Subsidizing Sweatshops II TOXIC UNIFORMS Behind the ‘Made in USA’ Label SweatFree Communities | 1 Published December 2009 Acknowledgements Research, Translation, Writing Liana Foxvog Editing & Writing Bjorn Claeson Review Doug Foxvog, Martín Hernández-Cancio, Stephanie Luce, and Stephen Wishart Design Alexandra Harris SweatFree Communities coordinates a national network of grassroots campaigns that promote humane working conditions in apparel and other labor-intensive global industries by working with public and religious institutions to adopt sweatshop-free purchasing policies. SweatFree Communities 30 Blackstone Street Bangor, ME 04401, USA Tel: 207-262-7277 | Fax: 207-433-1600 Email: info@sweatfree.org | Web: www.sweatfree.org Printed with union labor at Collective Copies, a worker-owned cooperative copy center 2 | SweatFree Communities Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................5 Findings ................................................................................................................5 Recommendations ...................................................................................................6 Open Letter from Soldiers to Propper ..........................................................7 Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................8 Labor Rights Violations .............................................................................................8 Made-in-USA Regulations .........................................................................................8 Legislating Ethical Procurement ...................................................................................9 Methodology ..........................................................................................................9 Chapter 2: Eagle Industries ........................................................................ 11 Company Background ........................................................................................... 11 Poverty Wages and Public Assistance .......................................................................... 13 Schedule and Pace of Work ...................................................................................... 14 Fainting on the Job ............................................................................................... 15 Missing Safety Precautions ...................................................................................... 16 No Paid Sick Leave, Unaffordable Health Insurance ....................................................... 17 Forms of Control: Favoritism, Discrimination, Harassment .............................................. 18 Moving the Workers, Moving the Work ...................................................................... 18 Intimidation, Harassment and Discrimination Against Union Supporters ............................. 20 SweatFree Communities | 3 Table of Contents Continued... Chapter 3: Propper International .............................................................. 22 Company Background, Incentives to Produce in Puerto Rico ............................................ 22 Pressure on the Job ................................................................................................ 23 Heat Exhaustion, Asthma, and Toxic Exposure .............................................................. 23 Working Ill and Injured .......................................................................................... 24 Stolen Vacation Days ............................................................................................. 25 Subcontracting, Lay-Offs and Threat of Factory Closure .................................................. 25 Looking to the Future ........................................................................................... 27 Chapter 4: Policy Recommendation: Sweatshop-Free Procurement....28 Workers Demand Change ...................................................................................... 28 Legislative History ............................................................................................... 28 Workers Seek Support from Congress ........................................................................ 31 Conclusion: Sweatshop-Free Government Procurement .................................................. 33 References .................................................................................................... 34 Endnotes ....................................................................................................... 36 4 | SweatFree Communities Executive Summary The federal government spends approximately $4 billion annually on apparel and textile products. Despite the trend of outsourcing needle trades jobs, a large majority of the apparel procured by the federal govern- ment is still manufactured in the United States. An estimated 40,000-50,000 U.S. workers produce apparel for federal agencies mainly thanks to the Berry Amendment (10 U.S.C. 2533b) of 1941, which requires apparel and textiles purchased by the Department of Defense to be produced in the U.S. or its territories. In February 2009, the Kissell Amendment, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, extended the Berry Amendment to the apparel for the Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration. How- ever, it is not clear that the jobs created by the Berry and Kissell Amendments are always good jobs. Repeated U.S. Department of Labor surveys of cutting and sewing shops in the major U.S. apparel centers between 1995 and 2001 indicate that sweatshop conditions are “normal” at the heart of the U.S. apparel industry, prompting questions about the labor compliance of federal government apparel contractors. Economic justice and economic recovery require that workers who sew uniforms and textile products for government employees receive decent wages for work in good conditions. Findings Toxic Uniforms: Behind the ‘Made in USA’ Label presents findings from a 2009 SweatFree Communities investigation of working conditions in one cut-and-sew factory in southeastern Massachusetts and eight factories in western Puerto Rico that manufacture soldiers’ uniforms and sewn gear for two major suppliers of the U.S. military: Propper International and Eagle Industries. The research is based upon primary sources: worker interviews, union leaflets, company fliers, and letters from politicians. Workers at all factories report- ed poor conditions, including: • Poverty Level Wages: For a single parent supporting a child, the pay-rate at each factory equaled roughly half of a living wage. For a family of four with two adults working at the factory, earnings were 60-65% of a living wage. • Pressure on the Job: Propper employees sewed at a relentless pace in order to earn a bonus for meet- ing quota, causing long-term stress injuries. At Eagle, workers did not receive extra pay for reaching the production target, but they faced time-keeping and surveillance to hurry them along. • Poor Benefits: Eagle provided a family health insurance plan that cost 80% of monthly earnings, a pro- hibitive expense for almost all workers. Propper’s medical plan was less costly, but did not include pre- scription drug coverage. Neither company paid for sick days. Because workers lived in poverty they often opted to work sick rather than to lose pay. Each company provided nine paid vacation days. Propper op- erated in violation of Puerto Rico Law 180, which mandated 12 paid sick days and 15 paid vacation days to workers who work at least 115 hours per month. Neither company provided a path to retirement. • Health and Safety Problems: The health and safety concerns reported at both companies include heat exhaustion and fainting, repetitive stress injuries, puncture wounds, cuts from sharp material, and expo- sure to toxic chemicals. • Discrimination: Workers at both companies reported intimidation, surveillance, and lay-offs of union supporters. In addition, Eagle workers spoke of nepotism and favoritism; sexual harassment; and ethnic and racial discrimination. For the workers, the uniforms they make are literally and figuratively toxic. SweatFree Communities | 5 Recommendations Procurement from Domestic Sources Among several long-standing pieces of legislation designed to eliminate sweatshop conditions for workers providing goods and services to the federal government, the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act of 1936 applies to manufacturing operations in the U.S., including the Eagle workers in Massachusetts and the Propper workers in Puerto Rico. It requires contractor compliance with prevailing wages, health and safety standards, the 40-hour work week, and minimum age limits. However, Toxic Uniforms: Behind the ‘Made in USA’ Label indicates that more needs to be done to ensure that apparel companies that profit from substandard working conditions cannot underbid responsible con- Maritza Vazquez, on radio in tractors for federal contracts. While the federal government should Chicago, reaches out to Spanish- procure goods and services, whenever possible, from U.S.-based speaking audiences to share her manufacturers and service providers consistent with guidance in experience as a Propper worker, U.S. law, it must also ensure labor standards compliance and decent March 22, 2009. Photo: Liana wages for all workers who sew uniforms and other apparel for mili- Foxvog. tary personnel and other government employees. Procurement from International Sources Investigations by monitoring organizations and research and advocacy groups indicate widespread and serious labor violations in factories overseas that produce uniforms and other apparel for the government procurement market. Though a minority of federally procured apparel is made outside the U.S., the federal government should ensure that taxpayers’ money is never used to support sweatshop labor. Yet, virtually no federal procurement standards support the rights of workers overseas that make products for the federal government. The federal government should join with the dozens of U.S. cities, counties, and states that have developed such standards, substantially increasing the market for decent working conditions over- seas. Federal procurement should require contractor and subcontractor compliance with international core labor standards and living wages ensured through an effective independent monitoring program. Compliance can be more easily ensured through the Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium, a new collaborative effort of government agencies and labor rights advocates to pool resources, share information, and coordinate enforcement towards ending public purchasing from sweatshops. Federal sweatfree procurement from international sources would buttress the Berry and Kissell Amendments in their aim to protect American workers. Poor working conditions overseas not only strip workers in other countries of their rights, but also contribute to unfair competition in the global labor market. The ensuing “race to the bottom” is one of the main forces behind the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs. Together federal, state, and local governments can create a substantial market for decent working condi- tions that will help level the playing field for labor-rights compliant manufacturers and benefit workers in the United States. 6 | SweatFree Communities SweatFree Communities | 7 Chapter 1: Introduction Made-in-USA Regulations Sewing is a labor-intensive industry – each button, each zipper, and each seam needs the guidance of The federal government is a significant consumer of a worker at a sewing machine. As such, it was one clothing and textile goods. In 2008, procurement of the first industries that faced offshoring as com- in this category equaled $4.36 billion. 6 The major- panies moved manufacturing abroad to countries ity of this amount, $4.04 billion, was procured by with cheaper labor. Despite this ongoing trend, over the Department of Defense. The Berry and Kissell 200,000 sewing industry jobs remain in the United Amendments, among other rules, govern procure- States.1 Some of these jobs endure because they ment of clothing and textiles. Congress passed the require proximity to the consumer base. Segments Berry Amendment (10 U.S.C. 2533a) in 1941, with of the fashion market change so frequently that the intention of protecting the domestic industrial certain designers prefer to keep their factories closer base for textile products during World War I, and to home where they are better able to meet shorter to ensure U.S. troops wore uniforms and consumed deadlines and produce custom-made designs. Other food products wholly produced in the U.S. 7 On garment industry jobs remain in the U.S. as a result February 17, 2009, as part of the American Recov- of government regulation: The Berry and Kissell ery and Reinvestment Act, Congress extended the Amendments require apparel and textile products Berry Amendment to the Coast Guard and Trans- procured by certain federal government agencies to portation Security Administration, both agencies be made in the U.S. or its territories.2 of the Department of Homeland Security, add- ing $40.4 million in products to the $4.04 billion Labor Rights Violations already required to be made in the U.S. (Table 1). This amendment was sponsored by Representative Labor rights violations in U.S. cut-and-sew factories Larry Kissell of North Carolina who lamented the are widely documented.3 In 2000 more than half loss of 10,000 textile jobs in his state during 2008. of the 22,000 sewing factories in the U.S. violated The American Manufacturing Trade Action Coali- minimum wage and overtime laws and seventy- tion believes that the Amendment may lead to the five percent violated health and safety laws.4 Over creation of 21,000 new domestic jobs.8 fifty percent of the factories could be considered “sweatshops,” according to the General Account- Table 1: Apparel & Textile Procurement by Agencies Now 9 ability Office (GAO)’s definition of a “sweatshop” as Required to be Berry Compliant; Expenditures in 2008 a “multiple labor law violator.”5 Studies found that Apparel and Textile sixty-seven percent of Los Angeles garment facto- Agency Procurement ries and sixty-three percent of New York garment Department of factories violated minimum wage and overtime laws. Defense $4,039,646,680 The most prevalent violations concerned workplace Transportation health and safety standards: ninety-eight percent Security $23,102,723 of Los Angeles’ garment factories fell short of legal Administration standards by operating under conditions such as Coast Guard $17,280,489 blocked fire exits, unsanitary bathrooms, and poor Total $4,080,029,892 ventilation. 8 | SweatFree Communities Methodology Chapters 2 and 3 present findings from an investi- gation into labor conditions at cut-and-sew factories in Massachusetts and Puerto Rico that manufacture soldiers’ uniforms and gear for two major suppli- ers of the U.S. military, Propper International and Eagle Industries. These chapters are based upon primary sources: worker interviews, union leaflets, company fliers, and letters from politicians. SweatFree Communities conducted in-depth in- terviews with eight Eagle workers and two Propper workers, January to April of 2009. The Eagle work- ers were active members of a worker committee at the company. The Propper workers are both com- plainants in a lawsuit against the company. We also spoke with the union staff at UNITE HERE (who later transitioned to Workers United) who acted as State Representative Tony Cabral speaks to lead organizers at Eagle and Propper. In addition, a group of Eagle workers, demonstrating his the paper incorporates material from worker inter- support for good jobs. Photo: Liana Foxvog. views conducted by the union, including quotes from a short film entitled “Dishonorable Conduct” produced by UNITE HERE. Most of the interviews were conducted in Spanish and then translated into English by the interviewers. Many of the documents Legislating Ethical Procurement and press articles were in Spanish and translated Requiring products to be made in the U.S. protects into English by SweatFree Communities. All inter- domestic jobs. It also promotes jobs in U.S. terri- viewees agreed to be quoted publicly with their full tories, which have cheaper labor costs compared to names. many other parts of the country. But Made-in-USA requirements provide little assurance against poor The recommendations for procurement reform in conditions and low wages. As Chapters 2 and 3 Chapter 4 are based on SweatFree Communities’ demonstrate, poor labor conditions are an ongoing extensive experience advocating for labor standards problem in the U.S. and its territories. Stronger pro- in state and local government procurement, best curement labor standards and enforcement can help practice analysis, and ongoing consultations with ensure respect for workers’ rights. Chapter 4 will a broad range of advocates, experts, government explore options for sweatshop-free government pro- procurement officials, and vendors.12 These reforms curement from both domestic and foreign sources can help to significantly improve the lives of work- based, in part, on the experiences of state and local ers who make apparel and textile products for the governments that have worked to improve working federal government. conditions in their supply chains for many years. SweatFree Communities | 9 What portion of military apparel and textiles is not made in the United States? Early in 2009 SweatFree Communities spoke Made-in-USA requirements provide little assurance against to workers at a Mexican factory claiming to sweatshop conditions. produce various apparel and textile products for the U.S. military. One worker told us: “In 2004 I began working as a seamstress mak- ing products for military use. In the Body Armor department they make all kinds of bulletproof vests, different kinds of pistol holsters, differ- ent accessory belts, handcuff holsters, tear gas holsters, walkie-talkie holsters, belts, backpacks, suitcases, lantern covers, and even spit nets for inmates when they transport them. We heard that some of the materials were sent to the war in the Persian Gulf as part of the combat wear for American soldiers.” This anecdote and others like it do not neces- sarily provide evidence of Berry Amendment violations. The government is allowed to waive the source restriction in certain circumstances, including acquisitions in support of combat operations, emergency acquisitions, when do- mestic products are not available in sufficient quantities or quality, and when the cost of the domestic product would be “unreasonable.” There is also a special exception for chemi- cal warfare protective clothing which may be purchased from certain other qualifying countries.10 In addition to these exceptions, Rafael Irizarry, joined by Liana Foxvog as there appear to be loopholes to the Berry translator, speaks to a packed-house audi- Amendment that allow the acquisition of non- ence in Olympia, Washington, while on domestic textile and apparel products, such as speaking tour with SweatFree Communities, recruiting giveaways, that are part of advertis- March 30, 2009. ing and marketing service contracts where the Berry Amendment does not apply.11 A further problem with implementing the Berry Amend- ment could arise in situations when military gear is exempt from labeling, and verification of country of origin is difficult. Further research is needed to determine the extent and signifi- cance of the exceptions, loopholes, and pos- sible violations of the Berry Amendment. 10 | SweatFree Communities Chapter 2: Eagle Industries Company Background Eagle Industries formed as a family business in 1974 and has focused its production on nylon tactical gear for military and law enforcement agencies since 1982. On March 31, 2009, publicly-traded Alli- ant Techsystems (ATK), an aerospace and defense company, acquired Eagle as a wholly-owned sub- sidiary, maintaining the Eagle brand name. Eagle remains headquartered in Fenton, Missouri, and runs five manufacturing facilities which are located in Fenton, Missouri; New Bedford, Massachusetts; Lares, Puerto Rico; Mayagüez, Puerto Rico; and the Dominican Republic.13 In FY2008, the company received $17,571,315 in federal government con- tracts, a $10.5 million increase from 2007.14 Eagle purchased the Michael Bianco factory in New Bedford, Massachusetts, from owner Francesco Insolia on November 29, 2007, inheriting $37 Eagle Industries factory gates. million in Army contracts for Modular Lightweight Photo: Liana Foxvog. Load-carrying Equipment such as backpacks and work areas, insufficient provision of toilet paper, bullet-proof vests.15 The acquisition followed eight and fines for a variety of behaviors – talking while months on the heels of the highly publicized work- working, tardiness, and more than two minutes in place raid at Michael Bianco by Immigration and the restroom.17 In the raid, ICE agents detained 361 Customs Enforcement (ICE). The raid brought primarily Mayan-Guatemalan workers at the plant. attention to what U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan In the ensuing months, many of these workers labeled “sweatshop” conditions. Sullivan stated, “It’s were deported, tearing apart families and separat- the typical sweatshop you read about - in the early ing mothers from children. In January 2009, Insolia 1900s. These were the deplorable conditions that was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison these [Bianco] workers essentially had to endure for violating immigration and wage and hour laws under.”16 Sullivan brought a federal indictment and fined $30,000; the corporation was fined $1.51 against the company and its management and in million and ordered to pay $460,000 in restitution July 2007, four months following the raid, OSHA to former employees. cited Michael Bianco for fifteen serious violations of health and safety standards, including chemi- Two years later the factory was run by many of the cal, electrical and mechanical hazards that exposed same management and supervisory personnel as workers to lacerations, amputation, burns, elec- before the raid, and enjoyed continuing Army trocution, and eye and face injuries. Other condi- contracts. After Eagle Industries took over the tions documented by OSHA and media exposés factory, the workers – many of them newly hired included locked fire exits, inadequate cooling of six months prior, immediately following the raid – SweatFree Communities | 11 Epilogue: Eagle Industries Plant in New Bedford SweatFree Communities conducted interviews with Eagle workers from January to April of 2009. In addition, the report uses material from interviews conducted by UNITE HERE during 2008. While the focus of the report is on working conditions during Eagle’s operation, it bears mentioning what happened at Eagle since the interviews took place. On May 29, 2009, Eagle Industries’ parent company Alliant Techsystems (ATK) announced plans to close the New Bedford plant and eliminate 350 jobs. In response, the workers organized mass meetings and rallies and engaged politicians for support in keeping the factory open. The New Bedford City Council unanimously passed a resolution in support of keeping the jobs in the city. Several council members as well as State Representative Tony Cabral spoke to the workers at emergency meetings organized by Work- ers United, which had continued organizing the workers for unionization following the union’s split from UNITE HERE. Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, and Congressman Barney Frank wrote a joint letter18 to the U.S. Army asking it to deny ATK/Eagle permission to move the Modular Lightweight Load Carrying Equipment (MOLLE) contract from New Bedford. The letter also asked the Army to not renew the contract with ATK unless the work will be performed in New Bedford. Unfortunately for Eagle workers, the Army responded that it no longer desired any product under the contract. ATK closed the factory at the end of July, 2009. The factory closed but the worker committee that had led the campaign – first for better working condi- tions and subsequently to keep the factory open – did not give up. Less than a month after the closure, they succeeded in persuading another apparel company to start production in New Bedford and provide jobs to the laid-off Eagle workers. Not only that, but the new company already operated a unionized fac- tory in New Jersey and believed in respecting workers’ rights to decent conditions and benefits. The new factory, New Bedford Tactical Gear, opened on August 17, 2009, having secured a military subcontract to manufacture reusable ammunition bags for the U.S. Army’s M249 rifle. New Bedford Tactical Gear employs fifteen of the laid-off Eagle workers in the initial stages of operation. As this report goes to press, a collec- tive bargaining contract is about to be signed. The closure of Eagle Industries was deeply painful for the workers, many of whom remain without work, facing the difficulty of landing a job in an economy of high unemployment. At the same time, the opening of New Bedford Tactical Gear is promising. Should the company receive more contracts, it is ripe for expan- sion particularly given the plethora of unemployed skilled sewing machine operators in New Bedford and its location on a factory floor that can hold hundreds of workers. 12 | SweatFree Communities continued to report poor working conditions: wages tions at Eagle are much worse then what they were hardly above the state minimum, an unaffordable in Michael Bianco and other sewing factories. I have company health insurance family plan costing 80% never had to work at a place this bad before.”20 of wages, and fainting at the workplace due to suf- Workers from the Eagle factory approached UNITE focating heat and inadequate ventilation. Guillermo HERE for support soon after the raid, and again Portalatin, who started working at the plant shortly after Eagle bought the company.21 The union following the raid and five months before Eagle’s launched its organizing campaign in the spring of acquisition, recalled: “Things were better before. 2008. According to Portalatin, conditions dete- Before I was always busy, there was always work. riorated once the union campaign started: “They But when Eagle bought the factory, things changed. have changed my job three or four times… When I There was more pressure… They said that there started wearing the union button that is when they would be more benefits and medical, but none of started putting limits on what I did. They moved this has happened. Health insurance has risen in 19 me from one workstation to another.” Regarding costs, from $70 to $80 [per week].” Connie the acquisition by Alliant Techsystems, Guillermo Cardosa began working at Eagle in September of Cosajay, also a manufacturing worker, said in an 2006, then under Michael Bianco: “I have many interview on April 15, 2009 that the employees had years experience working in the sewing industry do- not yet experienced any changes at the facility and ing stitching and cabling, so I know that the condi- still deal with the same managers and supervisors.22 Poverty Wages and Public Assistance Most of the workers have families and children to support but wages tend to fall short of a living wage in New Bedford even for a single adult, which is $9.34 per hour.23 Interviewees were also upset by what they perceived as inconsistency and favoritism with regard to starting pay rates and raises. Santa Sanchez said: “There are different wages for differ- ent people that are all doing the same thing, $8.25, $8.50, $9.00. This isn’t fair. They should pay every- one the same, at least $9.50. There are people who have been working a year and a half or two years, and they are still earning the same as people who just began, it’s not fair.” Portalatin is one of those people: “Since I began working there has been too much pressure. I have been working one year nine months. In April I will be there two years, and a kid that has only been here four months is earning the same as me, how is this possible?” According to Lesbi Cerrato: “I get paid $8.75. When others are Guillermo Cosajay, Eagle worker, speaks to a new but are friends with management, they get $9 group of concerned coworkers on June 20, or $10 per hour.” Elisa Rios echoed the concern that 2009. Photo: Bonnie Stinson. wages are inconsistent with seniority: “There are SweatFree Communities | 13 people that have been working there nine months, have trouble making ends meet because their joint and they are making $9.25, and they don’t produce. earnings total only $18 per hour, less than sixty- In March I will have been here two years, and I only five percent of what they need. Cerrato shared the make $8.75. I am someone who produces, because breakdown of her expenses: “With the $250 I make if they ask me to produce 500 pieces in one day, for a week – and this is with overtime from working the grenades, I do it for them.” on Saturdays – it is not enough [even] to pay for the health insurance subsidized by the state. Every week I have to choose which of the bills I will be able to pay. [Monthly] I pay $600 for rent, $200 for gas, $100 for car insurance, and then there is the telephone and other bills…but I only make $250 a week… and we haven’t even talked about food.”25 When expenses exceed income, workers seek assis- tance; in addition to state-funded health insurance, many workers like Elisa Rios, who together with her husband supports three children and her mother, qualified for food stamps.26 Schedule and Pace of Work June 6, 2009 rally: “The contract belongs in The usual workday ran from 7:30am to 4:00pm, New Bedford -- leave the doors open. We are and in addition some employees worked overtime. fighting for our jobs.” “I went by the factory the other day to get a pizza, Photo: Liana Foxvog. and they were still working and open at 9:00pm, Connie Cardosa’s explanation for the variance in with the lights on,” said Portalatin. Since wages are rates was that management provided higher wages so low, Portalatin wanted the opportunity to work to workers who agreed to not support the union: overtime to earn additional income: “I have a feeling that they are bribing, giving wages In the beginning they sent me home at 5:00 to certain people in there so they don’t support the pm; they gave me an hour of overtime. The union; that is the feeling. I know I don’t know for other day when I arrived in the morning, I sure. I have a feeling from watching certain people saw there were scraps on my worktable, and in there, that they already had a raise for not sup- so they are sending me home and keeping porting the union.” other people to do my overtime. How can Since many Eagle workers are responsible for de- this be that they don’t have overtime for me, pendents either as single parents or married with but that they are keeping other people to multiple children, wages fell far short of what they work in my place when they have less experi- needed to cover necessary expenses. In the city of ence? That is why we need the union. They New Bedford, the living wage for a single parent used to keep me until 7:00pm, but now they supporting one child is $17.30 per hour, roughly have put another in my place for overtime, double the rate paid by Eagle.24 For a family of two someone with less experience than myself. adults and two children the living wage is $28.38. Cardosa expressed her frustration about how the When both parents work at Eagle, the family will company selected workers for overtime: 14 | SweatFree Communities It is forty hours, and we work overtime un- sitting for too long because it hurts. But now there til five o’clock. But a couple of months ago, is the supervisor who is always saying ‘hurry up, there was a section, the section where I was hurry up’.” “We have two different lunches, so that working, that used to work until 8 or 9 or people can eat in the cafeteria. But it is tiny, so the 10 o’clock… And they used to choose the other half of the people has to go outside, because people they wanted to stay overtime, in- it is so small. There are not enough microwaves to stead of asking everybody. And there is one heat up your food. You don’t get to eat until all the time that my supervisor, she asked most of others have heated up their food. People fight for the girls, and she passed by me, and I asked the microwaves, time is short, and with the first ring her, “Why did you ask certain ones to stay of the bell, we need to be seated at our work station, overtime and you didn’t ask me?” … If they and with the second, we need to be sewing,” said really want the work to go out, why choose Cerrato. people from one section to stay overtime to Cosajay and Cardosa spoke about the lack of sick do somebody else’s work? Like I go home and days and inability to elect when to take vacations. somebody else stays overtime to do my work. “They don’t give you leave. It is true that you can Although many workers may want overtime for the leave, but they don’t pay you. That is why people additional pay, there can be a physical cost to work- come to work even if they are sick. Which for me ing such long hours. Victoria Tirado described her shouldn’t be allowed because that person is going to experience: “Many times we end up with pain in the infect other people,” shared Cosajay. “No sick days, arms, in the hands, and swollen eyes because sewing just one week vacation that is it, and four holidays,” is tedious.”27 A fairer policy would allow workers to complained Cardosa. This is another area in which opt in or out of overtime as they choose. favoritism is evident. Cardosa continued: “It de- pends on if they like me, if I go to the office … and The work pace was relentless. Rios’ task required I ask for more time off. If they like me they will give her to make twenty-five operations every fifteen it to me. But there is a lot of them that take days minutes and her body suffered: “At the end of the off, two or three or four weeks, so maybe they like day, I have a lot of pain in my hands and arms from them. That never happened to me yet.” Portalatin the same repetitive motions that I do all day over would have liked to have the opportunity to choose and over. I get the material after it has gone through when to hold his vacation: “They give us a week the burning process and the material has pieces that of vacation in July because they shut the factory are hard and sharp which scrape my arms leaving and nobody can work. If I wanted my vacation in cuts and scratches. I have scratches all over my arms February… they would tell me that I would have to from it.”28 Portalatin discussed the time-tracking wait until July… You can’t miss a day for vacation that production workers must undergo: “They are until July.” always watching you, how many times you go to the bathroom, measuring everyone’s time, making Fainting on the Job us nervous… The supervisors sometimes watch you Workers at Eagle New Bedford had plenty of stories for one or even two hours timing the workers. They to tell about the lack of adequate ventilation, heat- said they were going to give us a bonus for produc- ing, and cooling at the factory. In the winter, it was tion, but we have never seen a bonus.” Unable to so cold in some sections of the plant that many take breaks as needed, Portalatin worked in pain: employees worked with their coats on.29 During “Since I work with this metal tool, I can’t remain the heat of the summer, without air conditioning SweatFree Communities | 15 and with windows closed and inadequate fans, the the summer continued and the heat persisted, the temperature in some sections of the plant rose to company increased its preparedness – by procuring dangerous levels. Tirado shared: “The temperature a wheelchair. “In the summer, we have the problem in the warehouse went over 100 degrees, which that air doesn’t circulate; there isn’t even one win- threatens our health. They care about the produc- dow open. Up to three people went to the hospital tion but don’t care about our health.”30 Poor ventila- every day. To take people to the hospital, they need- tion exacerbates the odor caused by the burning of ed three people, mechanics, even the boss because thread and cloth, said Rios: “The smell when they they couldn’t figure out how to get the people out. burn in the summers, this terrible smell, killer, you Now they have a wheelchair, and they go flying by have a headache, you feel the smell in your stomach, to take people out in the wheelchair,” said Cerrato. you feel dizzy, sometimes you don’t even feel you Missing Safety Precautions have the strength to keep working, because your vision is even blurry, and this sickness that you feel. Workers not only worried about needle punctures And they don’t open the window, simply because but they also deal with swerving forklifts, burn- they don’t want to, and in the middle of the sum- ing tools, and squirting oil – all without protective mer!” equipment or obvious concern from management. The small improvements made in response to work- The workers suggested a range of explanations for ers’ complaints were outweighed by the problems the problems with fans: there are not enough; they that persisted. are installed poorly; and they are intentionally turned off. Cosajay said: “The fans they put in, they The organization – or disorganization – of the fac- don’t work. There are a lot of older people, that with tory floor created safety hazards for sewing machine the wind from the fans they get sick easily. So that operators as other workers drove forklifts around is why they don’t want the fans connected, and that them through poorly delineated aisles. “They are is why I think they didn’t do it right. They put the supposed to have a line in the floor where the fork- fans too close to us, and the air that it creates blows lifts can pass, but this factory doesn’t have them,” too hard, and so people don’t want them to turn the Rios explained. Cardosa added, “Because there are fans on, so it is too hot during the summer.” Cer- chairs and tables on the aisles, and if the forklift rato had a different perspective: “They don’t want goes by and they don’t get out of the way, it will just us to turn on the fans. They put in some fans, but go through them. It is dangerous, they are not sup- they don’t want us to turn them on, because they posed to work that way,” said Cardosa. Portalatin use too much energy. [They say] that it affects the spoke about his close misses: “The forklifts pass by other machines, that there are machines that can be my workstation very nearby, at only a few inches, damaged.” they drive right by me.” The danger is real, said Rios: “When they turn, it is really dangerous. They Regardless of the reason for inadequate ventilation, have hit people – Santa and Guillermo were hit by summers brought an epidemic of heat exhaus- forklifts. [Santa] had to go to the doctor… This is tion. During the summer of 2008, Tirado said: “So the most dangerous thing that I have seen.” San- far since the beginning of this summer almost 10 chez described an incident with the forklift: “One people have fainted in my section of the plant.”31 of the workers who was driving the forklift, he ran It is not only a matter of heat says Cerrato: “People into me so hard. He ran into the table, and it hit vomit, get headaches, high blood pressure, oth- my stomach. I was in bad shape… The next day I ers have low pressure, because there isn’t air.” As had to go to work with pain in my stomach because 16 | SweatFree Communities they wouldn’t let me go and have some exams done be an improvement on past practices. According to that [a doctor] had recommended, because I would Cerrato: “In the past they made us burn the edges of miss work. Because if I missed work they wouldn’t the cloth with lighters… And we did this so much pay me, I had to go to work injured.” In response to that we burnt our fingers doing it.” worker complaints, management marked the floor Cosajay experienced an incident that could have with tape to designate forklift paths, but Cosajay caused blindness had he not been wearing ordinary said it was not sufficient: “Not until recently have I eye glasses. “I found that something was wrong with my eyes, that my vision was blurry. But I didn’t know why, and my eyes were red, and when I looked at my glasses, there was a lot of oil on my glasses. I said, what could be happening? … So when you are working, there is a part of the ma- chine that shoots oil into your eyes,” he explained. Roughly half of the sewing machine operators used thread with oil. Cosajay was one of them. Following the incident he approached three supervisors. One said she would fix the machine but nothing ever happened. Left to his own devices Cosajay created his own solution: he attached a piece of plastic to his sewing machine to block oil from shooting into Brian Gomes, New Bedford City Councilor, his eyes; soon other workers followed suit. speaks in support of the Eagle workers on Workers reported Eagle’s safety training as inade- June 9, 2009. Photo: Liana Foxvog. quate. Portalatin claimed that he did not receive any safety training, only instructional videos. He was noticed that they are putting tape on the floor, but even asked to lie about the training: “[The manager] you don’t see it because it is too thin, and the fork- collects signatures certifying that we have received lifts come over the line into the workstations, that is training, but they don’t actually give us training. She no good.” Management understood that the hazard never provided me with training. She just put me persisted because when inspectors or buyers visited where I am to do the work, and collected my signa- the plant, the forklifts were nowhere to be seen, and 32 ture.” While the purpose of the signature is unclear, workers carried boxes by hand, said Cosajay. the incident does raise the possibility that Eagle lied to government inspectors. Another safety issue concerns the machinery used to treat nylon. Portalatin worked with a hot metal tool No Paid Sick Leave, Unaffordable Health which he used to burn frayed ends of cloth: “The Insurance burning is hot,” he said. “The smoke always bothers my eyes… I cough and smoke enters my lungs. My Eagle’s family health insurance plan was prohibi- eyes also turn red, and I have to go to the bathroom tively expensive. A plan for an individual was $80 to rinse them with water, when I try to see distances per week but a family plan was $260. Many workers everything is blurry, watery.” Simple, prudent safety reported the plan as amounting to eighty percent measures management could take include providing of their earnings but for Cerrato it was even higher; goggles and masks. And yet Portalatin’s tool may she earned $250 per week. At such unaffordable rates, hardly any production workers opted to SweatFree Communities | 17 purchase the plan, getting by on MassHealth or being one minute late after break, while Portu- Commonwealth Care, the state’s publicly-subsidized guese workers are not reprimanded at all. Hispanic healthcare programs. workers are not allowed to take emergency calls while Portuguese employees can take calls [without Without paid sick days, employees often worked punching out] with no disciplinary actions. Por- when they were sick and defied doctors’ recommen- tuguese employees are allowed to take two breaks dations because they could not afford a day with- and Hispanic employees are not allowed the same out pay. “We don’t have even one sick day and so I privileges.” have gone to work coughing, with a fever and with Sanchez personally experienced three incidents chest pain. I feel like I have to work because there which she considered racially motivated: she was is no option…if I miss work I can’t get a note from assaulted by an employee of Portuguese ancestry the doctor because I don’t have money to pay for a and had to go the hospital as a result, and to her doctor’s visit,” shared Cerrato.33 The day following knowledge the assailant was not reprimanded; she an operation, Rios returned to work: “When they was sexually harassed by a female supervisor who saw that I was limping around after the surgery, they pulled down her pants; and she received five warn- didn’t say ‘Elisa go home’.” Before her surgery she ings for insignificant reasons for which warnings asked for leave: “I went to ask for it, and they said have not been given to Portuguese workers. Speak- they were sorry but the company didn’t pay sick ing about how management awards warnings and days and that I should recover quickly to come back suspensions inconsistently, Rios said: “There is and do my work.” favoritism, that if you do not have a pretty face, a spectacular body, silky hair, you stay where you are, you simply stay there with the machine, even if you “If I am sick and I go to work, I am going to infect the other have other talents to offer the company.” Friends or workers. But [since] I have to pay the rent, I have to go work family of management receive better treatment. As sick. Health insurance, it isn’t for the worker, because we noted earlier, favoritism also affects who is offered work for a low wage. I can’t pay for health insurance that overtime and who receives better salaries.35 Elisa costs $80 a week.” Rios summed up her experience: “Harassment, fear, -- Juana Eusebio, Eagle worker desperation, sadness, unhappiness, tears, this is what we experience daily in this factory.” Forms of Control: Favoritism, Discrimination, Moving the Workers, Moving the Work Harassment Several of the interviewed workers complained Eagle workers had a lot to say about discrimination about being moved from one section of the plant on the job. The supervisors and sixty percent of to another without warning. These moves left the the workforce are of Portuguese ancestry and thirty workers feeling unhappy and insecure in their jobs, percent are Hispanics.34 Santa Sanchez testified in a causing the overall work environment to suffer. “In written complaint to the Commonwealth of Mas- August, when I was watching a training video, [the sachusetts’ Commission Against Discrimination that manager] came in and took me out, and she put me Hispanics were treated differently than employees in the back of the factory and told me this was my of Portuguese descent: “Hispanics are harassed for new workspace, and that I would stay here forever,” allegedly having false papers; Portuguese are not said Portalatin, distressed that his new location was harassed. Hispanic workers were reprimanded for so far from the front that it took him ten minutes to 18 | SweatFree Communities reach the break area and return to his station, which people; but after [the company found out I support made it hardly worth taking a coffee break when the union] they moved me next to the wall next to only fifteen minutes were allotted. The same thing the covered-up windows, and on the other side there happened to Cosajay who complained about the are two unoccupied machines. I imagine that they stench of the toilets next to his new location.36 did this so that I can’t talk to anybody, because they 37 Portalatin, Cosajay, Cardosa, Boyer, Eusebio, and don’t want the union to come in.” Cerrato had all been moved from one section of the Not only were the workers moved from one section plant to another and believed the management’s of the plant to another but on August 17, 2008, motivation was to retaliate against union supporters. Eagle moved section 400 – the largest in the plant “They try to separate you, they try to change you with eighty jobs – to Puerto Rico. Portalatin said: from one section to another, because they try to sep- “I go to the pizza joint at night, near the factory, arate you from your friends,” Cardosa said. Marina and I see the lights on late at night, and they are Boyer was moved from a section where she spoke taking the machines out of the factory, taking our the same language as her neighboring coworkers to work.” Overnight Eagle packed up and shipped out a section where she did not. “Before we worked in a material and machinery from the line. “Now we group… We helped each other a lot. But today they are in a panic and we are worried about our jobs,”38 put us together with people we don’t know, includ- Some workers said they were given three days warn- ing with people that don’t understand each other… ing, others said they left the plant one night and and we can’t speak to each other because we don’t returned the next day to find their machines gone understand each other,” she said. Eusebio believed along with their unfinished work.39 Rios considered that management separated union supporters, most- the lack of warning intentional: “They like to mess ly Latinos, in order to weaken the union: “I think with the workers’ minds… They like to see them the change was due to the union. When they saw scared… They like it when they fire somebody to the union, they wanted to expel it. They separated see that person suffer. They do it to intimidate, so those of us who are Latinos. We feel separated from that the union doesn’t come in.” “And now I ask each other,” she said. Portalatin similarly considered myself: Why did they shut down this department the company’s reason for moving the workers to be and not a different one? I think the reason is be- union-related. He had posted a union flier by his cause it was a department where every worker was work station at front of the factory, which manage- a union supporter. I think it was to punish us and ment removed. “Now that the union is stronger, divide us. They divided us but we continue united they have put me in the back of the factory… Since and strong,” said Eusebio.40 I wear the union button, they keep an eye on me, and [the manager] tells me not to move from where Initially when section 400 closed, management I am. They keep their eye on me because they think told the eighty workers that they would be laid off. that I am talking about the union,” he said. Cer- But after UNITE HERE raised public pressure and rato was also isolated for supporting the union. “I try to defend my rights, but it is hard with all of the “Since the day our department was moved, we go to work harassment by the company,” she explained. “When every day wondering if when we get there the doors will be the company found out that I was with the union closed.” they moved me so that they could isolate me in the plant. Before I was public with my support for the -- Guillermo Cosajay, Eagle worker union, my machine was in the middle of lots of SweatFree Communities | 19 filed an unfair labor practice charge, the company ture to the office to file a complaint. They took the backtracked and reassigned the workers to differ- picture away and wouldn’t give it back to her. They ent positions in the plant.41 Eagle workers’ nega- must have destroyed it.”43 Cardosa testified to being tive experience with the closure of section 400 was personally targeted for her union support: “In June exacerbated by the lack of sympathy the company 2008 someone, I suspect the production-manager, showed by holding a Christmas party in the newly ripped the button I wear to show my support for emptied section of the factory.42 Cardosa worried the union off of my work apron. A few weeks before that the struggle over keeping jobs for employees my union button was ripped off, the work apron I who had worked in section 400 was just the be- wear was cut-up with scissors.” ginning. “I have a feeling that maybe [the owner] Before the start of the union campaign, workers doesn’t want the plant to stay in New Bedford… I were allowed to talk on the job, but this changed. think that when he bought the plant, it was already Now they could only have quick conversations in his plans to move it,” she said. necessary to the flow of work but nothing else. Intimidation, Harassment and Discrimination Managers monitored workers to ensure they follow Against Union Supporters this rule. According to Boyer: “In the past we talked about anything we felt like, but not now, because As the union campaign evolved, workers faced a you always have somebody watching you, to see if variety of repression of which union supporters you talked or didn’t. I don’t stop working when I bore the brunt. Standard practice at the company talk, I can work and talk, but that isn’t what they was that workers received warnings if they did not want… Everybody is watching everyone else, won- punch out from work to make phone calls. But Rios dering what is happening, and what will happen.” shared what happened to a union supporter when Even when Portalatin was at the water cooler at the she called home from the job: “Her kids were at same time as another worker, a manager came over home and she didn’t have a babysitter so she called to listen in – to ensure that he was not talking about home during work to check in with her oldest son the union, he believed. to make sure everything was fine. The company saw her making this phone call and she was laid off.” This no-talking rule made it difficult for union supporters to educate their fellow workers about the union. While managers could only enforce the “We just want to have our jobs and have a stress-free envi- rule inside the factory, their surveillance of workers ronment to work.” as they departed the building made workers un- -- Connie Cardosa, Eagle worker comfortable and kept them from talking with each other even outside the factory. Cardosa spoke to this dynamic: Workers testified that many of the concerns they The managers don’t want me to talk to peo- brought to management were left unaddressed – ple because they know I support the union. particularly those issues related to harassment of Managers even try to watch us when we aren’t pro-union workers. Rios told such a story: “I have working. Whenever I am talking to people a friend that was a supporter of the union and a from the union, or when the union people picture of her was in the paper holding a sign that are there, managers stand on the steps outside said ‘no harassment’. She found that picture at work the doors of the factory to watch us to see if with holes punctured in it. She brought the pic- we are talking to the union representatives. 20 | SweatFree Communities Then the managers stay out there un- til we are all gone to see who stops or to see if we talk to the union representative. Rios noted that new work- ers were afraid to speak with her as well: “Two weeks ago I spoke with a new worker. She didn’t want to talk with me be- cause she had been told if she talks with union sup- porters she can be fired.” Cardosa said new work- ers were promised higher wages for agreeing to not support the union. Some longer-term workers also withdrew support from the union due to such buy-offs. Workers rally in front of Eagle factory, June 9, 2009. Photo: Liana Foxvog. SweatFree Communities | 21 Chapter 3: Propper International Company Background, Incentives to Produce in Puerto Rico Propper International, a privately-held corporation, is the largest manufacturer of military uniforms for the U.S. Department of Defense.44 Since 1967, it has produced over 50 million items of clothing for the military and law enforcement use. The company manufactures a range of products including army uniforms, shirts, pants, parkas, outerwear, and head- wear; some of these are treated with chemicals for fire resistance.45 Propper’s headquarters are located Sign at Reto I factory. “Say no to the union. in St. Charles, Missouri, its factories are situated in Don’t sign the union card. Management.” Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and it has a distribution warehouse in Waverly, Tennessee. marily for the U.S. Department of Defense. Of the The Puerto Rican factories, the focus of this chapter, over 135 companies producing apparel in Puerto are located in the cities of Mayagüez (three facto- Rico, Propper International is by far the largest with ries: Mayagüez, Mayagüez II, and Equa), Adjuntas, approximately 3,250 employees. It is the largest Lajas, Cabo Rojo (Reto I and Reto II), and Las federal government contractor in Puerto Rico after Marías. Shell. In 2007, Propper received $97 million in federal government contracts, which spiked to $156 Propper enjoys lucrative benefits for running fac- million in 2008 – the company’s largest ever annual tories in Puerto Rico. The company pays only two federal government sales.49 percent in corporate income taxes and receives a ninety percent exemption on real estate taxes and Propper’s chief executive, Tom Kellim, claims that a seventy-five percent exemption on municipal the production of military uniforms is a “very low utilities.46 The Industrial Development Company margin industry” and that Propper’s pay and ben-50 of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico promotes the efits are “equal to or better than the competition.” corporate benefit of producing in Puerto Rico with However, American Apparel Inc., a manufacturer in its slogan “The advantages of going offshore. The Selma, Alabama, which produces soldiers’ uniforms security of being home.”47 very similar to Propper’s, offers a base-rate of $9.63, which is significantly higher than the federal mini- In 2007 the Puerto Rican apparel and textile indus- mum wage paid by Propper.51 try grew by twenty-three percent, currently employ- ing approximately 11,200 people for nearly $375 ““What we really want, as employees of Propper interna- million in sales.48 Before the current Afghanistan tional, is to be respected. We want the managing supervi- and Iraq wars, the Puerto Rican apparel industry sors to respect us because many of us have been mistreated. had declined due to off-shoring of jobs. Many of the I have felt the racism. I have felt the abuse toward my apparel jobs that have departed – and continue to coworkers and that wears you out.” leave – for countries with cheaper labor, produce for the retail market. Those that remain produce pri- -- Luisa Illias 22 | SweatFree Communities Pressure on the Job and notice the time they take.54 Surveillance makes workers nervous and keeps them hurrying. Frank Sewing machine operators at Propper earn the Sabater Tirado, a material handler at the Reto I federal minimum wage, currently set at $6.55 per factory, commented on another practice that limits hour. Many workers at Propper’s factories are single workers’ time away from work tasks: “The bath- parents; for them the minimum wage is far less than rooms can’t be used correctly because months ago what a living wage would be. In Puerto Rico, a liv- the seats were taken away.”55 This enables manage- ing wage for a family consisting of a single parent ment to control workers’ time away from the sewing with one child is approximately $13 per hour. For a machine. If it is not possible to sit on the toilet then family of two adults and two children, it is $22 per an employee will not dally long. hour.52 Rafael Irizarry, a sewing machine operator who “We just started working on a new product: fire retardant has worked at Propper’s Las Marías plant for four uniforms. It takes 118 operations to make these uniforms. years, is a single father with sole responsibility for The factory that makes the cloth puts on fire retardant his thirteen year old son. Propper’s minimum wage chemicals. We have to handle this chemical all day long and rate affords him $1,048 per month before taxes; his we don’t have any protection for our skin or lungs. I’m wor- take-home is only $800. Rent for a small apartment ried about what this toxic exposure will do to my health.” costs him $300 per month and he spends roughly $250 per month on food. After paying for utilities, -- Rafael Irizarry, Propper worker phone, gas, clothing, and other basic necessities, his monthly expenses are higher than $800. In order to manage, Irizarry relies on the “production bonus,” a Heat Exhaustion, Asthma, and Toxic Exposure cash bonus that workers receive when they achieve a Propper workers experience a number of poor con- production target. To meet this quota, Rafael must ditions on the job which could be righted through work extremely fast. Sometimes he skips out on basic material improvements, provision of safety lunch and breaks in order to make the piece-rate gear, better cleaning, and more respect from super- goal by the end of the day. As a result of the relent- visors. less pace his body suffers: “My shoulders hurt from the repetitive motion. My right knee that’s on the Workers handle material with toxic chemicals but pedal is in constant pain. I have to take pain medi- are not provided with safety gear. Oneida Malavé, cation for that.”53 Nonetheless, he keeps up the fast- a sewing machine operator at the Mayagüez fac- est pace he can manage because without the bonus tory, explained: “It’s very important to have safety he cannot make ends meet. on the job, for employees to be provided with gloves, aprons, and masks in case we are exposed Management attempts to restrict the time workers to working with chemical substances.”56 Irizarry spend away from their sewing machines in several shared the concern: “We just started working on a ways. The company does not have an official rule new product: fire retardant uniforms. It takes 118 restricting the time an employee may take in the operations to make these uniforms. The factory that restroom or how many times one may visit the rest- makes the cloth puts on fire retardant chemicals. room. However, Maritza Vázquez, a sewing machine We have to handle this chemical all day long and we operator at Propper’s Lajas plant, said that supervi- don’t have any protection for our skin or lungs. I’m sors watch employees when they go to the restroom worried about what this toxic exposure will do to SweatFree Communities | 23 my health.”57 Another chemical that Propper work- the pressure to work when sick or injured. “I’ve had ers are exposed to is the insecticide permethrin.58 to go to work while vomiting and with a fever. I’ve According to the workers, of those who deal with had to go to the hospital straight from work,” said permethrin, the only ones who receive protec- Irizarry.62 “Once a needle went through my finger. I tive gear are a lab scientist and two assistants. The went to the office and they gave me a band-aid and workers who run up to five laundry loads a day in then sent me back to the sewing machine. Another a permethrin solution are susceptible to chemical time I had stitches on my hand but I wasn’t given exposure both by breathing and handling it. The time to heal. I had to be at work even though I pressers had the most health complaints, stating that couldn’t work.” Irizarry also recounted a story about when they iron damp garments, steam imbued with a worker who didn’t feel well and asked to leave for permethrin causes a burning sensation in their noses the day but was not permitted to do so. Soon after, and throats. the worker fainted. She was then brought to the Even when workers are fortunate enough to receive office, given a drink of water, and then sent straight assignments involving non-toxic cloth, other health back to work. UNITE HERE Puerto Rico, which and safety issues persist. Luisa Illas, a garment worker at Propper’s Las Marías factory explained: “Now, during the warm season, the heat is dread- ful. The dust that sheds off the fabrics is something horrible. There are people who pass out due to the extreme heat. There are people who end up with asthma attacks. All the people need to have a fan on their machines which they purchase with their own money because the company doesn’t provide individual fans. The fans they have are so dusty, they don’t cool you down, what they do is heat up the place more.”59 Tirado concurred: “Dust is accumu- lating in the windows, fans, and ventilators, and employees have to breathe all of this.”60 Working Ill and Injured A major complaint of Propper workers in Puerto Rico is that they lose pay if they need to take time off from work due to illness. In 1998, Puerto Rico enacted Law 180 requiring companies operating on the island to pay workers for twelve sick days per year and fifteen vacation days, if economically able.61 However, a group of Propper workers are alleging in a lawsuit that Propper is not complying Maritza Vazquez, Propper worker, speaks to a with this law. group of students at Milwaukee Area Tech- nical College, while on speaking tour with Many workers told stories about management’s lack SweatFree Communities, March 25, 2009. of concern for workers’ health and well-being, and Photo: Sachin Chheda. 24 | SweatFree Communities launched a union organizing campaign in spring of the paperwork to my supervisors, two days later 2008, circulated a flier to workers remarking on the they gave me a memo stating I had been laid off,” dire situation: “When coworkers faint on the job he said.67 Gladys Lopez, also an Adjuntas factory and we don’t have even the basic first aid equipment worker, similarly postponed a doctor’s visit, follow- to attend to them – what kind of ‘family’ is that?”63 ing back injury, to protect her income. Since Propper workers tend to live from one pay- Stolen Vacation Days check to the next, they may opt to ignore doctors’ advice rather than lose pay. Victor Vélez, a Puerto In addition to the twelve paid sick days, Law 180 Rican attorney who transitioned from UNITE provides for fifteen paid vacation days. However, HERE to Workers United this year, explained: Propper’s internal policy does not comply with this “Most Propper workers have scarce resources, earn- law. According to the employee manual, workers ing $400 to $500 biweekly, and go to work sick as who have been at the company under a year accu- to not lose their pay. In addition, there are people mulate a half day of vacation per month. Following whose health conditions require an operation but the first year of employment, employees should they postpone it in order to not miss work. This receive nine vacation days per year. 68 Irizarry said sort of conduct likens workers to slaves.”64 Maritza that the company has a track record of not even fol- Vázquez said that she went back to work the day lowing its own policy; the first time he received the following breast cancer surgery. She could not afford full nine vacation days owed to him was in 2008, to lose any income so she sacrificed her well-being which he believed stemmed from union pressure on 69 instead. As a result, it took her longer to heal than if the company. she had taken the recommended three week recu- In December 2008, Propper offered employees two perative break from work.65 full weeks of vacation but specified when it could Propper’s policy permits unpaid personal leave if be taken, to the dismay of many. Later the company workers request it well in advance. So what hap- took away half of the vacation time claiming an order needed to be completed.70pens when a worker suddenly falls sick and needs A union flier asked time off? For the first day of absence, workers must why workers must choose between Labor Day and report to the office. After a second day, they receive Friday following Thanksgiving, saying “We work 71 a verbal warning. After a third, a written warning. hard at Propper. We deserve both!” After a fourth, workers can get suspended for three Workers are suing Propper, claiming the company days and lose their annual merit bonus.66 has violated Law 180 ever since it was enacted in 1998, and is demanding compensation for unpaid While this official policy may seem harsh, reality for sick days and vacation days for the past three years, some workers is even worse. Not only do workers as legally permitted. As of November 2009, 350 need to take unpaid leave when they are sick, and workers are plaintiffs in the lawsuit.72 If all 3000 face reprimand, but some fear that the company will workers joined the lawsuit, the total claim would be fire them. As a result, workers have postponed seek- for $45 million.73 ing necessary medical attention, risking their health to keep their job. Albert Torres, a Propper employee Subcontracting, Lay-Offs and Threat of Factory at the Adjuntas factory, postponed a thyroid opera- Closure tion for a year because he feared the consequences. Some workers are afraid to join in the lawsuit For good reason: “And when I finally submitted because they worry that going public with their SweatFree Communities | 25 best government contracts.”74 Even though the size of Propper’s government contracts has been growing, some workers have been facing temporary lay-offs. One of them, Vázquez, believes that the company uses this tactic to demonstrate that it can make true on its threat that union activity means workers will lose work.75 “Right now they are taking work away from us and subcontracting it to smaller companies [in Puerto Rico]. They are doing this to make us afraid. If we see we’re getting less work we’ll believe that the factories will close down. But they won’t close the factory. Because no one that has forty-two years in Puerto Rico and eight factories with over $100 million contracts with the government, and with all the exemptions for rent and utilities, will do that,” retorted Irizarry.76 Indeed, required by the Berry Amendment to produce its military uniforms in the U.S. or its territories, it is doubtful that Propper, a well-established company in Puerto Rico, will find a cheaper location for its factories. Even before the union campaign, lay-offs were common at Propper factories – but for a different reason. Once a year, it is customary for companies to provide slight increases in wages based upon inflation, seniority, and merit, but not at Propper. According to Irizarry: “We have never had a pay raise, an evaluation, or anything like that. The only An April 7, 2009 press conference at City raise we had was when the federal minimum wage Hall in Berkeley, California, urging the City increased… You can work for 20 or 30 years, and to adopt a sweatfree procurement policy, sadly, you won’t get a raise.”77 Instead, as the date for included Rafael Irizarry’s (right) testimony. usual raises nears, lay-offs begin – some permanent, Propper also supplies some states and cities others temporary. Propper claims that there is not with uniforms made in its factory in the Do- enough work. However, workers believe that this is minican Republic. Photo: Liana Foxvog. a strategy to make them believe that the company is support for the union could result in the factories struggling financially so that they will not demand closing and moving. “Propper is threatening that better pay. they will close the factory and claims that the federal government is not giving them contracts,” Irizarry Sometimes workers sit at their sewing machines for said. But he argued: “This is all pure lies. Because hours waiting for work. Irizarry said he feels this is we’ve tracked the money and they keep getting the manipulative – he must be at work but there is no 26 | SweatFree Communities work. He is paid only minimum wage for that time; pany is spying on workers, nor circulate any materi- and, without work, he does not have the opportuni- als that violate NLRB regulations.82 However, two ty to earn the production bonus, which he needs to months after the NLRB ruling, anti-union banners make ends meet.78 While globally garment workers remained at all of Eagle’s eight factories in Puerto frequently complain about the long hours, at Prop- per the concern is the opposite – sometimes workers “ At the factory we’re seen as dollar signs -- we’re not treated are not allotted enough hours. The union claims as we should be.” that during the union organizing campaign, Propper has been subcontracting work to other factories in – Rafael Irizarry, sewing machine operator in Las Marías, Puerto Rico, namely Wear Tech, Prama, Pentaq, and Puerto Rico a factory in Ciales. Responding to the company’s “one big family” claim and alluding to the ongoing subcontracting, the union wrote: “While Propper Rico. The banners read: “Say no to the union. Don’t says we are a ‘Big Family’, it has left us without sign the union card. Out with the dues suckers.”83 work, without money for food, [and] without the power to meet our basic necessities… If we really At the beginning of the organizing campaign, the are a ‘Big Family’ why are you leaving us without union developed a set of demands based on work- work? Why do you treat your neighbors better than ers’ concerns. In addition to the paid sick days and us – your real family? We want 40 hours per week paid vacation days, as legally owed, workers wanted now.”79 toilet paper and soap, weekly pay, less heat, an af- fordable medical plan with prescription drug cover- Looking to the Future age, a retirement plan, less pressure on the job, a fair production goal, and better pay. A year later the In the spring of 2008, UNITE HERE Puerto Rico only change is that now toilet paper and soap are started a union organizing drive at Propper’s Puerto consistently provided in the bathrooms.84 Maritza Rico factories. Soon after management began ac- Vázquez said that earlier she would bring her own cusing and interrogating workers, monitoring the toilet paper to work and wave it in the air when she activities of union supporters, warning the factories went to the restroom – “Anyone need some?”85 would close, threatening workers for participating in union activities, and paying off workers to partici- Rafael Irizarry has worked in factories for twenty pate in an anti-union rally.80 years. He is still under forty, but his body suffers from the work. He wonders how many years he can The union brought a complaint to the National keep up the work and hopes that the union cam- Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that resulted in paign is a success so that he will be able to eventual- an October 2008 agreement between Propper and ly leave his job with a pension: “My mother worked the NLRB requiring the company to notify work- in a sewing factory for 35 years making jeans. When ers that it would abstain from violations of federal she left she wasn’t given a penny – nothing for all labor law and publicize an announcement at six of the years of her life that she had toiled. She was still its Puerto Rican factories to this effect.81 Specifically, fairly young so she had to fight for three years to get this means that the company shall not threaten to Social Security. She was left with so many problems. close its factories, lay off workers for supporting the Her hands are completely mutilated and she has union, encourage workers to withdraw from the asthma from all the dust from the cloth.”86 union, give workers the impression that the com- SweatFree Communities | 27 Chapter 4: Policy Recommenda- essential production-related matters on the job; any other talking is not permitted. This makes education tion: Sweatshop-Free Procure- of coworkers difficult. Eagle holds mandatory meet- ment ings but workers are not allowed to speak in these Workers Demand Change “I understand that the type of labor we produce is very important because it’s a job done for the U.S. military. I think Toxic Uniforms: Behind the ‘Made in USA’ Label we need to be more appreciated, offered better pay and shows that the Made-in-USA label is not enough better benefits. Management should have more respect for to ensure that cut-and-sew manufacturing plants all of us who sitting at the machines.” are decent places to work. Workers at Eagle Indus- tries in Massachusetts and Propper International in – Maritza Vázquez Puerto Rico tell us that behind this label lie poverty wages, dangerous and unhealthy working condi- meetings. “In the meetings they have, you can’t tions, discrimination, and repression of workers’ say anything. You have to go in with your mouth right to freedom of association. closed, because you can’t ask anyone anything… If they don’t throw you out in the very moment you Despite poor treatment, many workers choose to spoke, they would call you to the office later, and stay on the job. Workers want jobs but they also fire you,”87 said Guillermo Cosajay. Yet, workers want respect, a living wage, and healthy conditions. continue to organize for their rights. When dignified jobs are not available, people take what is offered. In demanding fair and decent working conditions workers challenge policy makers to develop a pro- curement system that require government contrac- tors, like Propper International, to comply with “The union is the only hope I have seen, because the union labor standards and pay fair wages and benefits. offers a contract and a negotiating table, with the owners of Legislative History a factory … At the negotiating table [the owner] will have to have the time and realize the suffering we have endured Standards for Domestic Workers Producing Goods or working for him, making money for him so he will have a Providing Services for the Federal Government good future while our future is bleak.” The struggles of the Eagle and Propper workers -- Elisa Rios, Eagle worker notwithstanding, the U.S. federal government has sought to provide strong protections for domestic contracted workers for nearly 100 years. As early as However, workers are still not passive participants at 1917, Secretary of War Newton Baker warned, “The the workplace. Even without formal mechanisms to Government cannot permit its work to be done provide input at the workplace, cut-and-sew work- under sweatshop conditions, and it cannot allow the ers at both Eagle and Propper are organizing for evils widely [associated with such production] to go union representation so that they can have a seat at uncorrected.”88 Among several long-standing pieces the negotiating table with the company. Workers of legislation designed to eliminate sweatshop con- are only allowed to have brief conversations about ditions for workers providing products or services 28 | SweatFree Communities to the federal government, the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act of 1936 applies to manufacturing In the words of Santa Sanchez, for- operations in the U.S., including the Eagle workers mer Eagle New Bedford worker in Massachusetts and the Propper workers in Puerto Rico. It requires contractor compliance with prevail- They even made some people who wanted ing wages, health and safety standards, the 40-hour to start working at the factory sign declara-tions that said that they couldn’t join the work week, and minimum age limits.89 Workers union as a condition to start work. If they employed on federal construction projects received signed this declaration, management gave similar protections as early as 1931 with the Davis- them the work, which is against the law. Bacon Act, which required payment of prevailing When we tried to recruit people for the wages and prohibited unsanitary, hazardous, and union, there were a lot of people who said dangerous working conditions in federal construc- they couldn’t join because they had signed a tion projects.90 The enforcement program includes declaration saying they wouldn’t join. These workers said, “They gave me the work with payroll review, on-site inspections, employee inter- the condition that I wouldn’t join the union.” views, and prompt complaints investigations, and is based on a close working relationship between the This began before they fired me in Au- contracting agencies and the enforcement arm, the gust, because I spoke with one of the new people, and he told me that he couldn’t Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.91 talk to me because he had signed that he Since 1965 the Service Contract Act provides for wouldn’t talk with the people in support of prevailing wages for employees of contractors and the union. I felt that they fired me because subcontractors that provide services to federal agen- of the union, more than for any other reason. cies. The Act applies to a range of services includ- I was always one of the people who said that ing laundry and dry cleaning, janitorial and guard we need the union here, we need more sup- services, maintenance and equipment repair, food port. We need somebody to defend us be- service, and snow, trash, and garbage removal. A list cause the company is mistreating us. Man- of firms found to violate the Act is published in the agement knew that I was one of the people Excluded Parties List System.92 who was always trying to talk with other peo-ple, telling them that we needed the union, A number of other legislative attempts to protect and they saw that I was one of the people that wanted the union to form. That is what they domestic contracted workers have failed. Recent are like. When they see people who are fight- attempts include Senator Paul Simon’s “Federal ers they try to fire them however they can. Contractor Labor Relations Enforcement Act of In one year and five months of work, they 1995” (S.780) and “Federal Contractor Safety and never gave me any trouble, but when they Health Enforcement Act of 1995” (S.781) which found out that I was in favor of the union, would have debarred any entity violating the Na- they began to make my life very difficult. tional Labor Relations Act and the Occupational In August, they gave me five warnings. I Safety and Health Act (OSHA) from federal con- only signed one, because that one I had tracts for a period of three years.93 In the same year, earned. Because I came back to work af- President Clinton’s Executive Order 12954, “Ensur- ter the bell had rung. But the other ones were unjust. I know they were not merited. ing the Economical and Efficient Administration and Completion of Federal Government Contracts,” Once when I put the union button on my provided that federal agencies may not contract shirt, a supervisor came to my work sta- with employers that permanently replace lawfully tion and asked me to take the button off... SweatFree Communities | 29 even military apparel being made outside the U.S. When I was fired, they lied to the Depart- (see Chapter 1). ment of Labor saying that I didn’t want to work. I sent a letter to the Department of La- Yet, with the exception of a hard-to-enforce basic bor saying that the company was lying. They contracting provision requiring contractors not to gave me my unemployment compensation use overtime “as far as practicable,” which is appli- because the company had lied. They are cable to work performed both within and outside the ones that lie, when they fire somebody. the U.S., few procurement labor standards protect They don’t say what they do – they don’t non-domestic workers who produce apparel and talk about how they treat the employees. other goods for the federal government.95 The federal government has adopted a zero toler- striking employees. However, in 1996 it was voided ance policy regarding trafficking of people, prohib- by a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals iting federal contractors from using forced labor decision, Chamber of Commerce of the United States, in the performance of the contract. But there are et al., v. Reich. In 2000 the Federal Acquisition few resources for investigation and enforcement.96 Regulatory (FAR) Council issued a ruling requir- Executive Order 13126 signed by President Clinton ing federal contractors to certify that they had not on June 12, 1999, prohibits federal acquisitions of violated tax, labor and employment, environmental, products produced by forced or indentured child anti-trust, and consumer protection laws within labor. However, forty-one countries – the signa- the last three years. But this rule too was revoked tories to the North American Free Trade Agree- following legal challenge from a group of business ment (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization associations including the Business Roundtable and Government Procurement Agreement – are exempt. the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Finally, in 2007 Until recently, the prohibition was limited to a Senators Dick Durbin, Barack Obama, and Sher- narrow list of goods almost all of which were from rod Brown introduced the “Patriot Employers Act” Burma. In September 2009, the International Labor (S.1945) and Representative Jan Schakowsky the Affairs Bureau (ILAB) of the U.S. Department of “Patriot Corporations of America Act” (HR.3319) Labor issued a Federal Register notice that proposes under which companies would receive tax breaks to substantially expand the countries and products and federal contracting preferences for manufactur- covered.97 Still, enforcement measures are currently ing in the U.S. and workers would be guaranteed limited to offeror certification of a good-faith effort union neutrality. Neither bill was reported out of to ascertain that the listed products are not made committee. with forced or indentured child labor. Absent any actual knowledge to the contrary the contracting Standards for Non-U.S. Workers Producing Goods for officer must rely on offerors’ certification in making the Federal Government award decisions.98 Although government acknowl- Because of the globalization of supply chains, public edgment of the potential for child labor violations procurement now also impacts labor conditions in in a range of industries and countries is a step in the other countries. About $100 million94 of federal right direction, an expanded list of concern demon- apparel, for agencies other than the Department of strates the need for investigatory and enforcement Defense and Homeland Security, is not required capacity. to be made in the U.S. In addition, exceptions and loopholes to the Berry Amendment may result in 30 | SweatFree Communities to provide our soldiers with the best, why can’t a factory that works for the government give us the benefits we need to survive?”99 Propper workers brought their demands to their “real employer,” the federal government. Following their testimony to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, they produced a flier that reads: “Workers from Propper went to Washington to speak with [their] real employer: the federal government… Now it’s time for Propper to listen to us and to listen to its principal client: the federal government!”100 Propper workers have approached politicians for as- sistance. Members of U.S. Congress of Puerto Rican heritage sent a letter of support to garment work- ers at Propper factories in Puerto Rico on May 27, 2008. An excerpt reads: It’s required by law that the work you do is made within the United States. Your right to form a union in an environment free of abuse, intimidation and retaliation is a right Eagle workers chant in front of the factory – guaranteed by United States and Puerto Ri- “Si se puede!” Photo: Liana Foxvog. can law… We will be monitoring the activi- ties of your campaign to guarantee that your Workers Seek Support from Congress rights to form a union and negotiate a collec- tive bargaining agreement are not violated. Existing contracting legislation appears to have done little to help the Eagle and Propper workers – Rep. José Serrano (16th District of New York), interviewed for this report. They still need their Nydia Velázquez (12th District of New York), 101 legal rights respected; they need living wages; they and Luis Gutiérrez (4th District of Illinois) need affordable health insurance with decent cover- age; they need safe and healthy working conditions. And they need a voice on the job. They need their freedom of association respected so they can educate their co-workers about the union without threats or retaliation from management. Eagle and Propper workers believe that as a con- sumer of the products they make, the federal gov- ernment should compel their employers to respect their rights. Elisa Rios, a sewing machine operator at Eagle, said: “If we give one hundred percent SweatFree Communities | 31 The workers also received a letter of support from Despite these and other expressions of support, the then presidential candidate Barack Obama, on June campaign continues, and the company has not yet 10, 2008: budged. Clearly, letters alone are not enough. Dear Propper International Workers: I am writing to express my strong support for you and your co-workers rights’ to organize and join a union. The right to choose to organize and to col- lectively bargain is protected in the law and a basic human right that I firmly believe in. As employees of a federal contractor, you deserve a job that provides you with the dignity and respect you are owed. You deserve a living wage, affordable health insurance coverage, a retirement plan, and other benefits. By organizing a union and bargain- ing a contract with your employer, you will be able to negotiate for and achieve these goals. Your employer should not use heavy handed tactics to discourage workers from organizing. It is illegal for a company to violate those rights through such activities as surveillance, interrogation, or threaten- ing to close a plant down. I believe a union will play a positive role and add to the success of Propper as the largest military uniform contractor for the federal government. I Anti-union sign at Mayaguez I factory. “Prop- encourage you to continue to defend your right to per International Inc. Say no to the union. organize and fight for better wages and working Don’t sign the union card. Out with the dues conditions. suckers. -Management.” Photo: Martin Hernandez. As a candidate for the President of the United States, I will be watching this situation closely and support you fully. Sincerely, Senator Barack Obama 32 | SweatFree Communities Conclusion: Sweatshop-Free Government wages – is a fundamental human rights violation no Procurement matter where it takes place. In addition, there are purely economic reasons for labor rights standards The federal government must do more to ensure in procurement. U.S. workers who work full-time that the apparel it buys is made by labor-rights- yet receive poverty wages must supplement their compliant contractors that pay decent wages for incomes with social assistance programs, includ- work in good conditions. Government should only ing government-subsidized healthcare and food accept bids from companies that disclose the names stamps.104 As a result, the cost to taxpayers for every and locations of all factories performing work under employee of a military contractor that pays below a subcontract. When purchasing from domestic poverty level wages is nearly $3,000.105 When gov- sources the government should strengthen enforce- ernment buys products made abroad in exploitative ment of existing procurement labor standards.102 conditions, it is complicit in accelerating a “race to The government should also listen to contractor the bottom” in which ethical businesses face unrea- employees, such as Propper and Eagle workers, and sonable competitive pressures and U.S. workers lose ensure their basic demands for safe and healthy their jobs. working conditions, living wages, and a voice on the job are met. On the other hand, good jobs with decent wages ensure respect for workers’ human rights and labor When purchasing from overseas sources the federal rights and stimulate the economy much better than government must first address the gaping holes bad jobs. As a consumer that expects and enforces in procurement policy that allow it to purchase labor standards compliance, government can be products made in the most egregious sweatshop a powerful catalyst for better jobs and a stronger conditions as long as there is no forced labor and economy if it adopts strong labor standards in no children working in conditions of indentured procurement and enforces those standards. Stan- servitude. Following the lead of many U.S. state and dards without enforcement can create an illusion of local governments, the federal government should change while hiding labor exploitation from public require contractors to adopt and adhere to inter- scrutiny and freeing companies from accountability. national core labor standards regarding freedom of An improved procurement policy would alter the association and collective bargaining, forced labor, current cost-benefit calculus of labor-rights compli- child labor and non-discrimination, and all appli- ance and provide a substantial incentive for ethical cable domestic laws and regulations. Contractors business practices. The workers who produce goods and their subcontractors should also commit to pay for federal agencies deserve nothing less. living wages which can be calculated locally through market basket studies or determined by a purchas- ing power parity formula. These standards can be ensured through vendor prequalification and an effective independent monitoring and remediation program, similar to that adopted by some cities and states.103 Sweatshop-free government procurement is neces- sary for several reasons. Labor exploitation – depriv- ing workers of decent, dignified work and adequate SweatFree Communities | 33 References Lindsay, Jay. (2007, March 6). “Firm hired illegals to keep up with military contracts, feds say.” Associ- Bender, Daniel E., and Richard A. Greenwald, Ed. ated Press. (2003). Sweatshop USA : the American sweatshop in historical and global perspective. New York: Louie, Miriam Ching Yoon. (2001). Sweatshop Routledge. Warriors: Immigrant Women Workers Take on the Global Factory. New York: South End Press. Bonacich, Edna, and Richard P. Appelbaum. (2000). Behind the Label: Inequality in the Los Kissell, Larry. (2009, February 18). “Hitting the Angeles Apparel Industry. 2000. ground running.” Retrieved on April 22, 2009, from http://kissell.house.gov/2009/02/hitting-the- Brannigan, William. (1995, September 10). “Sweat- ground-running.shtml shop Instead of Paradise; Thais Lived in Fear as Slaves at L.A. Garment Factories.” The Washington Madland, David, and Michael Paarlberg, (2008, Post. December). “Making Contracting Work for the United States: Government Spending Must Lead to Cave, Damien. (2008, December 11). “Economy Good Jobs,” Center for American Progress Action Complicates Labor Dispute.” New York Times. Fund. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/us/11puerto. html?_r=2 News staff. (2009, January 29). “Update: Ex-factory owner gets year in immigration case.” The Provi- Commission on Life Sciences et al. (1994). “Health dence Journal. Providence, Rhode Island. Effects of Permethrin-Impregnated Army Battle- Dress Uniforms. National Academy Press: Washing- Prensa Asociada. (2008, October 8). “Acuerdo fed- ton D.C. http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_ eral sobre sindicación.” Isla adentro. Puerto Rico. id=9274 Ross, Robert J.S. (2004). Slaves to Fashion: Poverty Custodio, Marie, and Rafael Lama. (2008, May 8). and Abuse in the New Sweatshops. Ann Arbor: “Remiendo para la manufactura.” El Nuevo Día. University of Michigan Press. Puerto Rico. Santiago Caraballo, Yaritza. (2009, January 26). Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy. (2009, “Denuncian trato ‘esclavista’.” El Nuevo Día. Puerto February 18). “Berry Amendment FAQ.” Retrieved Rico. April 22, 2009 from http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/ Serrin, William. (1983, October 1). “After Years of cpic/ic/berry_amendment_faq.html. Decline, Sweatshops Are Back.” New York Times. Dirnbach, Eric. (2007, February). “Unions, Activ- Section A, Page 1, Column 1. ists, and the Global Apparel Industry.” Z Magazine. St. Louis Business Journal. (2008, October 7). Woods Hole, Mass. “Propper settles threat allegations made by workers.” Eagle Industries. (2007, November 11). “Eagle St. Louis Business Journal. http://stlouis.bizjournals. Industries Acquires Michael Bianco.” http://www. com/stlouis/stories/2008/10/06/daily47.html eagleindustriestacticalgear.com/pages.php?pageid=2 SweatFree Communities. (2007, February). “Posi- GAO. (1994, November). “Garment Industry: tion Paper: The Decent Working Conditions and Efforts to Address Prevalence and Conditions of Fair Competition Act.” http://www.sweatfree.org/ Sweatshops.” U.S. General Accounting Office. docs/SFCfederallegislationposition0207.pdf http://www.gao.gov/archive/1995/he95029.pdf Sweatfree Purchasing Consortium. (2009, March). 34 | SweatFree Communities “White Paper.” http://www.sweatfree.org/consor- tium/whitepaper.pdf UNITE HERE. (2006). “Conduct Unbecoming: Sweatshops and the U.S. Military Uniform Indus- try.” http://www.behindthelabel.org/pdf/Conduc- tUnbecoming.pdf. U.S. Department of Labor. (2009, September 11). “Notice of Initial Determination Updating the List of Products Requiring Federal Contrac- tor Certification as to Forced/Indentured Child Labor Pursuant to Executive Order 13126.” Fed- eral Register, Volume 74, Number 175. http:// www.dol.gov/federalregister/HtmlDisplay. aspx?DocId=23111&AgencyId=5 U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2007, July 5). “U.S. Labor Department’s OSHA Issues 15 Serious Citations to Michael Bianco Inc. Following Safety And Health Inspections.” News Release. U.S. Department of Labor. (2001). “No Sweat – Help End Sweatshop Conditions for American Workers. USAspending.gov. Accessed on May 21, 2009, http://www.usaspending.gov. Ziner, Karen Lee. (2007, March 22). “Factory raid fallout.” The Providence Journal. Providence, Rhode Island. SweatFree Communities | 35 End Notes UNITE HERE. (2006). “Conduct Unbecom-ing: Sweatshops and the U.S. Military Uniform Industry.” http://www.behindthelabel.org/pdf/ 1. In terms of jobs, the peak of the U.S. clothing ConductUnbecoming.pdf. manufacturing industry was in 1973 with nearly 1.5 million workers. Dirnbach, Eric. (2007, 4. U.S. Department of Labor. (2001). “No Sweat – February). “Unions, Activists, and the Global Help End Sweatshop Conditions for American Apparel Industry.” Z Magazine. Woods Hole, Workers. Mass. 5. We would also like to acknowledge the contri- 2. Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy. butions of the AFL-CIO, the American Fed- (2009, February 18). “Berry Amendment FAQ.” eration of Government Employees, Change to Retrieved April 22, 2009 from http://www.acq. Win, the International Labor Rights Forum, osd.mil/dpap/cpic/ic/berry_amendment_faq. the Worker Rights Consortium, and Workers html. United to our understanding of best practices and principles for federal government procure- 3. See, for example: ment. Bender, Daniel E., and Richard A. Greenwald, 6. The U.S. General Accounting Office defines a Ed. (2003). Sweatshop USA : the American sweatshop as “an employer that violates more sweatshop in historical and global perspective. than one federal or state labor law govern- New York: Routledge. ing minimum wage and overtime, child labor, industrial homework, occupational safety and Bonacich, Edna, and Richard P. Appelbaum. health, workers’ compensation, or industry reg- (2000). Behind the Label: Inequality in the Los istration” (GAO 1994). Angeles Apparel Industry. 7. Contract summaries by product or service type for all agencies is here: http://www.usaspending. Brannigan, William. (1995, September 10). gov/fpds/tables.php?tabtype=t1&subtype=at&ro “Sweatshop Instead of Paradise; Thais Lived in wtype=b. The apparel figures used here combine Fear as Slaves at L.A. Garment Factories.” The figures from two line items – “Clothing, indi- Washington Post. vidual equipment, and insignia” and “Textiles, leather, apparel, shoe findings, tents, flags”. For Louie, Miriam Ching Yoon. (2001). Sweatshop individual agencies, “advance search by agency” Warriors: Immigrant Women Workers Take on at www.usaspending.gov was used. the Global Factory. New York: South End Press. 8. Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy. Ross, Robert J.S. (2004). Slaves to Fashion: (2009, February 18). Poverty and Abuse in the New Sweatshops. Ann 9. Kissell, Larry. (2009, February 18). “Hitting Arbor: University of Michigan Press. the ground running.” http://kissell.house. gov/2009/02/hitting-the-ground-running.shtml. Serrin, William. (1983, October 1). “After Years 10. See endnote 11. of Decline, Sweatshops Are Back.” The New York Times. Section A, Page 1, Column 1. 11. United States Government Accountability Of- fice. (2005, January). “Federal Procurement: 36 | SweatFree Communities International Agreements Result in Waivers of 18. A copy of the letter is available at http:// Some Domestic Source Restrictions.” http:// www.sweatfree.org/docs/lettertoarmy_ www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-188. See reATK_060409. also the Defense Procurement and Acquisition 19. Unless otherwise noted, all worker quotes in the Policy’s Frequently Asked Questions on the chapter on Eagle are from interviews conducted Berry Amendment, available at: http://www.acq. by Jesse Dyer-Stewart and Meredith DeFrances- osd.mil/dpap/cpic/ic/berry_amendment_faq. co on January 31, 2009 in New Bedford. Most html. of the interviews were conducted in Spanish and 12. Government requests for quotations for back- translated into English by Dyer-Stewart. packs, bags, and other giveaway gear in military 20. Written testimony by Connie Cardosa, July 23, service contracts are on file with SweatFree 2008. Communities. 21. Correspondence with Stephen Wishart of 13. “About Eagle.” Retrieved on April 29, 2009, UNITE HERE, May 20, 2009. from http://www.eagleindustries.com/pages. php?pageid=1. 22. Interview by the author with Guillermo Cosa- jay, April 15, 2009. 14. The figures are combined Eagle Industries and Honors USA, Inc. contract information, which 23. This section uses the Living Wage Calculator’s is published at www.usaspending.gov (2009, statistics for New Bedford, Massachusetts. Amy May 12). Eagle Industries and/or Michael Glasmeier of Pennsylvania State University de- Bianco set up a subsidiary called Honors USA, veloped the Living Wage Calculator, modeling Inc. to receive the payments for the MOLLE it after Economic Policy Institute’s metropolitan contract (contract # w911QY-06-D-004) that living wage tool. The data and methodology is Eagle acquired from Michael Bianco. available at http://www.livingwage.geog.psu. edu/places/2500545000. 15. Eagle Industries. (2007, November 11). “Eagle Industries Acquires Michael Bianco.” http:// 24. Ibid. www.eagleindustriestacticalgear.com/pages. 25. Written testimony by Lesbi Cerrato, July 25, php?pageid=2. 2008. 16. Lindsay, Jay. (2007, March 6). “Firm hired ille- 26. Interview by UNITE HERE with Elisa Rios, gals to keep up with military contracts, feds say.” May 2008. She received $171 per month in Associated Press. food stamps. 17. U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety 27. Victoria Tirado, interviewed in “Dishonorable and Health Administration. (2007, July 5). Conduct.” “U.S. Labor Department’s OSHA Issues 15 Serious Citations to Michael Bianco Inc. Fol- 28. Interview by UNITE HERE with Elisa Rios, lowing Safety And Health Inspections.” News May 2008. Release. 29. Testimony by Lesbi Cerrato, July 25, 2008. Ziner, Karen Lee. (2007, March 22). “Factory 30. Victoria Tirado, interviewed in “Dishonorable raid fallout.” The Providence Journal. Conduct.” 31. Ibid. SweatFree Communities | 37 32. Interview with Guillermo Cosajay, April 15, allí trabajamos?” (Puerto Rico loves Propper … 2009. But does Propper like us Puerto Ricans who 33. Testimony by Lesbi Cerrato, July 25, 2008. work there?). 34. Written complaint filed by Santa Sanchez on 47. More information on the tax structure is avail- October 31, 2008, to the Commonwealth of able on PRIDCO’s website, http://www.pridco. Massachusetts’ Commission Against Discrimi- com/english/overview/2.0pr_overview.html. nation. 48. Custodio, Marie, and Rafael Lama. (2008, May 35. As reported by Lesbi Cerrato, Guillermo Porta- 8). “Remiendo para la manufactura.” El Nuevo latin, and Guillermo Cosajay in interviews on Día. Puerto Rico. January 31, 2009. 49. Search performed on www.usaspending.gov on 36. Interview with the author, April 15, 2009. April 27, 2009. 37. An open letter to politicians by Lesbi Cerrato, 50. Cave, Damien. (2008, December 11). “Econ- July 23, 2008. omy Complicates Labor Dispute.” New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/ 38. An open letter to politicians by Connie Cardosa, us/11puerto.html?_r=2. October 31, 2008. 51. Correspondence with Stephen Wishart of 39. Santa Sanchez and Elisa Rios both said that they UNITE HERE (2009, May 12). The American were not given any warning. Connie Cardosa Apparel average wage of $9.63 an hour is calcu- recalls receiving three days warning. All were lated by wages earned in a four week period in workers in section 400. 2008 for 273 workers at American Apparel fac- 40. An open letter to politicians by Juana Eusebio, tories in Fort Deposit and Selma, Alabama. The October 3, 2008. union obtained the wage data from the com- pany as part of their bargaining relationship. 41. Correspondence with Stephen Wishart of UNITE HERE on May 20, 2009. 52. The Living Wage Calculator (www.livingwage. geog.psu.edu) developed by Amy Glasmeier of 42. Interview with Guillermo Portalatin on January Pennsylvania State University is widely cited. 31, 2009. However, it does not include Puerto Rico. Nor 43. Interview by the author with Elisa Rios, July do the U.S. Department of Health and Hu- 23, 2008. man Services’ Poverty Guidelines (http://aspe. 44. Much of the information in this sub-section hhs.gov/POVERTY/09poverty.shtml) include stems from a UNITE HERE flier titled “Infor- Puerto Rico. I performed a rough estimate for mación importante sobre Propper International” the living wage in Puerto Rico by using Uni- (Important information about Propper Interna- versal Living Wage (www.universallivingwage. tional). com/) to select a county in Florida (Washington County) that has similar rental housing prices 45. A full list of products is available on Propper’s to the western part of Puerto Rico where Prop- website, www.propper.com. per’s factories are located. I then looked up data 46. From a flier distributed by UNITE HERE titled for that county on the Living Wage Calculator “Puerto Rico quiere MUCHO a Propper… (www.livingwage.geog.psu.edu), as the results ¿Pero quiere Propper a los puertorriqueños que should be roughly similar to the living wage of 38 | SweatFree Communities Puerto Rico since housing costs are quite simi- 62. Interview with Rafael Irizarry, April 2009. lar. 63. UNITE HERE flier, “La Gran “FAMILIA” de 53. Interview with Rafael Irizarry, April 2009. Propper: Lo que se le olvido decir” (Propper’s 54. Interview with Maritza Vázquez, March 2009. Big “FAMILY”: What they forgot to tell you”). 55. Flier titled “En las fábricas de Reto I y Lajas, 64. Santiago Caraballo, Yaritza. (2009, January 26). NOSTOTROS somos la Unión” (At Reto I and “Denuncian trato ‘esclavista’.” El Nuevo Día. Lajas factories, WE are the union). Puerto Rico. 56. Flier distributed by UNITE HERE titled “En 65. Interview with Maritza Vázquez, March 2009. las fabricas de Propper en Mayagüez NO- 66. Interview with Rafael Irizarry, April 2009. SOTROS somos la Unión” (In Propper factories 67. Cave, Damien. (2008, December 11). “Econ- in Mayagüez WE are the Union). omy Complicates Labor Dispute.” New York 57. Interview with Rafael Irizarry, April 2009. Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/ 58. Worker interviews by Workers United indicate us/11puerto.html?_r=2 the use of permethrin at Propper factories. For 68. Santiago Caraballo, Yaritza. (2009, January 26). information about the toxicity and effects of “Denuncian trato ‘esclavista’.” El Nuevo Día. permethrin, see Commission on Life Sciences Puerto Rico. et al. (1994). “Health Effects of Permethrin- 69. Interview with Rafael Irizarry, April 2009. Impregnated Army Battle-Dress Uniforms. Na- tional Academy Press: Washington D.C. http:// 70. UNITE HERE flier, “La Gran “FAMILIA” de www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9274. This Propper: Lo que se le olvido decir” (Propper’s report states that while permethrin is highly tox- Big “FAMILY”: What they forgot to tell you”). ic to insects it is much less so to humans. Part 71. UNITE HERE flier, “En Propper trabajamos of the study investigates prolonged exposure by duro. ¡Nos merecemos los dos!” (We work hard garment workers cutting and sewing dry cloth at Propper. We deserve both!) that had been soaked in permethrin, conclud- ing that additional studies should be conducted 72. Conversation with Victor Vélez of Workers to “produce a more complete and accurate risk United Puerto Rico, November 7, 2009. He characterization for garment workers.” Given worked with UNITE HERE Puerto Rico prior the complaints of Propper workers, such ad- to transferring to Workers United Puerto Rico ditional studies should also investigate the risks in the spring of 2009. Since then, the unioniza- of laundering and ironing damp cloth soaked in tion campaign has been led by Workers United permethrin, which may be more highly toxic to Puerto Rico. the worker than the handling of the dry cloth. 73. Correspondence with Martin Hernandez of 59. Flier titled “En las fábricas de Reto I y Lajas, Workers United Puerto Rico, May 21, 2009. NOSTOTROS somos la Unión” (At Reto I and 74. Interview with Rafael Irizarry, April 8, 2009. Lajas factories, WE are the union). 75. Interview with Maritza Vázquez, March 2009. 60. Ibid. 76. Interview with Rafael Irizarry, April 8, 2009. 61. White paper by UNITE HERE about Propper International. 77. Rafael Irizarry in “Dishonorable Conduct.” SweatFree Communities | 39 78. Interview with Rafael Irizarry, April 2009. 90. See the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) 79. UNITE HERE flier, “La Gran “FAMILIA” de and the Contract Work Hours and Safety Stan- Propper: Lo que se le olvido decir” (Propper’s dards Act (CWHSSA), available at http://www. Big “FAMILY”: What they forgot to tell you”). dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/govtcontracts.htm, accessed February 17, 2009. 80. Interview with Maritza Vázquez, March 2009; flier distributed by UNITE HERE titled “El 91. Federal Acquisition Regulation, Labor Standards Gobierno Federal Investigará a Propper por vio- for Contracts Involving Construction, 22-406-1 lación de la Acta Nacional de Relaciones Labo- 92. Federal Acquisition Regulation, Service rales” (The Federal Government will Investigate Contract Act of 1965, As Amended, 22.10. Propper for violation of the National Labor 93. Information used in this paragraph stems Relations Act). from a memo titled “Previous Efforts for 81. The six factories are Equa, Mayagüez; Propper Changes in Federal Procurement Policy,” pre- I, Mayagüez; Lajas; Reto I, Cabo Rojo; Hunca pared by Stephen Wishart of UNITE HERE on Munca, Las Marías; and Questbest, Adjuntas. April 14, 2008. See Prensa Asociada. (2008, October 8). “Acu- 94. Research by Workers United. erdo federal sobre sindicación.” Isla adentro. Puerto Rico. 95. Federal Acquisition, Combating Trafficking in Persons, 22.17. 82. From a flier titled “VICTORIA! En la Junta Nacional de Relaciones de Trabajo” (¡VICTO- 96. Federal Acquisition Regulation, Basic Labor RY! At the National Labor Relations Board.) Policies, 22.103. 83. Cave, Damien. (2008, December 11). “Econ- 97. U.S. Department of Labor. (2009, Sep- omy Complicates Labor Dispute.” New York tember 11). “Notice of Initial Determination Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/ Updating the List of Products Requiring Federal us/11puerto.html?_r=2. Contractor Certification as to Forced/Inden- tured Child Labor Pursuant to Executive Order 84. UNITE HERE flier titled “Propper nos toma en 13126.” Federal Register, Volume 74, Number cuenta cuando NOS UNIMOS” (Propper takes 175. http://www.dol.gov/federalregister/Ht- us into consideration when WE UNITE). mlDisplay.aspx?DocId=23111&AgencyId=5. 85. Interview with Maritza Vazquez, March 2009. 98. Executive Order 13126, “Prohibition of 86. Interview with Rafael Irizarry, April 2009. Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or 87. Interview with Guillermo Cosajay, January 31, Indentured Child Labor.” June 12, 1999. U.S. 2009. Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, http://www.dol.gov/ILAB/regs/ 88. Cited in Madland, David, and Michael Paar- eo13126/main.htm. lberg, (2008, December). “Making Contract- ing Work for the United States: Government 99. Interviewed in “Dishonorable Conduct.” Spending Must Lead to Good Jobs,” Center for 100. UNITE HERE flier titled “En Washington American Progress Action Fund. D.C., hablamos con el verdadero patrono…” 89. 41 USC Sec. 35. (In Washington D.C. we talked with the real employer.” 40 | SweatFree Communities 101. Letter from members of Congress, May 27, 2008. A copy of the letter in Spanish is on file with the author. Translation into English by the author. 102. Unions and others have put forward detailed proposals with regard to domestically sourced procurement. Those proposals include providing preferences to high-road contractors, establish- ing a prequalification system that requires all contractors to meet certain minimum labor standards, and “in-sourcing” of services that are closely associated with inherently governmental functions, that were poorly performed, or that were contracted-out without competition. 103. For specific policy recommendations, see “Principles for International Sweatfree Federal Government Procurement,” November, 2009, available at http://www.sweatfree.org/docs/fed/ principlesforfedproc.pdf. The proposals in this paper are based in part on the experiences of U.S. state and local governments in sweatfree procurement. In 1997, North Olmstead, Ohio, became the first city in the nation to signal a commitment to sweatshop-free purchasing. Since then, thirty-eight other cities, twelve counties, and eight state governments have ad- opted standards with the same goal of ensuring that public dollars do not subsidize sweatshop conditions. A sample sweatfree procurement policy and policy implementation guide are available here: http://buysweatfree.org/resources. 104. The findings from our interviews with Eagle workers are an example of this. 105. UNITE HERE. (2006). Conduct Unbe- coming: Sweatshops and the U.S. Military Uni- form Industry. New York: UNITE HERE. 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