National day of action vs. sweatshops

By Joe Bernick

TUCSON, Ariz. - The University of Arizona chapter of Students Against Sweatshops participated in the National Day of Action against Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) by picketing and leafleting the company's local factory outlet.

PVH produces its Van Heusen, Geoffrey Beane, Izod and Bass shirts in Central American sweatshops.

PVH was targeted by the national action because it has been touted in recent years as a company committed to respecting the human rights of its maquila workers as a member of the watchdog group Human Rights Watch.

About a year and a half ago workers at PVH's Camisas Modernas plant in Guatemala were able to win union recognition and a reasonably decent contract, which lifted their wages to about $5 a day with some benefits. This collective bargaining agreement, the only one in the maquila industry in Guatemala, was won after six years of struggle and considerable international support.

Student activist Corey Mattson told the World that PVH used the improved working conditions to pose as a benevolent employer until a year and a half later they closed the shop. The 500 workers at the unionized shop lost their livelihood while PVH opened another sweatshop paying half the wages.

Tim Bartley, a University of Arizona graduate student, said that today labor conditions in one country have an impact on workers everywhere and that what happens in Guatemala has a relationship to the low wages here in Tucson.

Bartley added that he was especially concerned about the hypocrisy of PVH's CEO who claimed to care about workers.

The Tucson action was one of about 40 similar protests across North America but few had to brave the broiling Arizona sun as did those in Tucson.

Students Against Sweatshops was supported in this action by Jobs with Justice and the American Friends Service Committee. Also participating were local union members from the Teamsters, Machinists and the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Students Against Sweatshops is urging supporters to send letters to PVH CEO Bruce Klatsky asking him to pay his workers a living wage and reopen his factory in Guatemala. Letters can be mailed to Phillips-Van Heusen Corp., 200 Madison Ave., NY NY 10016.