Guatemala Factory Supplying Walmart and Other US Retailers Stole $6 Million From Workers

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/178061/guatemala-factory-supplying-walmart-and-other-retailers-stole-6-million-workers


Many of the US labels that produced clothing at the Alianza Fashion sweatshop in Guatemala.

***SNIP

Here are some of the report’s findings:

From 2001 to 2013, Alianza management filed legal pension and healthcare benefits for just sixty-five workers per year. Through those years, Alianza employed between 1,050 and 1,500 workers, adding up to more than $4.7 million in lost benefits.

Since the factory shut down last year, Alianza has failed to pay the 548 workers employed until closure $1.2 million in back wages and benefits.

American labels mark up their products exorbitantly. Documents reveal a Walmart blazer that retails for $21.88 costs $4.25 to make. A $59.99 Calvin Klein suit and vest sold at the Burlington Coat Factory costs $9.23 to cut and sew.

Alianza factory workers made a base wage of $1.05 an hour, adding up to $287.24 per month. The Guatemalan government's National Statistics Institute says the average family needs about $363.43 per month to cover basic food needs.

Alianza management illegally fired sixty workers in March 2010 for taking the preliminary steps toward unionization. The workers did not receive their legal severance.

The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights says its aim “is to raise a $6 million fund to reimburse the workers who have been robbed of wages, severance, healthcare and pension benefits” by Park and Alianza.

Labor groups reached out to some of the major labels implicated by their findings. Phillips-Van Heusen, which produces clothing for Tommy Hilfinger and Calvin Klein, donated $100,000 to a fund for the 548 workers employed until the factory shut down.

[madokie]

1. It just goes to show

rich people don't like us poor people

[countryjake]

2. K&R!