From: Leila Salazar (leila@globalexchange.org)
Date: Thu Mar 07 2002 - 16:03:23 EST
Dear supporters of Workers Rights...
I am writing to give you an update on the Saipan Lawsuit, which the GAP Inc,
Dayton Hudson (Target and Mervyns), The Limited (Victorias Secret and Lane
Bryant), Levis, Abercrombie and Fitch, Talbots and J.C. Penney have not
settled and to let you know about the next steps for action to demand that
GAP, as the ringleader of the resistance, settle the lawsuit. Together with
organizations such as Sweatshop Watch, UNITE ,and Behind the Label, Global
Exchange is calling for an International Day of Action on March 19th, the
next hearing in Saipan.
I am also sending you information on the new NIKE report, titled ³We Are Not
Machines,² which reveals that many Nike workers are still not making enough
money to support their children. Global Exchange¹s press release about the
report is below. Lastly, I am sending you the announcement for the 2nd
Annual Corporate Campaigners Conference taking place in New York this year.
Thank you for your continued support!
In peace and solidarity,
Leila Soraya Salazar
Corporate Accountability Organizer
Global Exchange
2017 Mission St. Ste 303
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.255.7296 ext.355
www.globalexchange.org/economy/corporations
Below you will find:
1) Gap resists settlement of Saipan sweatshop suit (Article from San
Francisco Chronicle Saturday, March 2).
2) March 19th Call to ACTION to STOP GAP SWEATSHOPS!
3) New Research on Nike Workers in Indonesia Shows Serious Abuses and
Little Progress Toward Enforcement of Workers¹ Rights
4) THE SECOND ANNUAL CORPORATE CAMPAIGNERS CONFERENCE
April 13-15, 2002, New York City
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1) Gap resists settlement of Saipan sweatshop suit
Jenny Strasburg, SF Chronicle Saturday, March 2, 2002
Gap Inc. has been leading the charge against a proposed $8.75 million
settlement in a 3-year-old lawsuit alleging sweatshop conditions and
intimidation of foreign workers in the Saipan garment industry.
The San Francisco company that owns Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic
stores, whose sales have been eroding the past two years, is seeking to
block other retailers from settling the case, according to attorneys for
garment-factory workers and other retailers that want to settle.
Gap says it is opposing the settlement to defend itself against false
accusations and misrepresentations of factory conditions.
The case involves the garment industry on the western Pacific island of
Saipan, a U.S. commonwealth exempt from some federal labor laws that apply
to the rest of the United States.
Attorneys for an estimated 30,000 current and former garment workers in
Saipan accuse the retailers and owners of the island's most prominent
factories of perpetuating a system of indentured servitude among mostly poor
guest workers, many of them from China.
A settlement proposal has been on the table since 1999. The most recent
calls for independent monitoring of dozens of factories on the island, a
code of conduct among retailers and manufacturers, and about $4 million in
payments for workers.
The landmark case has made headlines since it was filed in January 1999.
Hearings will continue this month in a federal courtroom on Saipan.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs maintain that the predominantly female
population of factory workers has had to work overtime without being paid
and has been subject to unsafe working conditions, exorbitant
job-recruitment fees, illegal threats of deportation and rules prohibiting
having children or marrying.
Some 50 defendants, including retailers and factory owners, have said they
have sufficiently monitored manufacturing operations to prevent intimidation
of workers, sweatshop conditions and other abuses that have been alleged.
Attorneys for Gap and other retailers have called the suit an attempt by
U.S. labor unions to strike back at overseas garment manufacturers that have
taken jobs away from the United States.
Gap, whose products are made in about 50 countries, says it has a team of
about 80 full-time factory monitors working around the world. They conduct
scheduled and surprise visits of factories that make Gap products to ensure
that standards of safety and human rights are being respected, said Gap
spokeswoman Tamsin Randlett.
"We've been there; we've checked it out," she said of Gap's contract
factories, including those on Saipan.
Joining Gap in opposing the settlement are San Francisco jeansmaker Levi
Strauss & Co., the Limited, Lane Bryant, Abercrombie & Fitch, Target, J.C.
Penney, May Co., Talbots and more than a dozen Saipan factory owners.
Levi Strauss -- which like Gap has manufacturing contracts in about 50
countries -- ceased operations on Saipan in 2000 for reasons unrelated to
the lawsuit, said spokeswoman Linda Butler. One of the first large apparel
companies to write a manufacturers' code of conduct, in 1991, Levi says its
contract factories on Saipan were in full compliance with company standards.
Unlike Gap and Levi, 19 retailers have agreed to settle the case, without
admitting to wrongdoing. They include the Gymboree Corp. of Burlingame,
Sears Roebuck and Co., Nordstrom, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Polo Ralph
Lauren, Liz Claiborne and Brooks Bros.
Attorneys for the workers include San Francisco labor attorney Michael Rubin
and heavyweight class-action specialists Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes &
Lerach. They are seeking class certification of an estimated 30,000 workers
employed on the island between 1989 and now.
"We're alleging an overarching conspiracy, a scheme," Rubin said. "I don't
mind Gap fighting this case and taking it to trial . . . (but) what I don't
understand is: Why is Gap blocking these other companies from settling?"
Rubin described the retailer defendants as powerful multinational companies
cooperating with Saipan factory owners to maintain a cheap, controllable
labor force in order to maximize profits.
Gap attorney Daralyn Durie of San Francisco argued, however, that in order
to allow the settlement, the court would have to decide that the case meets
the requirements of a class action on behalf of the entire group of workers.
That requires that they experienced the same work and living conditions --
something Durie said is not the case, since the workers were employed at
different factories in different years and at varying levels of
satisfaction.
"We don't think it's fair to lump all the factories together, and we don't
think it's fair to lump all the workers together," Durie said, adding that
workers who gave depositions told vastly different stories about their
experiences on Saipan.
In February, U.S. District Judge Alex Munson heard arguments regarding class
certification but has not issued a ruling.
All of the retailer and factory defendants, meanwhile, are seeking dismissal
of the case. A March 19 hearing is scheduled in consideration of those
motions. If dismissal is not granted, the defendants will probably continue
to seek a settlement.
Tensions are growing among holdouts and defendants who would like to avoid
further litigation costs. David Schwarz, a Los Angeles attorney representing
retailer J. Crew, which seeks to settle, told the court in February that he
supports Gap's internal efforts to improve factory conditions. But he said
he did not understand "their decision to stand in the way of a consensual
agreement" as provided in the settlement.
Another case filed on behalf of Saipan workers, the Union of Needletrades,
Industrial and Textile Employees and the San Francisco human rights
organization Global Exchange is pending in San Francisco Superior Court.
That case alleges unfair business practices among many of the same retailers
and factory owners.
E-mail Jenny Strasburg at jstrasburg@sfchronicle.com.
For more information on the Saipan Lawsuit, check out:
www.globalexchange.org/economy/corporations/saipan
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2) CALL TO ACTION...TARGET GAP on MARCH 19th. Demand that they SETTLE THE
SAIPAN LAWSUIT!
On March 19th, Global Exchange, Sweatshop Watch, UNITE and Behind the Label
are calling on you to do your part to demand that GAP settle the Saipan
Lawsuit.
As stated above, March 19th is the date of the next hearing in Saipan. We
need to take advantage of this date to put pressure on the GAP in as many
ways that we can.
We can:
-Organize protests and leafletting events in front of their stores
-Call, FAX and Write the GAP
-Write letters to the Editor of your local paper (see sample below)
Not only is GAP resisting the lawsuit, but they are also going through
financial problems right now.
On February 24, 2002, The New York Times reported that "operating margins
have evaporated into almost nothing, from 9 percent a year ago and the
company is expected to lose $22million this year, after a profit of $877
million last year. The top credit agencies have reduced the company's
ratings to junk status. Gap's stock, which hit a high of $53.75 in February
2000, trades at $12.41". The SF Chronicle reported on February 27, 2002
that "GAP's financial reports", which came out on Feb 26th, "are the worst
in 25 years". We need to look at this as an opportunity! GAP needs good
publicity right now and they will do anything to look hip to the general
public. It is our job to educate the public about what's really behind the
GAP and put pressure on them to settle the suit, and enforce their code of
conduct in all of the countries that they operate in. So let's act on March
19th.
In the next couple of days we will be sending out a more formalized call to
action with NEW Targets. We've been targeting Donald Fisher and Millard
Drexler for too long and they have not responded. Until the CALL goes out,
we encourage you to start planning your actions, leafletting events and call
in days.
If you have any questions or would like to brainstorm ideas, please call me
at 1-800-497-1994 ext 355.
Sample Letter to the Editor:
--------------------------------
Dear Editor,
I was pretty disappointed this Sunday when I read the article by Leslie
Kaufman, "GAP, Scrambling to Regain its Cool". Although Ms. Kaufman gave an
extensive description of GAP's financial troubles, including the loss of
profits, shares and the recent report of the company's ratings being reduced
to junk status, I don't think the article covered all the reasons why the
GAP has had financial troubles.
Another reason why the GAP has had troubles is because for the last 3 years,
this company has been the target of an international campaign and lawsuit
for its use of indentured slavery on the island of Saipan, a U.S. territory
where workers are forced to waive all of their basic rights, including the
right to organize. Global Exchange, Sweatshop Watch, the Asian Law Caucus
and the garment workers union UNITE have filed lawsuits against 26 retailers
on the island. 19 have settled, but not the GAP. The GAP actually has led
the campaign to stall the settlements from being approved.
Concerned citizens and consumers have led the campaign to educate the public
about GAP's business practices and the public has responded by deciding to
shop elsewhere. Even the GAP's splashy ads with celebrities like Danny
Glover and Erykah Badu won't convince the public that the GAP is hip. The
only thing that will make the GAP hip is for it to SETTLE THE SAIPAN
LAWSUIT!
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3) New NIKE Report,³We Are Not Machines,²
Global Exchange, along with anti-sweatshop groups in Australia, Europe and
Canada, have released a new report on conditions facing Nike and Adidas
workers in Indonesia. The report, titled ³We Are Not Machines,² reveals that
many Nike workers are still not making enough money to support their
children. Global Exchange¹s press release about the report is below.
To read the whole report, written by veteran sweatshop investigator Tim
Connor, go to: www.globalexchange.org/economy/corporations/nike/
New Research on Nike Workers in Indonesia
Shows Serious Abuses and Little Progress Toward Enforcement of Workers¹
Rights
Study Documents Dangerous Working Conditions, Humiliation of Women, Jailing
& Physical Assaults for Joining Independent Unions
Wages for Nike and Adidas workers in Indonesia are so low that they are
separating families, according to a new report, titled We Are Not Machines,
released today by Oxfam Community Aid Abroad and Global Exchange. The report
reveals that workers are living in extreme poverty, with full time wages as
low as $US2 a day.
³Nike and Adidas workers who want to live with their children must go into
debt to meet their families' basic needs,² says Medea Benjamin, founding
director of Global Exchange, an international human rights organization and
longtime critic of Nike. ³Most are forced by their poverty to send their
children to distant villages, to be cared for by relatives.²
According to the report, workers usually depend on the extra income gained
by working long hours of overtime. They have been hit hard by the US
economic downturn associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks, which
has pushed down demand. Overtime has been cut in most factories
investigated.
Other findings of the report include:
… Workers have good reason to fear that if they join independent unions they
may face dismissal, jail or physical assault.
… Although there has been some reduction in the pressures on workers, they
continue to be humiliated and to work in dangerous conditions.
… In Nike and Adidas' largest Indonesian supplier factory, women who want to
claim legally mandated (unpaid) menstrual leave must suffer the humiliation
of proving they are menstruating by pulling down their pants in front of
female factory doctors.
³Nike and Adidas must adopt a wage standard that meets workers' basic needs,
ensure workers are free to form unions, and adopt a genuinely independent
and transparent factory monitoring system², says Ms. Benjamin. ³Large
corporations have a responsibility to ensure that the basic rights of
workers making their products are respected.²
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4) THE SECOND ANNUAL CORPORATE CAMPAIGNERS CONFERENCE
April 13-15, 2002, New York City
From Enron to Exxon, Dow to Dupont, Citigroup to Chevron, corporations are
growing
more powerful than governments, violating human rights, decimating our
environment, and destroying cultures worldwide. Join the nation's most
successful corporate campaigners in a three day conference and skills share
on how to run and win corporate campaigns!
Invited Speakers Include:
Bill Moyers
Martin Sheen, Actor
Lucas Benitez, Coalition of Immokalee Farmworkers
John Passacantando - Greenpeace USA
Kevin Danaher, Global Exchange
Randy Hayes, Rainforest Action Network
Naomi Klein, Author
Michael Moore, Author the recent book Stupid White Men
and more ...
Skills trainings in:
Researching Corporations
Influencing a Corporate Board
Direct Action
Legal Tools to Take on Corporations
Corporate Citizenship
Culture Jamming
Shareholder Activism
Globalization
Divestment
Grassroots Power
...and more...
To apply or for more information, check www.empoweringdemocracy.org. Some
scholarships may be
available. Apply fast - limited spaces are available!
* The Corporate Campaign Working Group is a coalition of Texas SEED, Co-op
America, Rainforest Action Network, Power Shift, Free the Planet!,
CorpWatch, Global Exchange, INFACT, STARC, US Public Interest Research
Group, TriCounty Coalition of Corporate Responsibility, ACERCA, Interfaith
Council on Corporate Responsibility, Corporate Campaign, Inc., Healthcare
Without Harm, POCLAD, CERES, ForestEthics, AFL-CIO, Friends of the Earth,
and others.
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