Here’s the latest on our fight to the make the Los Angeles garment industry a healthy, humane, worker-controlled industry!
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RECENT NEWS FROM THE GWC – June 2010
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Weaving Theatre and Organizing – May 1st, 2010!
First, we want to thank all of our community supporters who marched with us on May 1st, International Workers’ Day! We hope you had a great time celebrating one of our favorite days in worker history, and were able to see first hand why it’s such an important day for us here at the Garment Worker Center. This year, we were excited to debut our grassroots street theatre skit about the concrete differences between an organized factory and a non-organized factory. With cheers from our awesome community supporters for the organized workers, and boos for the sweatshop bosses, we performed our skit on the corner of Santee and 8th surrounded by three different 10-12 story buildings filled with garment factories and workers. Each act was marked with a reminder of how an organized factory creates a much more humane environment for workers and keeps the bosses under control! The cast was a great multi-generational mix of garment workers, garment workers’ children and community supporters. Throughout our organizing efforts at the GWC, we do our best to integrate art and theatre, and we’ll be taking our skits into the streets to create a wider visibility of our struggle across the industry. Thanks again for sharing the day with us and we hope to share more street theatre with you in the future!
Garment Workers Keep the Pressure on Local Garment Factory Bosses
On May 29th, 2010, we organized a ‘visit’ to a sweatshop employer for 1) paying less than minimum wage, 2) not guaranteeing breaks, 3) not paying overtime and double time wages. In this particular factory, the owner of the company never showed his face, and instead left all the work to be done by his wife who had little patience and respect for the workers. The manager was known for screaming at employees, for giving workers more challenging fabric to sew (which led to less pay) when they spoke up against unfair wages or treatment.
Ana Maria*, a recent member of the Garment Worker Center, made the decision to demand her stolen wages from her employer. After calculating the total owed to her over the last three years, a number well into the tens of thousands, a team of 4 GWC members headed out to the notorious Swapmeet located on 8th and Broadway. The Swapmeet is a 10 story building with numerous garment factories on each floor. We have challenged many employers in this building over the years.
The group met early in the morning and reviewed the basics of how to confront her ex-boss and how to let other workers present in the factory know standing up to the boss is necessary and possible! When Ana Maria stepped into the factory, accompanied by another garment worker, she drew the boss onto the shop floor so that other workers could see her challenge her ex-boss for the wages owed to her. While she confronted her employer, 2 other team members distributed fliers to the workers sitting at their machines. We were able to successfully share information about the GWC and our struggle to organize and change the industry with about 40 workers! We are now putting pressure on the employer to come to the table to negotiate with Ana Maria for her stolen wages, at the GWC. We’ll keep you posted…
*(real name not used to avoid retaliation from employers)
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INTERNATIONAL STORIES OF WORKER RESISTANCE
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“No More Fires, No More Locked Exits, No More Garment Workers Deaths" campaign launched
May 11, 2010
The National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) of Bangladesh launched a new campaign this month entitled "No More Fires, No More Locked Exits, No More Garment Workers Deaths."
On May 1, approximately 5000 garment workers - mostly young women - marched to support the campaign. NGWF President Amirul Haque Amin, speaking at the rally, said "Since 1990, there have been 33 major garment factory fires in which more than 400 garment workers have been killed. During this same period more than 200 factory fires happened in which more than 5000 workers were injured. In addition, 64 workers were killed in the Spectrum Factory collapse in 2005. One of the reasons for the large number of causalities is the practice of locking factory exits, as well as a lack of health and safety inspections in many of the garment factories. Factory fires, locked exits, and workers deaths must stop."
The NGWF campaign is also demanding a new living wage for all garment workers set at TK.5000/ per month (US$71), the removal of all barriers to trade union formation and trade union activities in the garment sector, equal wages, rights and dignity for women workers, and reforms to Bangladeshi Labour Law.
We want to thank the Maquila Solidarity Network for the previous story about garment workers in Bangladesh. To find out more, you can visit their website at http://en.maquilasolidarity.org. Just search for their articles about these fierce Bangladeshi garment workers.
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SUPPORT THE GWC WITH YOUR FUNDS!
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Limited Edition T-shirt Sales!! May Day 8 hours slogan t-shirt!!
Want to buy a great t-shirt? Check out our May Day t-shirt below. If you’re interested in buying, just drop us a line with your preferred size and we’ll get it touch with you about picking it up or getting it mailed to you.
Call for Continuous Supporters
Support the GWC by becoming a continuous supporter! Your donations sustain the ongoing work at the Garment Worker Center and every contribution helps GWC cover vital expenses (weekly Saturday meals for worker meetings, printer and photocopier costs, fuel for transportation, electricity, etc.). Your financial support keeps us thriving and organizing. Remember, even $20.00 a month (the cost of a dinner date or a night out at the movies), is a way to say that you believe in the work of the GWC and an investment in a healthier industry for garment workers. Make your commitment today by clicking on the “DONATE” button on the left side of the screen.
Foundation Shout Outs!
We want to recognize CCHD for their continued support for the GWC. Joan Harper from CCHD, along with approximately 20 members of catholic churches nationwide, recently visited the GWC. The members heard about the different injustices in sweatshops located throughout LA, as well as the resistance from workers through the organizing at GWC. They also had the opportunity to see some of the factories for themselves. We appreciate the continued interest and support for worker-organizing in the garment industry.
We also want to recognize the ROTH foundation for recently deciding to support the GWC with funds for operational costs. The flexibility offered by this type of funding is always appreciated as it allows more wiggle room for creativity. Thank you!
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JOIN OUR VOLUNTEER FAMILY!
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Want to support garment workers in their fight against sweatshop conditions? Want to support garment workers so they can take the industry into their own hands and mold it into a fair and just industry? Then, join us! We are looking for volunteers who can take on different responsibilities at the Center so that the garment workers can focus on organizing their co-workers! Since January 2008, the GWC has been mostly run by volunteers and we would love to add you to our volunteer family. We need long-term volunteers who can give a little bit every week, or month, over a long period of time to make the GWC run seamlessly. We also need temporary volunteers for smaller projects throughout the year. Click the “GET ACTIVE” link on our page and scroll to the bottom for a list of projects that we need help developing, growing and maintaining.
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LOOK FOR OUR NEXT UPDATE IN AUGUST!!
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PAST GWC UPDATES BELOW
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