The Saipan workers' lawsuit

In January 1999 three separate lawsuits were filed challenging the unlawful sweatshop conditions in the Saipan, CNMI garment industry. A total of 26 U.S. based retailers and manufacturers on the island were sued for violating workers' rights and using "indentured slavery". The lawsuit ended with a victory for the garment workers. Please find here an overview of what happened.

This month, the last of three lawsuits over sweatshop conditions on the U.S. island of Saipan came to a close. Saipan garment workers voluntarily dismissed their class action lawsuit against Levi-Strauss and Company, the only retailer to refuse to contribute to a settlement fund for the workers.

• March 2003, Action Alert! Help Us Pressure Levi's to Settle the Lawsuit!
  Please find below an appeal from action from Sweatshop Watch. Take a few minutes right now to send an e-mail to Levi Strauss today to demand that they settle the lawsuit charging a number of workers' rights violations at their Saipan contract facilities.

• Feb 2003, Landmark Workers' Rights Lawsuit Settled
  Workers to get back wages, monitoring system to be set up.

• Sep 2002, Defendants (except Levi's) settle Saipan suit
  Ending a three-year legal battle, 26 of America's biggest clothing retailers have settled a class-action lawsuit over alleged sweatshop abuses on Saipan, a U.S. island in the western Pacific.

• June 2002, Good news in Saipan workers' lawsuit
  In a closely-watched human rights case, a U.S. District Judge in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands upheld the complaint in a class action lawsuit alleging sweatshop conditions on the Western Pacific Island of Saipan. This Oct. 29, 2001 ruling allows the case to proceed to trial.

• Feb 2002, Update on the Saipan Lawsuit and GAP Campaign
  Please find below an update on the three lawsuits filed in relation to unlawful working conditions in garment factories in Saipan.

• Oct 2001, Saipan workers' class action lawsuit will proceed to trial
  Federal Court Judge Rejects Motion to Dismiss Landmark Sweatshop Class Action Against Saipan Garment Factories, The Gap, Target and Other Retailers

• March 2000, Eight more U.S. retailers settle Saipan sweatshop suit
  You may have heard rumors yesterday that 6 more companies settled the Saipan lawsuit. It's true! Now, out of the 17 original defendants, only 4 remain...

• Jan 2000, 14 activists arrested at GAP Headquarters
  Today marked the 1 year anniversary of the Saipan lawsuit, charging GAP Inc. and 17 other retailers with human rights abuses on the island's sweatshops.

• Oct 1999, 5 more companies settle Saipan lawsuit.
  Additional U.S. Retailers Agree to Join Settlement of Class Action Lawsuit Requiring Independent Monitoring of Factory Conditions

• Jan 1999, First-ever Lawsuits Filed Charging Sweatshop Conspiracy Between Major U.S. Clothing Designers and Retailers, Foreign Textile Producers