Sweatshops

Mexico Faces Largest Strike In North America, 70,000 Sweatshop Auto Workers

January 18, 2019 Staff, Wsws.org Resist! Class Struggle, Mexico, Strikes, Sweatshops, Workers

As new manufacturing plants join the growing strike in Matamoros, Mexico, over 70,000 workers are confronting threats of mass firings and plant closures by the employers and advancing their fight against social inequality. Amid a media blackout by Mexican and international outlets, the ruling class has demonstrated a profound fear that the rebellion by Matamoros sweatshop workers who produce auto parts and other goods supplying the main auto companies in North America, Europe and Asia will inspire workers to take up the same fight in the rest of the industrial belt along the US-Mexico border and spill over across the North American continent and beyond.

New Study Finds “More Sweatshops Than Starbucks” In Chicago

May 24, 2017 Jeff Schuhrke, www.inthesetimes.com Educate! Chicago, Sweatshops

By Jeff Schuhrke for In These Times - The report, Challenging the Business of Fear, was prepared by Raise the Floor Alliance, which is a coalition of Chicago worker centers, and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI). Surveys and interviews were conducted with nearly 300 Chicago-area workers from a variety of low-wage industries, including warehousing, manufacturing, food service and retail. The study finds that among employees who dared to speak up about workplace injustices like unsafe conditions, wage theft, injuries, sexual harassment and discrimination, 58 percent experienced retaliation. Of workers who reported legal violations to regulatory agencies like the Illinois Department of Labor, Department of Human Rights, or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, over 80 percent said their employer retaliated against them. Sophia Zaman, executive director of Raise the Floor Alliance, said at a press conference Thursday that retaliation has become “so normalized, it’s basically a way of doing business.” “Three quarters of our participants reported two or more violations of their legal rights in their current job. This is the definition of a sweatshop,” said Brittany Scott, senior research strategist at NESRI.

20 Students Arrested During Sweatshop Protest

July 28, 2014 USAS, www.northfacedeathtraps.com Resist! Human Rights, Protesters Arrested, Student Activism, Sweatshops

Earlier today, 20 students and community members were arrested at an REI location in Rockville, MD, while protesting REI’s refusal to cut ties with serial human rights abuser The North Face. USAS has been demanding REI cut ties with TNF/VF Corporation for several months, but the company’s leadership has refused to even speak with student leaders. Recreational Equipment, Inc does big business with notorious human rights abuser The North Face. Together, they let nothing stand in the way of maximum profits – not even a human life. As a result, since 2005 more than 1,800 garment workers have died in preventable factory disasters. Together with Bangladeshi workers, students and REI members have decided they’ve had enough. United Students Against Sweatshops is calling on REI to cut ties with their corporate cronies at North Face/VF Corporation, until they take responsibility for the safety of their workers and sign a contract to end deathtraps — the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. After months of campaigning by USAS and its union allies, more than 150 companies, including American Eagle, H&M, and Adidas, have signed the Accord. However, VF Corporation, the largest branded apparel manufacturer in the world, has refused to sign. Join us in taking on this corporate co-op to fight for worker safety in Bangladesh!

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