CLR Action Alert

In this ActionAlert:

• National Hunger Strike & Convergence at Taco Bell Headquarters (Irvine, CA) in February 2003
• PUMA Factory in Puebla, Mexico Tries to Run and Hide
• Mass Firings at Shangri-La Hotels in Indonesia

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"WE'D RATHER GO HUNGRY THAN EAT SWEATSHOP TACOS!"

ORGANIZE AND MOBILIZE your community to converge on Taco Bell headquarters (Irvine, CA) for the national hunger strike and demonstration from February 24-28, 2003! EMAIL OR CALL the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to discuss your involvement either in Irvine, CA or in your own community -- workers@ciw-online.org, (239)657-8311

That is the cry that will go up outside Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine, CA, on February 24, 2003, as farm workers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the CIW's student, religious, and labor allies begin their historic hunger strike. The action, a hunger strike outside one of the world's largest fast-food corporations, is a powerful contradiction that will highlight the injustice of fast-food profits derived, in significant part, from farm worker poverty. The strike comes after a year of silence from Taco Bell executives.

[Last year's historic cross country tour brought unprecedented national pressure on Taco Bell, as 70 workers and 30 students led a caravan of protests from Atlanta to LA, on their way to a march of nearly 2,000 angry consumers on Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine. The tour led to the first-ever talks between farm workers and corporate executives, but not to the concrete changes in wages and working conditions that the Coalition of Immokalee Workers is demanding of Taco Bell.]

While the hunger strikers stand vigil at Taco Bell headquarters, a caravan of workers and allies will head south from Sacramento, California, stopping at college campuses and communities along the way to spread word of the hunger strike through teach-ins and protests at local Taco Bell restaurants. And throughout the week, solidarity fasts and protests will take place in communities throughout the country.

The caravan will reach Irvine on Friday, February 28th, joining forces with the hunger strikers and thousands of fair-food activists across the country for a national day of convergence at Taco Bell headquarters: a huge day of protest and music that will rock Taco Bell.

Your participation in this year's action is CRUCIAL. Here's what YOU CAN DO:

Send representatives from your school, church, community organization or union to fast in solidarity with Immokalee tomato pickers for the week beginning February 24, 2003

Mobilize your community to join the Friday, February 28, 2003 national convergence outside of the Taco Bell headquarters

Organize solidarity fasts, protests, and rallies in your local community the week of February 24th

Please e-mail workers@ciw-online.org or call 239-657-8311 as soon as possible to let the workers know how you will participate in this year's action! For more information, please visit the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), www.ciw-online.org and the Campaign for Labor Rights, www.clrlabor.org

Information for this alert was provided by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, www.ciw-online.org

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AFTER WORKERS UNIONIZE, PUMA CUTS AND RUNS FROM MEXICO

EMAIL or CALL Puma CEO Jochen Zeitz and show your support for Matamoros Garment workers and to protest Puma's "cut and run" departure from the Matamoros Garment factory.

After working for over three weeks without pay - a violation of Mexican labor law - 190 of the 250 active workers at the Matamoros Garment company initiated a wildcat strike on Monday, January 13, 2003. Located in the central Mexican state of Puebla, workers charged that they "are forced to work mandatory overtime, the guard was given orders to lock the door, [and] wages are less than the [legal] minimum wage for the region. For example, the lowest wage is 39.00 pesos per day (approximately $3.90 USD). When the customers do audits of the factory, the company forces us to lie."

Also that day, more than 160 workers formed an independent union -- the Sindicato Independiente de Trabajadores de la Empresa Matamoros Garment (SITEMAG) or the Independent Union of Matamoros Garment Workers. As usual, the company informed the workers that they already had a union. And so for the first time in four years, the so-called "union representatives" visited the factory to persuade the workers to end their strike, work harder, and vote against an independent union.

Collusion between company management and sweetheart unions is widespread in Mexico, especially in the garment industry, where companies chose a union often without the workers' knowledge. At the Matamoros Garment factory, workers have been "represented" by the CTM -- Confederation of Mexican Workers -- which is widely viewed as corrupt and authoritarian. Ironically, the CTM has signed an international agreement prohibiting this specific type of sweetheart or protection contract.

During the one-day strike, workers attempted to contact Puma, the German sportswear producer that is one of the factory's major customers. Puma's Code of Conduct guarantees basic labor and human rights, including the freedom of association. Acknowledging the violations of its Code of Conduct, Puma promised "immediate action" and an immediate presence in the factory.

On Friday, January 17th, plant manager John Whittinghill announced Puma's immediate action: cancellation of its production orders from Matamoros and refusal to pay employees' back wages.

Shortly thereafter, Matamoros Garment initiated a systematic campaign of intimidation against independent union leaders and supporters. Puma, despite its promises, never sent any company officials to the factory. Instead, they just cut and ran.

[Matamoros Garment is a factory that produces uniforms for restaurants and hospitals in the United States under the Angelica label, and sports apparel for the German corporation Puma. The factory employed over 1,000 workers at its peak, but most workers have recently left the factory frustrated with worsening working conditions, including late payment of wages. The workers suspect that these practices are being implemented to have workers resign, rather than being fired, which would require the company to pay severance.]

Matamoros workers filed papers to gain legal recognition for their independent union on January 20th. Again the company response was immediate, and by the next day, all Puma tags were removed from the factory. Calling the independent union leaders into their office, Matamoros management informed them that, as a result of their efforts, the factory had indeed lost their Puma contract and would not pay their wages; workers were asked to retract their complaints, but refused once more.

Next, Puma agreed to negotiate with the independent union if it retracted its complaints, itself a de facto recognition of the workers' independent union. This was an important initial victory, and an indication of how international solidarity can make a difference.

Finally, on Friday, January 24th, Puma officially confirmed that it terminated its contract with Matamoros, claiming to have done so back in October 2002. And yet, workers continued sewing Puma apparel up until the wildcat strike on January 13, 2003. Puma cannot claim to have ended its contract in October 2002, because company officials were at the factory as recently as January 18, 2003.

Puma must be held accountable for its actions. Puma waited until conditions of worker unrest and international pressure to disavow responsibility for workers' wages, although it profited off of apparel sewn between October 2002 and January 2003.

Connection to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)

Mexico is the largest garment exporter to the United States, and the majority of garment workers are located in the central Mexican state of Puebla. Over 100,000 people sew apparel in Puebla, which is also known as the "FTAA Capital". This is because Puebla is the gateway to the widespread maquila industry in Mexico and the rest of Latin and Central America. Sweatshops are increasing as a result of free trade deals, because such agreements grant multinational corporations (MNCs) greater control over workers by allowing MNCs to threaten relocation when workers organize to demand higher wages, stronger job protection, and benefits such as health care. Essentially, the FTAA is creating a race to the bottom in terms of wages, job security, and benefits. During the first four years of NAFTA (1995-99), manufacturing wages in Mexico fell 21 percent, and have only started to recover.

In Puebla, there is a stark contrast between high profits for maquila factory owners, on the one hand, and garment workers' abysmal labor conditions, on the other. And if workers resist the sweatshop system, state authorities have not hesitated to apply heavy-handed repression against independent labor movements, including assaults on workers with riot police and arrests of union leaders.

Two years ago, a similar demand by Matamoros Garment workers for back pay ended when police attacked peacefully-protesting workers, leaving a number of them wounded; many of the workers were also locked out and never paid.

We must let Puma know that it cannot wash their hands clean of labor rights violations. Puma must be held responsible for the physical, emotional and psychological violence that workers suffer now that Puma has cut and run.

The Campaign for Labor Rights (CLR) will be closely monitoring the workers struggle in Matamoros and may also be engaged in a campaign against the Matamoros Garment factory, which services other US multinational corporations.

New information will be posted on our website, www.campaignforlaborrights.org.

In the meantime, EMAIL OR CALL Puma CEO Jochen Zeitz at jochen.zeitz@puma.com, (978)698-1124 to protest Puma's "cut and run" departure from the Matamoros Garment factory.

Please also visit Sweatshop Watch, www.sweatshopwatch.org and United Students against Sweatshops, www.usasnet.org, for more background information on the garment industry.

Information for this Alert was provided by Sweatshop Watch, www.sweatshopwatch.org

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Despite International Labour Organisation (ILO) pressure, hotel management and government continue abusing workers' rights

EMAIL Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts offices in New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, DC with one email!

DEMAND that the hotel's management and the Indonesian Government begin respecting and enforcing the basic labor and human rights of workers at the Shangri-La Jakarta Hotel in Indonesia!

In June 2002, the International Labor Organization (ILO) confirmed that Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts violated internationally recognized standards of workers' rights through the mass firing of union members at the Shangri-La Jakarta Hotel. For nearly a year now, the ILO has called on Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts and the Indonesian government to have these fired workers reinstated to their jobs.

The ILO also has questioned Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts's use of a multi-million dollar lawsuit against union leaders and activists to intimidate employees who have sought to exercise their legal rights.

Shangri-La is dragging out this conflict, which will only ensure that the hotel and its operations in Indonesia become increasingly associated with violations of human and worker rights all around the world.

Tell CEO Giovanni Angelini and the Indonesian Government to reinstate the 81 fired union members in their positions at the Jakarta Shangri-La hotel, and to cease attempts to intimidate union leaders through lawsuits and other means.

Visit: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/shangri_la/i88335al7tnt, and follow the prompts for emailing Shangri-La Hotel & Resorts as well as the Indonesian Government

For more information, please visit the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE), www.unionvoice.org/campaign/shangri_la and the Campaign for Labor Rights, www.campaignforlaborrights.org.

Information for this Alert was provided by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE), www.unionvoice.org/campaign/shangri_la