Workers to get back wages, monitoring
system to be set up
In late September 2002 the remaining U.S. clothing
retailers that buy garments manufactured on Saipan in the U.S. Commonwealth of
the Northern Marianas Islands, and twenty-three Saipan manufacturers settled claims
against them in a U.S. federal class-action lawsuit alleging violations of wage
and hour laws and other workers' rights.
The seven U.S. retailers -- Abercrombie
& Fitch, Target, Gap, Inc., J.C. Penney Company, Inc., Lane Bryant, Inc.,
The Limited, Inc., and Talbots, Inc. -- join 19 other retailers that had previously
settled. The agreement adopts a code of conduct and funds independent monitoring
of factories on Saipan. The parties have agreed to explore using the International
Labor Organization (ILO), an adjunct of the United Nations, as a monitoring body.
One final defendant, Levi Strauss & Co., has not agreed to the settlement,
but stopped purchasing garments from Saipan after the lawsuit was filed.
"We're
happy that this long fight has finally reached an agreement," said Victor
Narro, co-director of Sweatshop Watch, one of the organizations that took legal
action against the U.S. retailers for these rights violations. "We believe
that defendants are responsible to the workers. Levi's - which incomprehensibly
is still opposing this settlement - especially needs to heed this advice."
Each
company will make a one-time contribution to a fund that will finance the monitoring
program and compensate more than 30,000 garment workers, and cover administration
costs and attorneys' fees. The agreement brings the total settlement fund to more
than $20 million. $8.75 million will come from the previously settled retailers
and the remainder, $11.25 million, will come from the remaining 23 manufacturers
and 7 retailers. The settlement requires court approval and does not involve an
admission of wrongdoing by the defendants. Milberg Weiss Hynes & Lerach LLP,
one of the law firms representing the workers, agreed to waive all of its attorneys'
fees as part of the agreement, while firms Altshuler Berzon and Bushnell Caplain
waived a large portion of their fees as well.
If the settlement is approved
by the Federal Court in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands,
it will bring to a close more than three years of hard-fought litigation between
the plaintiffs and the settling defendants alleging that Saipan's garment industry
violated U.S. labor and human rights laws.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf
of immigrant workers from nearby Asian countries who, the plaintiffs alleged,
were drawn to Saipan with promises of high pay but then allegedly encountered
a pattern of long hours, low pay and other objectionable working conditions. The
Saipan garment factories produce more than one billion dollars worth of clothing
sold annually in U.S. stores.
The manufacturers agree as a condition of
the settlement to comply with strict employment standards, including a guarantee
of extra pay for overtime work, safe food and drinking water, and other basic
workers' rights. Workers who want to return to their home countries also will
be eligible for up to $3,000 in relocation fees.
A panel of three retired
judges will be set up to oversee monitoring. The panel will have the power to
conduct unannounced inspections of the factories and investigate worker complaints.
The judges can order payment of back wages, establish cures for violations found
by the monitors and, in worst cases, place manufacturers on probation for repeated
and systematic non-compliance with the code of conduct.
"This case
breaks new ground" said UNITE head Bruce Raynor. "Under this agreement,
defendants have established a program that will assure the rights of garment workers
are fully and effectively protected. This has been a long road and we're pleased
it has come to a successful conclusion."
Source: Sweatshop Watch,
press release, Sept. 26, 2002
