>______________________________________________
>
>Contribution re ELSalvador Maquila workers and their attempts to organise.
>Please note that contributions concerning the WTO meeting in Seattle will
>be collected and distributed as a digest one day next week.
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>The history of all ages, especially that of the present, teaches us that
>those who forget to think of themselves will be forgotten. In the midst of
>the great revolutions in which we find ourselves, women will find
>themselves forgotten, if they forget to think of themselves. - Louise Otto
>
>November 30, 1999
>
>Maquila Solidarity Network
>Please respond today to this urgent appeal to support
>
>Salvadoran Maquila Workers Fired for Union Organizing
>
>Within days after applying for registration of their union, SETDESA, 10 of
>11 union executive members and at least 17 other workers have been fired
>by management at two DOALL maquila garment factories in El Salvador*s San
>Marcos Free Trade Zone.
>
>On November 22, the day their application was filed, Union President, Rosa
>Delia Dominguez, and Secretary of Organization, Maria Magdalena Valladarez
>de Diaz, were asked to sign a statement that they were voluntarily
>resigning. Both refused. Ms. Valladarez de Diaz was offered 5,000 colones
>(US$575), including three years severance pay, but she refused to sign or
>accept the money.
>
>SETDESA and the Salvadoran Workers Central (CTS) to which it is
>affiliated, are demanding the immediate reinstatement of the fired workers
>and the elimination of sweatshop practices, including an end to verbal
>abuse by supervisors, no more forced overtime, lower work quotas and an
>end to arbitrary increases in quotas. Presently, DOALL employees work from
>6:50 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday, and from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00
>p.m. on
>Saturdays. Average salaries are $US46 a week.
>
>The larger of the two factories produces for Liz Claiborne and other major
>US labels. Sweatshop abuses at the factory, including forced pregnancy
>testing, were exposed in a 1996 CBC Fifth Estate program. At that time, a
>spokesperson for Liz Claiborne pledged that her company would not tolerate
>the abuses.
>
>Please send letters demanding the immediate reinstatement of the fired
>workers, recognition of their union, and an end to sweatshop abuses. Write:
>
>Paul R. Charron, CEO
>Liz Claiborne Inc.
>1441 Broadway, 8th Floor
>New York, NY 10018
>USA
>fax: 212-626-3416
>
>See sample letter below.
>
>Also send a letter by e-mail to the President of El Salvador, Francisco
>Flores, demanding that his government ensure that the rights of DOALL
>workers to freedom of association be respected. Send letter to:
><[log in to unmask]
>
>Please send us copies of your letters. We*ll include updates on the
>situation at DOALL on our web-site in the coming weeks:
>http://www.web.net/~msn.
>
>SAMPLE LETTER to Paul R. Charron, CEO, Liz Claiborne Inc.
>(Please write your own, and send us a copy.)
>
>Dear Mr. Charron,
>
>I am/We are writing to express my/our grave concern about the firing of
>nine union executive members and 10 other members of the union at two
>DOALL apparel factories in El Salvador, the larger of which produces
>apparel for your company. It has been brought to our attention that the
>workers were fired between November 22 and 25, a few days after applying
>for the
>registration of their union. I/we also understand that union members have
>been offered severance packages and other benefits if they would sign
>statements that they were resigning voluntarily.
>These charges are particularly disturbing since your company has recently
>received positive media attention for releasing a report on working
>conditions in one of your supply factories in Guatemala, a report that
>included specific recommendations on steps the supplier needed to take to
>bring its practices in line with your code of conduct and local legal
>requirements. I would urge you to apply similar vigilance to what is
>happening at the DOALL factory in El Salvador.
>
>
>I/We am/are also aware that your company was severely criticized in a 1996
>Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Fifth Estate program exposing
>sweatshop abuses, including forced pregnancy testing, at the DOALL
>factory. At that time, a representative of your company pledged that those
>abusive
>practices would not be tolerated. Yet, almost four years later, we hear
>new reports of sweatshop practices at the DOALL factory, including forced
>and excessive hours of overtime, unreasonable production quotas, verbal
>abuse by supervisors, and forced pregnancy testing.
>
>I/We urge you to ensure that your Salvadoran supplier, DOALL, respects
>provisions in your code of conduct, the Apparel Industry Partnership code
>to which you are a signatory, and Salvadoran law concerning their workers
>right to freedom of association without punishment or discrimination. I/We
>urge you to ensure that the fired union supporters are immediately
>reinstated, that DOALL management recognizes their union, and that
>sweatshop practices are eliminated.
>
>Please note that I/we are NOT asking Liz Claiborne to end or suspend
>orders to the DOALL factory. I/we are asking that you work with the
>contractor to ensure that the rights of their workers to organize and
>bargain collectively are respected, and their right to decent working
>conditions is guaranteed.
>
>Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter. I/We look
>forward to receiving a report on the steps your company is taking to
>ensure that these workers* rights are respected.
>
>Yours truly,
____________________________________________________________________
David Wood
PhD Research Student ('Intelligence Sites in Rural North Yorkshire')
Centre for Rural Economy
Department of Agricultural Economics and Food Marketing
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
0191 222 5305
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