Second appeal for Action: Tarrant México - Ajalpan

Send your protest e-mail now!

Dear friends,
Please find below an update of the ongoing conflict regarding violations of the right to organize at the U.S.-owned Tarrant México - Ajalpan factory, which produces for such brands as Tommy Hilfiger, The Wet Seal and Limited. After workers at the factory took action to demand improved working conditions, management fired hundreds of workers, including most of the leaders of the newly formed independent union. Now, this union is unjustly denied a legal status by the Mexican board. The Mexican-based CAT (Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador; workers organizing centre), supports the workers and has requested international help. This aid is especially needed since the reinstallation hearings for the dismissed workers are set for October 15th and 23rd, and they cannot be represented by their union. Please increase the pressure on Tarrant clients, Tarrant management and the local government to make them ensure that workers' rights are respected. Contact information, as well as a sample letter, is included below. Please send your letters of concern today. Many thanks in advance.

CASE UPDATE
(Source: CAT)

On October 6th, the Local Conciliation and Arbitration Board of Puebla (JLCA) denied legal registration (registro) to the Only Independent Union of Tarrant México Company Workers (SUITTAR). The three arguments given for denying the workers' petition for registro were:

• The original copy of the petition plus one photocopy were provided, when Mexican Federal Labor Law (LFT), Article 365 states that the original must be filed with "duplicate" copies.
  This reason for denial is a violation of the JLCA's legal responsibility to revise all submitted documents and notify the petitioners what is lacking before considering their petition, as is stipulated in LFT Articles 685 and 686. The JLCA never informed the workers or gave them an opportunity to correct their petition as it should have done when the documents were submitted, and instead proceeded directly to resolve and process the denial.

• The date that the independent union was formed was the same as the date of the election of its executive committee representatives. The JLCA says these two events should have occurred on separate days.

• Of the approximately 750 affiliated workers listed in SUITTAR's registro petition, the name of one of the representatives of the executive committee (María Guadalupe Martínez Gonzáles) does not correspond with a name on the union's list of affiliates (Maura Guadalupe Martínez Gonzáles).
  Again, the JCLA should have let SUITTAR know that some things weren't completely clear. Especially since it is obscure where it is stated that the forming of a union and elections of representatives cannot happen on the same day.

SUITTAR and its legal counsel will be appealing the registro decision and taking other action to pressure the government and the company to respect their legal rights to union freedom according to Articles 6, 9 and 123 of the Mexican Constitution, Articles 133 and 354-385 of Mexican Federal Labor Law (LFT) and Conventions 11, 87, 135 and 141 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). As part of its legal and political strategy to overturn the registro decision and come to a collective bargaining agreement, SUITTAR and its legal counsel will appeal the decision, a well-known Mexican labor lawyer will write an independent legal opinion of the decision and SUITTAR will pursue legal submissions before the National Administrative Offices of the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAO/NAALC), the ILO and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It is important to point out that the appeal could take six to eight months to be resolved, during which time it is essential for the local and international allies to continue using several legal and political tactics to pressure the government and companies. Further information on legal developments and strategy will be forthcoming.

The main campaign targets are now The Wet Seal, Federated Department Stores and Tommy Hilfiger because all three are important TAG clients at the international level. Levi Strauss has agreed to and followed through on many of the workers' demands , including personally contacting many of TAG's clients to inform them that the brand was denied access to monitor its Code of Conduct and that the factory ultimately decided to sever its business ties with Levi's.

The Wet Seal
Despite initial conversations, The Wet Seal has not yet indicated what, if anything, it is willing to do regarding the Ajalpan situation and the Code of Conduct and legal violations. And while Federated has responded to initial requests for intervention, its responses have been unsatisfactory. Federated will not "get involved" in "labor disputes" nor in factories where it does not currently produce a product, it does not "expect to do anything" about the Ajalpan situation in the future, and it has made it quite clear that its Code of Conduct does not include the right to freedom of association.

Tommy Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger appears to have removed its production from the factory, reportedly for "business reasons", and is refusing to respond to petitions to enforce its Code of Conduct.
Therefore we call on all of our local and international allies to focus pressure on these three brands until they force Tarrant and the state and federal governments to uphold the brands' Codes of Conduct and respect Mexican and international law.

We would at this stage like to ask you to focus pressure on Tarrant Apparel Group's (TAG) major international clients - to force the factory to obey the law and the brands' Codes of Conduct - while copying this communication to the company and the federal and state governments. That way we can hopefully come closer to achieving the overall goal of signing a collective bargaining agreement between the workers' union of choice and the factory.

1. Please contact The Wet Seal, Federated Department Stores and Tommy Hilfiger directly and send copies of your communication to the secondary targets given below. Insist that they:
   Contact TAG, the Mexican federal government and the Puebla state government to ensure that:

   a. The Ajalpan workers' rights to freedom of association are upheld, thus accepting SUITTAR's appeal, overturning the registro decision and legally recognizing the independent union. The JLCA violated LFT (Mexican Federal Law) Articles 685 and 686 stipulating its responsibility to revise all submitted documents and notify the petitioners what is lacking before considering the registro petition.

   b. The company shows up to the reinstallation hearings on October 15th and 23rd and that the illegally-fired workers are reinstated, according to LFT Chapter IV.

   c. The company signs a collective bargaining agreement with SUITTAR according to LFT Articles 386 and 439.

• Work together with Levi's, Limited Brands, Charming Shoppes and other TAG clients to urge TAG and the Puebla state government to comply with the brands' Codes of Conduct and Mexican law.
• Publicly cite the Worker Rights Consortium report as evidence of the illegal violations.
• Communicate directly with the workers and the CAT, for instance via catpuebla@yahoo.com.mx.

Send these companies our sample letter directly!

THE WET SEAL, INC - Send now!
Peter Whitford, CEO
Office: 26972 Burbank, Foothill Ranch, CA, USA 92610
Phone: (800) 735-7325
Fax: (949) 699-4046
E-mail: peter.whitford@wetseal.com

FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES, INC - Send Now!
James Zimmerman, Chairman of the Board
Office: 7 West Seventh Street, Cincinnati, OH, USA 45202
Phone: (513) 579-7000
Fax: (212) 494-1838
E-mail: jzimmerman@fds.com

TOMMY HILFIGER CORPORATION - Send Now!
Dave Dyer, Company President and CEO
Joel Horowitz, Chairman of the Board
Tommy Hilfiger, Honorary Chairman of the Board and Principal Designer
Office: 9/F Novel Industrial Building, 850-870 Lai Chi Kok Rd., Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Phone: 852-2216-0668 (Hong Kong), 852-274-7798 (Hong Kong), (212) 840-8888 (New York)
Fax: 852-2312-1368 (Hong Kong), 852-2371-2928 (Hong Kong), (212) 548-1965 (New York)
E-mail: ddyer@tommy-usa.com, jhorowitz@tommy-usa.com, thilfiger@tommy-usa.com
Code of Conduct Department: cbirchfield@tommyhilfiger.com

SAMPLE LETTER

Please adapt and send the following letter:

Dear [insert name of company representative],
I have recently received updated information regarding the illegal dismissals of hundreds of workers from the Tarrant México - Ajalpan factory in Puebla, as well as reports that workers at this facility are being prevented from exercising their legal right to free association. Specifically, the independent union SUITTAR was on October 6th unjustly denied legal recognition.

The company's and labour board's actions against the workers, and the leadership of the union, violate Mexican labour laws (the right to organize), as well as fundamental workers' rights and constitute a human rights violation. Workers at Tarrant are entitled to be represented by the union of their choosing, without intimidation or discrimination.

I therefore fully support the workers in this matter. I urge you to take responsibility and:

• Immediately contact Tarrant management, the Mexican federal government and the Puebla state government to ensure that:

a. The Ajalpan workers' rights to freedom of association are upheld, thus accepting SUITTAR's appeal, overturning the registro decision and legally recognizing the independent union. The JLCA violated LFT (Mexican Federal Law) Articles 685 and 686 stipulating its responsibility to revise all submitted documents and notify the petitioners what is lacking before considering the registro petition.

b. The company shows up to the reinstallation hearings on October 15th and 23rd and that the illegally-fired workers are reinstalled, according to LFT Chapter IV.

c. The company signs a collective bargaining agreement with SUITTAR according to LFT Articles 386 and 439.

• Work together with Levi's, Limited Brands, Charming Shoppes and other TAG clients to urge TAG and the Puebla state government to comply with the brands' Codes of Conduct and Mexican and international law.
• Publicly cite the Worker Rights Consortium report as evidence of the illegal violations, see www.workersrights.org.
• Communicate directly with the workers and the CAT, for instance via catpuebla@yahoo.com.mx.

For your information, I am also contacting the factory's management, the governor and JLCA of Puebla to share my concerns with them.

Thank you for your consideration. I appreciate your prompt attention and action, and hope that you will take the necessary steps to bring about a resolution to this matter that is to the satisfaction of the workers and in compliance with the law.

Sincerely,

[insert name/organization here]

2. Please copy the following secondary targets in the Cc: