Labor Alerts: a service of Campaign for Labor Rights

In this alert:

• Kuk Dong Workers Establish Independent Union
• International campaign pressures Nike
• Next Step: Legal Recognition
• Support SITEKIM: call to action
• Background

[ Alert prepared by CLR and US/LEAP with information from sources in Mexico ]

Kuk Dong Workers Establish Independent Union

Members of the independent worker coalition at the Kuk Dong factory in Atlixco, Mexico gathered on Sunday, March 18 to meet the legal requirements for forming an independent union. Kuk Dong is a factory that produces for, among others, Nike, Reebok, and many U.S. colleges and universities.

The drive for an independent union at Kuk Dong began in January 2001 as 800 of the factory's then 900 workers went on strike in protest of the unfair firings of five workers. Three months later, independent union supporters met and adopted statutes, elected leadership, and met the legal requirements for the formation of an independent union. By the end of the meeting, the unionists had taken the name SITEKIM, Sindicato Independiente de Trabajadores de la Empresa Kukdong International de Mexico or the Independent Union of Workers at the Company Kukdong International of Mexico. This is the first step in the process of becoming a legally recognized body with rights to represent the Kuk Dong workers.

Due to continued hostility towards the independent union, both inside and outside the plant (mainly at the hands of the conservative government affiliated union, the FROC-CROC - the union from which SITEKIM is struggling to win bargaining rights), workers feared reprisal or outright violence at Sunday's meeting. Fortunately, no such measures have been reported. However, in an intimidating move, the FROC-CROC did station three people with a video camera to tape the workers entering the meeting.

The meeting was also attended by a lawyer from a law firm in nearby Puebla, Mexico, by activists from the Comite de Apoyo al Trabajador, and by a student activists from United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS).

Reports from sources in Mexico say that the atmosphere in the Kuk Dong plant is calmer than it has been in months. The newly elected leaders are beginning to take on the role of representing their co-workers, investigating grievances and meeting with management on their behalf. A large majority of the workers in the factory are united in their support of SITEKIM.

Nike Pressured to Take a Stand

The lack of disruption of the founding meeting of SITEKIM was in part due to the success of the international campaign in pressuring Nike to intervene in a strong manner with direct communication to Kuk Dong management about the violations in the factory. On February 9th, the Corporate Responsibility Vice President of Nike, Dusty Kidd, sent a letter to the President of Kuk Dong, Mexico asking for some very specific demands including special outreach for reinstatement to the original five fired workers, reinstatement of all workers who wish to return with their previous seniority (addressing the problem of returning workers being treated as new workers), and publicizing the fact that the company dropped the charges waged against workers and supporters involved in the strike at the beginning of the year.

On March 14th, Veritè, an independent monitor hired by Nike to review the Kuk Dong case, released its findings and recommendations that revealed many code and Mexican law violations at the factory. These findings mainly corroborated the findings of the Worker Rights Consortium and the International Labor Rights Fund who issued separate reports at the end of January. This included the finding that most workers are unhappy with FROC-CROC representation and that a union election should be by a secret ballot vote.

In a publicly unprecedented response to these findings, Nike issued a remediation plan outlining the violations, the actions to be taken by Kuk Dong, and the timeline given for compliance. Included in these actions are: that the factory immediately develop a policy and documentation procedure of termination that does not included forcing workers to sign resignation notices; that the factory immediately support workers' freedom to select their own representation; and that over the next 6 weeks the factory work to bring its safety conditions up to standard.

Nike making these demands of Kuk Dong is a big success in anti-sweatshop organizing, a testament of the international solidarity campaign and, particularly, the effectiveness of the student anti-sweatshop movement codes of conduct. In part because Nike was "persuaded" by the student campaign to forcefully intervene, approximately 400 of the 800 strikers have returned to work. Most of the five original fired workers have returned, many workers have been reinstated with their previous seniority, and Kuk Dong did make efforts to outreach to all workers to invite them back to work. Nike's membership in the Fair Labor Association has also made them vulnerable to "internal" pressure from the International Labor Rights Fund.

Hostility Still Reigns, Where's Nike?

However, reports indicate that while significant gains have been made, the climate in the Kuk Dong factory is still hostile towards independent union organizing. While Nike claims that all the workers who wish to return are back in the factory, organizers feel many more wish to return. Also, it seems not all workers have received the seniority they once enjoyed. Workers report that the "neutral" ILO training sponsored by Nike was facilitated by a trainer who repeatedly endorsed the FROC-CROC during the training while not giving the same attention to the independent union.

Also, Kuk Dong has not worked to create a neutral space inside the factory. Kuk Dong has given the FROC-CROC access to company facilities (such as the public announcement system) during working hours without giving this access to the independent union. An independent union leader has reported that a member of the FROC-CROC drives around her house even though he does not live in her hometown and has told her that he was "guarding the chicks so that they would not step out of the fence." This behavior is interpreted as a threat to the worker's safety. Considering these events and the history of intimidation tactics employed by the FROC-CROC against the workers, reprisals against independent union supporters are still considered a strong threat.

What Nike did not include in its remediation plan is the need for a secret ballot vote for the union elections and a demand to end the advantages the FROC-CROC is taking of its access to company facilities to campaign against the independent union during working hours. Nike's neglect of these points leads to some questions as to the seriousness of Nike's commitment to freedom of association.

Next Step: Legal Recognition.

In a March 18th statement released by the new union, the executive committee noted its future plans and its concerns: "During the next days, we will be requesting that the government recognize us as a union. We know we will be facing much pressure and greater reprisals by the company-imposed union, the FROC-CROC."

SITEKIM's statement calls for further support from the international community: "For this reason, we request your moral and political support to continue our struggle, through letters and e-mails to the government of the State of Puebla, the Local Labor Board, Kukdong, Nike and Reebok. We want Mexican laws to be respected and we don't want any unnecessary obstacles to obtain the union's legal recognition by the government. This will be the next step in a long struggle that will continue until we have a collective contract with the company."

Support SITEKIM!

1) Contact Nike and Kuk Dong and ask that they stave off reprisals or violence against the independent union supporters and, of course, not take these measures themselves, as SITEKIM strives for legal recognition.

~ Contact: Dusty Kidd, Global Director for Labor Practices, Nike Corp., One Bowerman Drive, Beaverton, OR 97003. Phone: (503) 671-6453; Fax: (503) 532-0440; Email: Dusty.Kidd@nike.com.

~ Contact: Hoon Park, General Manager, Kukdong International Mexico, S.A. de C.V. Retorno de los Continentes No. 38, Col. Rancho los Soles C.P. 74210, Atlixco, Puebla, Mexico. Phone: 011-52-2-446-1020-3; Fax: 011-52-2-446-1024; Email: kukdong@avante.net.mx

2) Contact the local government of Puebla, Mexico and ask that the process to grant legal recognition for SITEKIM be executed fairly and swiftly.

~ Contact: Government of the State of Puebla, C. Melquiades Morales Flores, Governor. Email: visit www.sicomnet.edu.mx/cgibin/rg/paginas/puegob/ejecutivo/cgis/correogo bfrm.pl and fill out the form on this page.

Background:

The Kuk Dong Story: A Strike, A Police Attack, An Agreement, and Mass

Firings

The strike of 800 of the some 900 workers at the Kuk Dong factory in southern Mexico that produces for Nike and many U.S. universities began on January 9, 2001 after the company fired or forced the resignation of 25 workers who had complained about low wages and rotten food in the cafeteria.

The workers claim that the union at the factory, the FROC-CROC, which is tied to the conservative Mexican political party, the PRI, is not representing their interests. For this reason, they want to create a new independent union in its place. Workers complain of forced overtime (including 14 to 16 year old workers who are legally required to work no more than 6 hours a day and are instead working 10), verbal abuse, and failure to give legally mandated benefits.

On January 11, as strikers picketed the factory gates, known "enforcers" of the FROC-CROC union attempted to provoke a confrontation with the 300 or so workers present. These attempts were unsuccessful, but soon after, approximately 200 riot police surrounded the workers in front of the plant and announced they had been ordered by the Governor to remove the workers from the area. The strikers put up no resistance. Nevertheless, the police used violence to disperse them--many workers were severely beaten. In fact, fifteen workers were sent to the hospital and two people had injuries severe enough to require hospitalization. There are even reports that the police were being directed by a leader of the FROC-CROC union, implying cooperation between the police and the company.

Two days later, an agreement was reached to allow the strikers to return to work without reprisals. The company agreed to distribute copies of this agreement to all the workers. However, when the workers tried to go back to work with copies of the agreement in hand, the guards at the factory gates would not let many of them return unless they signed a loyalty oath to the FROC-CROC. Hundreds of returning workers were either fired or forced to resign.

Kuk Dong then came to a second agreement at the end of January to rehire all the workers fired or forced to resign for supporting an independent union and to outreach to these workers to let them know it is safe to come back to the factory. As of the beginning of February, sources estimated the return of only 200 of the 800 workers who went on strike.

Mexican-based sources report that workers were intimidated to return to work due to the 30-40 armed riot police who were consistently in the factory, the fact that returning workers were being forced to sign a loyalty oath to the FROC-CROC, and their earned seniority status and pay was disregarded because they were being treated as new workers.

Since then, escalating the international campaign pressured Nike to intervene more forcefully with Kuk Dong management in February and March has which made a difference. The hostile climate towards the independent union continues to be a problem. Thus, the right to organize and freedom of association have not yet been won - but the initial loss has been reversed.

Kuk Dong International is a Korean-based Nike producer with large factories in Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico. Reports indicate that there have been repeated labor disputes at Kuk Dong's Indonesian factory, most recently over the failure to pay a minimum wage.

You can find the monitor reports on Kuk Dong online: Veritè: www.nikebiz.com Worker Rights Consortium: www.workersrights.org International Labor Rights Fund: www.laborrights.org

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