(More on this case) ( !! Note that Kukdong changed it's name sept 2001 to Mex Mode )

Dear Friends, Information continues to come in regarding the case of Kuk Dong in Mexico. Yesterday we received reports that some of the five workers who were originally fired in early January for their leadership in the struggle for an independent union at the Kuk Dong factory in Atlixco de Puebla, Mexico planned to attempt to return to work this week
so far no news on this, but we will keep you informed.

Nike’s and Kuk Dong’s “Scorched Earth” Campaign Moving Forward Rapidly

United Students Against Sweatshops has received credible reports from our representatives in Mexico that on Tuesday, February 6 around 70 workers who attempted to return to work at the Kuk Dong factory – the site of a month- long struggle in Atlixco de Puebla, Mexico – were illegally forced to sign their affiliation to the illegitimate company protection union, the FROC CROC and then told by Kuk Dong officials (Snr. Hugo de La Peña and the secretary of Human Resources, Rocio) that they they were not needed and could not enter. Rather, management would get back to them days later after reviewing their files, since "nobody could be trusted," and that the company would only hire those workers that were “convenient."

All of this happened while an accredited monitor for the Fair Labor Association, Verite, was present at the plant – allegedly to insure that all workers who have participated in the strike at Kuk Dong were immediately allowed back to work. Kuk Dong management has twice agreed in front of local labor officials and independent observers to rehire all of the workers fired during the month-long struggle at their plant. This result has been publicly guaranteed by Nike.

Workers understood Tuesday’s events as they were intended - a dissuasive measure and a message that no matter what, they would never be allowed back to their jobs, despite the repeated agreements, the international pressure, the monitors. Only about 400 of the original 850+ workers are back working at Kuk Dong at this moment, and many have already been forced to find jobs elsewhere since they cannot afford another week without being allowed back in.

At this point, because of violations and delays in ensuring freedom of association, Nike has essentially denied the workers this right and outright refused to enforce its code of conduct. No action that Nike takes will be sufficient to repair what is probably already irreparable damage. Nike is fully participating in a “scorched earth” strategy. They are standing by, continuing to research and refusing to act while serious violations of freedom of association continue, workers are forced to find other work, and consequently those who originally supported the union are fired de facto, weakening the organizing effort and the freedom of the workforce to choose their own representatives. Nike is not just a buyer in the wrong place at the wrong time; rather, it is a fully complicit participant in a strategy to undermine workers’ right to organize.

When five workers were originally fired at the factory, Nike stood by and did nothing. When police attacked the subsequent worker occupation of the factory grounds, sending 15 people to the hospital, Nike stood by and did nothing. When Kuk Dong management illegally fired or forced the resignation of more than 200 more workers the following week, Nike stood by and did nothing. It said it had an independent mediator studying the issue, and that it would not act until he found the facts.

And indeed, Nike’s own independent mediator, Arturo Alcalde, came out with a study last week that confirmed not only the independent investigation of the Worker Rights Consortium but also the ongoing reports of USAS, SEREAL (a human rights group in Puebla), US/LEAP, Maquiladora Solidarity Network, Global Exchange, and other allies – that serious violations of workers’ legitimate rights to freedom of association have occurred at Kuk Dong. This result was confirmed again by Nike’s own compliance officer. But because Nike was not satisfied with the reports of its own commissioned mediator, its own employee, and the WRC, it again said more investigation was required. So, it has commissioned the support of the Fair Labor Association, whose findings it says it will take “very seriously.” Nike says it will update the public by February 15 with its intended response – indeed, the scorched earth strategy is going forward.

Within two days, separate reports by the WRC and Nike’s mediator called for the same things:

• All Kuk Dong workers employed before the strike should be rehired immediately and without any exception.
• There should not be any use of discrimination in the process of rehiring against any worker for their support of an independent union.
• All illegal charges should be dropped against the leaders of the independent unionization effort.

The International Labor Rights Fund, who also participated in drafting the report, said it best: “We believe that the crisis at the Kukdong factory can be resolved if action is taken swiftly to re-employ all the workers who were on strike…. When it comes to union representation, justice delayed is justice denied.”

Yet Nike has delayed, delayed, and delayed at every turn. Justice is being denied at Kuk Dong, and since the FLA has been involved, other violations of worker rights have continued to mount; yet Nike, conveniently hiding behind another investigation, has chosen not to act:

-Workers returning to the factory are being forced to sign documents changing their status to new employees, which means that their previous salaries, positions and seniority are revoked. This is a clear violation of Kukdong's legally binding agreement to allow workers to return under the terms of their previous employment.

-Workers returning to the factory are illegally being forced to sign statements of support for the CROC. The requirement under Mexican law for workers to sign statements of support for the union when entering the factory that Nike cited in its letter to university presidents last week is only for new workers, not workers returning for a strike. Hence, the very requirement of signing statements of support is not only a form of intimidation, but it is a violation that builds on the above point, that workers who supported the strike are being discriminated against in terms of their employment status.

Furthermore, the report of Nike’s independent mediator questioned the very legality of the FROC CROC’s contract with Kuk Dong, detailing that the CROC contract was signed "before labor began at the plant" and that the contract has a "fundamental deficiency that invalidates it" by not having an incorporated salary schedule. Thus the entire premise of the legality of the company union and its contract with Kuk Dong is false and any requirement that Kuk Dong workers become members of the CROC is invalid. Yet Nike has allied itself with the FROC CROC by insisting that under Mexican law, workers must sign statements of support for the company union before getting their jobs back.

-Charges are not being dropped against the leaders of the independent organizing effort. Instead, the reign of terror continues at Kuk Dong. An article published last week in Reforma, a major Mexico City paper, states that arrest warrants are still pending for the leaders of the strike. It is important to understand that Mexico has been cited by Amnesty International for the common use of torture by police – this is what arrests would mean for the leaders.

-Kukdong management has isolated workers who it believes are leaders of the independent union effort to actively discourage organizing among workers in the factory.

-Kuk Dong is sending company security guards and leaders of the FROC-CROC out to the villages to promote workers coming back to Kuk Dong. When management agreed to reinstate all workers, they agreed to participate in an outreach program to let all workers in the surrounding pueblas know that they are welcome back to the factory without reprisal. This current development is a far cry from a welcoming appeal.

Furthermore, it has been reported that the company has hired at least several dozen new employees in the past week. A likely strategy to dissipate support for the activities of the workers is for the company to bring in new hires who are already allied with the FROC CROC.

Nine days ago, USAS sent a letter to Nike saying that, among other criteria, the following demands had to be met by Friday, February 2 at Kuk Dong for freedom of association to truly be resepected. Furthermore, the letter read that “Any further delay by Nike in meeting these demands clearly constitutes provocation and will lead to an escalation of protests against Nike and those university administrators who are complicit in Nike’s failure to enforce the codes of conduct.”

(1) Nike must oversee the immediate reinstatement of all workers who have been fired or coerced into signing resignation forms.

(2) Nike must ensure that no further punitive measures can be taken against any worker or supporter who participated in the strike and that all charges are dropped against workers and their supporters in the strike and related protests.

(3) The Kuk Dong factory must be absolutely free of any intimidation toward the workers; therefore, Nike must work with local organizations to maintain a third party presence at the factory to monitor the working situation until the workers have secured a union which represents their voices.

Based on the above reports, Nike and the FLA have been complicit in ensuring that freedom of association is denied at Kuk Dong, violating all three of the above demands. It is only the most recent of a month’s worth of provocations.

In addition, over the past two weeks a series of university presidents have written letters to Nike expressing their concern over the violation of freedom of association at Kuk Dong. They made clear that they expected their codes of conduct to be enforced by the immediate rehiring of all of the workers free of any intimidation and a guarantee of a climate allowing for the workers to freely choose their union representatives. Most letters stated that they had their trust in Nike to resolve this situation expeditiously. It remains to be seen how long it takes for the patience of those same administrators to be tested.

What you can do immediately:

1) Contact Nike: Nike’s actions to date have been insufficient to ensure that worker rights are respected at the Kuk Dong factory. Urge Nike to publicly ask Kukdong to rehire all the workers, whether they were fired of coerced into resignation. Ask Nike to immediately ensure that returning workers are protected from reprisals and intimidation by supporting the immediate placement of independent monitors on the scene, the removal of the armed riot police, and that returning Kuk Dong workers not suffer reprisals and not be required to re-sign any loyalty oaths and be given the seniority status and pay they deserve. Remind Nike to publicly commit to continue the same levels of production at Kuk Dong and that justice delayed is justice denied.

Contact:

Philip H. Knight, Chairman and CEO, Nike Corp., One Bowerman Drive, Beaverton, OR 97003-6433. Phone: (503) 671-6453; Fax: (503) 671-6300

Add a cc to: Dusty Kidd, Global Director for Labor Practices, Nike Corp., One Bowerman Drive, Beaverton, OR 97003. Phone: (503) 671-6453; Fax: (503) 532- 0440; Email: Dusty.Kidd@nike.com.

2) Contact the Mexican Labor Secretary: Urge the Labor Secretary to use this conflict as an opportunity to prove that Mexico is a fair and stable place for people to work without violent intimidation, armed goons in factories in the midst of a labor dispute, and that all workers enjoy the right to organize independent unions.

Contact: Lic. Carlos Abascal Carranza, Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social, Periférico Sur No. 4271, Edif. A, piso 4, Col. Fuentes del pedregal C.P. 14149. Phone: 011-52-5-645-2962; Fax: 011-52-5-645-5594; Email cabascal@stps.gob.mx

The Kuk Dong Story: A Strike, A Police Attack, An Agreement, and Mass Firings By US/Labor Education in the Americas Project

The strike at the Kuk Dong factory in southern Mexico that produces for Nike and many U.S. universities began on Jan 9th due to the company firing or forcing the resignation of 25 workers who had complained about rotten food in the cafeteria and low wages. The workers say the union at the factory, the FROC CROC, which is considered a union tied to the conservative Mexican political party, the PRI, is not representing their interests and want to create a new independent union in its place. Finally, workers complain of forced overtime (including 14 to 16 year old workers who are legally required to work no more than 6 hours a day and are instead working 10), verbal abuse, and failure to give legally mandated benefits.

The strikers were picketing the factory gates when around 10:30pm on Thursday the 11th of January, workers reported that known “enforcers” of the FROC-CROC union attempted to provoke a confrontation with the 300 or so remaining workers at the factory gates, which was unsuccessful. Soon after this, 200 riot police surrounded the workers in front of the plant and told the workers that they had been ordered by the Governor to remove the workers from the area. The workers put up no resistance but the police nevertheless used violence to disperse them and workers were beaten severely by the police. Fifteen workers were sent to the hospital and two people had injuries severe enough to require hospitalization. There are even reports that the police were being directed by a leader of the FROC-CROC union, implying cooperation between the police and the company.

Two days later, an agreement was reached to allow the strikers to return to work without reprisals. The company agreed to distribute copies of this agreement to all the workers. However, when the workers tried to go back to work with copies of the agreement in hand, the guards at the factory gates would not let many return unless they signed a loyalty oath to the FROC-CROC. Then hundreds of returning workers were either fired or forced to resign.