insulted, sometimes really grossly, but sometimes the comments are threatening.
4. The union had approx 150 members prior to this crisis and now has 60.
5. Our contact emphasized that it was very important to the women in the union that they were not only fighting for their wages, jobs, etc. but also for their dignity. It offends them very deeply that management would attempt to justify their dismissal by saying they do poor quality work. They are proud of the work they do and want to be treated with respect. It's about that as much as it is about economics.
6. There is still supposedly no work to be done in Cimatextiles, but according to the workers all that work has now just shifted over to Choishin, where they've added on a night shift (and brought in workers from other factories) to handle all the additional work. The night shift works from 7 pm to 5 am.
---
The above was written by Dr. Angelina Godoy, from a phone conversation with our contact at SitraCima, and posted by Travis.
Protest!
Yesterday, we demonstrated in front of Macy's and Talbots downtown. We met at Westlake Park around 2:30, across the street from Macy's and Talbots.
We marched to Talbots and held a mock trial with nine foot tall puppets.
The crowd gave a guilty verdict.
Then we headed to Macy's. The group split up into two: the outside protesters, chanting and holding signs, and the inside protesters, who "slept in" with signs, blankets, and sleeping bags.
Rod Palmquist, front, was one of the illegally detained.
Carrie Vincler holds the bullhorn on which Rod Palmquist speaks. April Nishimura, who was also illegally detained, walking away from the security guard who would, moments later, violently twist Rod's arm behind his back. Rod did not resist.
Those of us who were inside filed back out to rejoin the rest of the crowd. As April was following everyone to make sure no one was left behind, a security guard nabbed her and detained her for 90 minutes. She was not harmed. Our legal observer, Larry Hildes, later went into Macy's to challenge the students' illegal detentions. Smalls returned to twist his arm, and illegally detained Hildes, as well.
We chanted for workers' rights and the release of our compañer@s.
We returned to Westlake Park to rally.
Palmquist, Nishimura, and Hildes were released due to sustained protesting and chanting by their compañer@s outside of Macy's. None was booked, charged, or fined.
We are exploring the possibility of legal action against Macy's, for their security guards' overzealous and violent suppression of the protest.
We marched to Talbots and held a mock trial with nine foot tall puppets.
The crowd gave a guilty verdict.
Then we headed to Macy's. The group split up into two: the outside protesters, chanting and holding signs, and the inside protesters, who "slept in" with signs, blankets, and sleeping bags.
Rod Palmquist, front, was one of the illegally detained.
Carrie Vincler holds the bullhorn on which Rod Palmquist speaks. April Nishimura, who was also illegally detained, walking away from the security guard who would, moments later, violently twist Rod's arm behind his back. Rod did not resist.
Those of us who were inside filed back out to rejoin the rest of the crowd. As April was following everyone to make sure no one was left behind, a security guard nabbed her and detained her for 90 minutes. She was not harmed. Our legal observer, Larry Hildes, later went into Macy's to challenge the students' illegal detentions. Smalls returned to twist his arm, and illegally detained Hildes, as well.
We chanted for workers' rights and the release of our compañer@s.
We returned to Westlake Park to rally.
Palmquist, Nishimura, and Hildes were released due to sustained protesting and chanting by their compañer@s outside of Macy's. None was booked, charged, or fined.
We are exploring the possibility of legal action against Macy's, for their security guards' overzealous and violent suppression of the protest.
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