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Como organización salvadoreña no gubernamental sin fines de lucro; no compartimos la manera en que está siendo presentada la difícil situación en que
Es un hecho, que el cierre reciente de las operaciones de
Hemos dado apoyo y seguimiento a la situación de las trabajadoras de
CEAL también ha apoyado a
Sabemos que otra organización similar basada en California, que también contribuyo a colectar donaciones para las trabajadoras de
Hemos apoyado al sindicato STIT, para realizar campañas corporativas de presión sobre marcas de ropa, tal es el caso de Superior Uniform Group (contratista de
No desconocemos el sufrimiento que han pasado las trabajadoras de Just Garments. Han pagado un alto precio debido a intentar controlar su propio espacio de trabajo. Por eso, levantamos nuestra voz para señalar la responsabilidad del modelo neoliberal, global y corporativo impulsado por el gobierno salvadoreño, de los empresarios maquiladores, y especialmente las marcas multinacionales de la ropa; las cuales consumen la fuerza de trabajo de millones de trabajadoras alrededor del mundo, para convertirlas en billonarias ganancias. Peor aún, luego las marcas se presentan como jueces de la industria con sus “Códigos de Conducta”. Pensamos que este criterio debería guiar a quienes buscan apoyar a las trabajadoras de
Es muy inquietante que Ong´s como el National Labor Comitee de EE.UU. han criticado los esfuerzos realizados en buena fe alrededor de
Oscar
Presidente
Vicepresidente
Centro de Estudios y Apoyo Laboral, CEAL El Salvador.
http://ceal-dlca.blogspot.com/
JUST GARMENTS IS NO SWEATSHOP!
As a Salvadoran non profit NGO we do not agree with the manner in which Just Garment workers’ difficult situation is being presented. The definition of a sweatshop is a workplace dedicated to obtain profit by exploiting the workforce, demanding of them higher production quotas and violating their basic worker rights. This is not the case with Just Garments. Parodoxically, Just Garment’s problem has always been the lack of production orders.
The Just Garments factory was an experimental effort to try to create unionized employment opportunity in El Salvador’s maquila industry, focusing on the sweatfree apparel market. This is something that has never really existed in the country. Unfortunately, the experiment seems to be at its end, but not for lack of good faith effort. Rather it is over due to a lack of production orders and a lack of support from international brands, and local industry, whose actions have effectively placed the factory on a black list. The Salvadoran government also consistently demonstrated a lack of willingness to work to help Just Garments to succeed, and at times, took aggressive positions to undermine our efforts. We know that Just Garments frequently failed to pay its employees on time, but when this happened, those in charge of the factory suffered alongside the workers. This was the reason why Just Garment’s factory manager resigned in August 2005 because he had not been paid his wages. The factory operated from that point forward without a manager.
It is a fact that the recent closing of Just Garments is due also to the actions of Carlos Siman Safie, a businessman connected to a number of factories in the maquila sector and to a large private Salvadoran company. He arbitrarily chained shut all of the entrances to the factory, an action that Just Garments is legally contesting. We know that the STIT union, representing the majority of the workers at Just Garments, has also appealed to labor authorities and obtained a promise from the company to pay 100% of the payments owed to Just Garments workers. We believe that this is what the ILO means when it refers to “social dialogue”, the kind of negotiations that are especially necessary during difficult moments. Sadly, the agreement reached between Just Garments and its employees is now in jeopardy due to the illegal actions of Mr. Safie.
CEAL has provided support to Just Garments’ workers since 2003, and therefore knows well that their hardships are the result of persistent anti-union policies. Whenever necessary, CEAL has made its staff and resources available to support the Just Garments workers. CEAL’s former Coordinator, Gilberto Ernesto García Dueñas, has contributed abundantly to promote Just Garments, serving as the factory’s legal representative while working on dozens of other union cases, conducting education, documentation and awareness raising activities with groups of workers and unions in addition to Just Garments. The response of the government and a large Salvadoran private company to all of this effort and sacrifice has been to lash out against Just Garments.
CEAL has also supported Just Garments by providing interest free, down payment free loans from the organization’s limited funds to support to workers at critical moments. Just Garments was not able to totally repay these loans to CEAL. We recognize that maintaining a factory the size of Just Garments, with the existing challenges, requires considerable amounts of capital. When CEAL contributed funds to support Just Garments we were satisfied to know that the funds were going to a cause (and recipients) we support. We also knew that Just Garments made their finances public for the period between 2003-2006.
An organization based in California, Activists of San Diego (ASD), which has made donations for Just Garments workers, has recently declared that “ASD has no reason to believe that any sort of trickery, fraud, bad faith or bad intentions have taken place (at Just Garments). And we have said this to the world…ASD feels proud to have provided assistance to this just cause.” CEAL shares this analysis with regards to its experience working in support of Just Garments, its employees, and the STIT union.
We helped STIT carry out campaigns to get apparel multinationals, such as Superior Uniform Group (which subcontracted uniforms at Just Garments between September 2004 – December 2006), to pay fair prices and subsequently, fair wages, to Just Garment’s workers. Unfortunately, this campaign did not accomplish its desired outcome. In the end, Just Garments had to stop producing for the Superior Uniform Group because they never increased the low level of orders, or raised the low prices that they paid the local Salvadoran company (which subcontracted the work to Just Garments).
We are well aware of the Just Garment workers suffering. They have paid a high price in exchange for this attempt to have some control their own workplace. For this reason, we raise our voices to assign responsibility: to the Salvadoran government and its promotion of the neoliberal, global and corporate model; to the maquila owners, and especially to the multinational apparel companies, which consume the hard work of millions of workers around the world to convert it into billions of dollars of profit. Worse still, apparel companies then become the judge and jury of the apparel industry by scrutinizing adherence to their “codes of conduct.” When we think about the most apt parties to provide support to Just Garments workers and workers at apparel factories around the world, we should look at the content of these codes of conduct and to the companies that espouse them.
It is very disquieting that NGO’s like the National Labor Committee in the USA have criticized the good faith efforts of Just Garments while CEAL was interested in trying to address the reasons behind the factory’s closure. We have arrived at reasons such as: actions taken by businessman Carlos Siman Safie; the low level of orders and low prices of companies like the Superior Uniform Group; and the actions or lack of action of the Salvadoran government. We feel that none of these causes should be omitted in any assessment of what has happened at Just Garments.
Oscar Ernesto Bolaños
Presidente
Wilfredo Berrios
Vicepresidente
Centro de Estudios y Apoyo Laboral, CEAL El Salvador.
http://ceal-dlca.blogspot.com/
