[Cispes-Alert] Stand up against labor exploitation in El Salvador, support Las Hermosa workers' right to organize!

[CISPES National Office]

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May 7, 2009 

 

Action Alert

 

Stand up against labor exploitation in El Salvador, support Las Hermosa
workers’ right to organize!

 

On Sunday, March 15, the people of El Salvador mobilized to defend
democracy, resulting in the election of the FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes --
the very first leftist head of state in the county’s history. This
historical shift in power is due to the Salvadoran social movement’s
resistance to the right wing’s repressive economic and military policies.
Labor unions and solidarity organizations’ fight against neoliberal
free-trade agreements like the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)
have been a primary manifestation of this resistance. Integral to El
Salvador’s resistance movement is a group of workers from the Las Hermosas
maquila (or sweatshop) who are currently holding multinational corporations,
like Nike, Adidas, and Russell, accountable for the myriad of labor rights
violations in El Salvador’s maquila industry. 

 

In May 2005, the Las Hermosas workers began to organize to change unjust
working conditions in the factory. However, immediately after the workers
began to organize, the factory owner closed the factory, leaving over 64
workers and organizers unemployed, blacklisted from neighboring maquilas,
and owed over $825,000 of unpaid wages, social security, and severance pay.

 

Four years since the closure of the Las Hermosa’s factory, organizers are
still without formal jobs or access to basic medical care through the state
medical system; moreover, they have only received a very limited
contribution towards the $825,000 of outstanding wages, overtime payments,
and severance legally owed to the workers. 

 

As a contractor at Las Hermosa’s factory, the Adidas corporation has the
responsibility to ensure the workers are compensated or directly compensate
them for the money owed and to reinstate blacklisted and fired workers.  In
fact, at meetings held with President Antonio Saca in December of 2005 and
April of 2006, Adidas committed to ensuring that the Las Hermosas’ workers
would receive full compensation, but have never followed through with their
promise.  The Las Hermosa’s case is a clear example of CAFTA’s promotion of
labor “flexibility”: corporations profiting from the hiring and firing of
cheap labor, while suppressing workers’ right to organize in the maquila
industry throughout Central America. The success of the new Funes government
in standing up to neo-liberal free trade agreements like CAFTA will be
dependent on the mobilization of the social movement to demand change and
accountability not only from officials but from the transnational corporate
system.

 

In the wake of this historical moment in El Salvador, join CISPES in
standing in solidarity with the Las Hermosas workers by calling Adidas and
demanding that they comply with the workers’ demands. Your action is
critical in defending workers’ rights to organize, and in supporting the
social movement’s continued struggle for change in El Salvador.

 

TAKE ACTION:

 

1)      Fax or email Adidas Corporate Social Responsibility Officer Gregg
Nebel at (360) 394-1661 or Gregg.Nebel at adidas-Group.com and demand that he
comply with the Las Hermosas Workers’ demands.  (The Hermosa workers have
called for coordinated actions in the US, El Salvador, and Germany on
Thursday, May 7 so please respond today it you can!)

 

2)      Get your organization to sign on to a letter to Adidas.  You can
download the letter here:
www.cispes.org/documents/Organizational_letter_Adidas.doc 

 

 

 

Use the following sample letter to contact Gregg Nebel

 

 

Dear Gregg Nebel and Adidas Corporate Responsibility Office:

 

 

I am writing because I am very concerned about the Adidas corporation’s role
in the Las Hermosas Manufacturing Case in El Salvador.  Four years since the
sudden closure of their factory the workers that were involved in defending
their rights at Hermosa Manufacturing are still without formal jobs, not do
they have access to the state medical system for employees.  Meanwhile, they
have only received a very limited contribution to their outstanding wages,
overtime payments and severance pay.

I understand Adidas made a public commitment in 2007 to pressure the
Salvadoran government to bring justice to the Las Hermosas women in the
trial between the factory owner Montalvo and the workers, but your company
has yet to follow through with their promise.

I also understand some brands have made a contribution to an emergency fund
set up by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), and while I appreciate the
effort, I am disappointed that the fund does not explicitly intend to cover
the amount legally owed to the workers.

 

I urge you to meet the demands of the workers to:

1.      Contribute, or increase your contribution to the fund administered
by the legal organization FESPAD for the workers until the workers have
received their outstanding wages, overtime payments, and severance pay;

2.      Require your suppliers in El Salvador to hire the former Hermosa
workers on a priority basis in order to facilitate these workers gaining
employment and to address the illegal discrimination in the form of a “Black
List” that has occurred;

3.      Prevent further retaliation against these workers by your suppliers
in the form of illegal intimidation and hiring discrimination;

4.      Continue to pressure the Salvadoran government to enforce the legal
rulings in favor of the workers, ensure payment of the outstanding wages,
and respect the laws of their Constitution and international conventions
that guarantee the right to organize in a union.

 

I look forward to hearing what action you have taken in this case.  I wish
to inform you that I pledge solidarity to the Hermosa workers’ struggle, and
I will support pressure actions against your company to comply with their
demands.

 

Sincerely,

 

 <http://www.cispes.org/> 




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© 2009 CISPES - The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
CISPES National Office | ph. 202-521-2510 | 1525 Newton St. NW, Wash. DC
20010| cispes at cispes.org

 

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