22776: Blanchet: Fw: Press release: Protest at London Levi's store over sacking of 350 workers (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>
From: <Tttnhm@aol.com>


> HAITI SUPPORT GROUP - Press Release, Friday, 23rd July 2004
>
> PROTEST AT LONDON LEVI'S STORE OVER SACKING OF 350 WORKERS IN HAITI
>
> Trade unionists and campaigners will be mounting a protest at Levi's
central
> London flagship store at 174 Regent Street this Thursday 29 July at 12.30
> (lunchtime) over the sacking of 350 workers assembling Levi's jeans at a
factory
> in Haiti.
>
> Levi's recently closed down their last factory in North America and
> transferred production overseas. In the free trade zone in Haiti, Levi's
production is
> sub-contracted to a company called Grupo M.
>
> At the beginning of June workers making Levi's in northern Haiti were
> threatened by factory supervisors and beaten up by soldiers. Following a
one day
> protest strike, half the workforce - more than 350 workers including all
but one
> of the union leaders - were fired.
>
> Charles Arthur from the Haiti Support Group said:
>
> "Workers have the right to form unions. In their own code of conduct Levi
> Strauss and Co calls on all its suppliers to recognise this right, but in
this
> case they are turning a blind eye to union-busting in Haiti. We cannot
allow
> this to happen, and we are calling on the company to intervene immediately
to
> ensure that the workers are reinstated."
>
> Geoff Martin from Battersea and Wandsworth TUC, which is helping to
finance
> union organising in Haiti, added:
>
> "Levi's is a rock and roll brand. They pitch themselves at young people
and
> we know from recent campaigns by Oxfam and War on Want that young people
> support the principles of fair trade. Who wants to wear jeans made by
workers denied
> the basic human right to form a union?"
>
> "All we're asking for is for Levi's to play fair, enforce their own code
of
> conduct and get the sacked workers in Haiti back to work. We are happy to
meet
> with the company here in the UK at any time to resolve this dispute."
>
>
>             ENDS
> Further information:
>
> Geoff Martin  - 07831 465 103
> Leah Gordon - 07958 566 791
> (both numbers in the UK)
>
> ______________________________________________
>
>
> This email is forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group.
>
> See the Haiti Support Group web site:
> www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org
>
> Solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for justice, participatory
> democracy and equitable development, since 1992.
> ____________________________________________
>