JUSTICE AT JERZEES DE HONDURAS

High schools Organizing for Labor Action (HOLA) is leading a national movement to bring awareness about the worker rights abuses in the Jerzees de Honduras factory owned by Fruit of the Loom and Russell Athletics.

A group of HOLA students from North Salem High in Oregon decided to show their disaproval or what FRUIT OF THE LOOM and RUSSELL ATHLETICS are doing by beginning this PHOTO CAMPAIGN.

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Read the report released by the Worker Rights Consortium, "Russell Corporation's Rights Violations Threaten 1,800 Jobs in Honduras," at http://www.workersrights.org/RussellRightsViolations.asp

Below is the testimony of NORMA ESTELA MEJIA CASTELLANO, WORKER LEADER at the Jerzees de Honduras Factory:

My name is Norma Estela Mejia Castellano. I have worked at Jerzees de Honduras and its sister factories for about four years. With this job, I support my two children, my mother, and my aunt. None of them are able to work, so I take care of all of them with my wages from Jerzees. Without this job, I dont know what I will do.

People need to understand that this plan to close the factory, it is an act of vengeance. It is vengeance against us for what we have done by trying to organize a union.

Ive been a supporter of the union since the beginning. Now I am vice president. Im also on the negotiating committee. We decided to organize because the conditions had gotten so bad at the factory. When Fruit of the Loom bought the factory, they wanted to save money on rent, so they squeezed even more machines into the building to the point where you could barely walk. They took away some of our benefits. And they changed things so that you could not humanly reach the production goals and everyone was working harder and faster but making less money.

The company never accepted our organization. The supervisors and the management made that very clear. One my supervisors told from the beginning that the company would never accept a union; they said it would rather close down. About six months ago, another supervisor made a kind of announcement in the cafeteria, telling everyone that the workers are going to starve because they got themselves involved with a union. And that the factory was going to close because management will never accept a union in the factory. Some of the supervisors have told us what is said in the private management meetings. The general manager of the factory called us anti-social troublemakers. Months ago, he said the factory will not last through the year.

I have been the target of threats. About a month ago, a man that lives close to me and works at the factory came to me one day and said that the day the factory closes he will look for us and cut off our heads. Since then I have gone home each night walking down different streets. When we told management about this threat and others, all they said was that if we wanted to leave the factory we could of course that is what they want. She said if I wanted to take a check she would be fine if I just left.

I am also afraid about the blacklist. I know that we who led this process will be put on the list and that we will not be able to find jobs. This has already happened with the workers from Jerzees Choloma, who are still unable to find work.

Sometimes at night I start crying, thinking about what is happening. The night the managers told us they were going to go ahead and close the factory, I started to cry and I could not contain myself.

The union has taught us how to defend ourselves, how do defend our rights. Now they are trying to make mockery of us. If I lose this job, I dont know with all that has happened, I'm afraid now to fight for my rights. Its like a trauma. I'm afraid to fight for my rights.

We need to do whatever we can to stop this from happening. We need all of the support of the students and the universities to stop this. I think students can help with a consumer campaign, and demand an investigation of the violations of workers rights. The United States is a powerful, famous country, and it is known around the world for defending human rights. This is why we seek international support; it helps us feels supported in our struggle for decent work. I want students to understand, and to have some empathy. We live in a poor country, and this work is the only thing we have to sustain us. Without work, we cannot survive. But people should also understand that to form a union is not a crime, it is a form of support. We need jobs, but we need decent jobs.

To find out how you can get involved in the movement visit: studentsagainstsweatshops.org or email Camila@usasnet.org

Category:

Education

Tags:

• sweatshops
• USAS
• workerrights