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Support Duro Workers & Boycott May Department StoresMarch 14, 2003 In this Action Alert:
Duro workers in Mexico win case but are denied reinstatement, still need international supportEMAIL, CALL, FAX or WRITE Charles Shor, CEO of Duro Bag Manufacturing Company and tell him to reinstate the workers, pay all workers their due amount, and improve conditions at the Duro factory in Mexico. DONATE to the Duro Workers so they can continue their struggle for justice. Duro Bag Company workers assemble shopping bags used by giant corporations such as Hallmark and Nieman Marcus in factories in the border town of Rio Bravo, Mexico earning barely $4.00 a day. In 2001, they attempted to establish an independent union, but lost after fraudulent elections and the firing of 150 workers. Many others were threatened and beaten. The fired workers refuse to stop organizing, and formed a workers center and have been fighting for their jobs and back wages ever since. Duro workers are on the verge of getting their jobs and back wages, or getting their severance payments, but they need your support one more time. On March 12, 2003, the Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Board (CAB) of Mexico denied the Duro Company appeal of an earlier decision; Duro must now reinstate the workers with their back pay or, if it refuses to reinstate, it must pay them FULL severance according to the Mexican Federal Labor Law. Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras (CJM) and its members are working on sending letters to all Duro Company clients to pressure the Duro Company into abiding by the CAB resolution. The Workers requests are as follows: I. As a first option to be reinstated back to work with their back wages. II. As a second option, if the company insists on paying them severance, that everyone be paid their severance and back wages at the same time; not some at this time and continue the other two lawsuits indefinitely as the company has been doing so far. III. That the wages for severance be according to the wage increases given by the government in 2001, 2002, and 2003. IV. That the time for seniority be calculated according to what the Mexican Federal Labor Law states and stop manipulating the numbers to avoid paying full severance to the workers. In its latest ploy, the Duro Company is trying to trick and pressure the workers into accepting their liquidation paychecks instead of paying them their back wages and reinstating them back to work as the CAB resolution mandates. Duro has offered a significantly reduced severance payment amount for all the workers involved. The company also does not want to include the Government mandated salary increases for 2001. Duro is offering to pay their liquidation instead of their severance and, in addition, Duro continues to wrongly tabulate the seniority of the workers in order to avoid paying them their due. There is a significant difference between liquidation and severance. With liquidation, Duro will pay workers 12 days of wages for each year they have worked with the company, while severance will pay workers 90 days of wages plus 32 days for every year worked at the factory. CJM does not have resources to keep financing the transportation and expenses of the legal advisers from Mexico City to represent the workers every time the CAB is calling for a hearing on the border. Duro workers need your support in order to be able to end the case and their labor rights be respected. EMAIL, FAX, CALL or WRITE Charles Shor, CEO of Duro Bag Manufacturing Company at: Duro Bag Manufacturing Company DONATE to the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras
at Information for this Action Alert came from Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, http://www.coalitionforjustice.net. Boycott Burma Products! Call May Department Stores every FridayCALL May Department Stores every Friday (including today, Friday March 14th) and tell them to stop stocking products Made in Burma. May Department Stores, owner of Lord & Taylor, Kaufmanns, Foleys, Filenes, Hechts, Robinson-May, and Strawbridges continue to retail products made in the country of Burma where a brutal military dictatorship systematically presses people to work on slave labor projects, commits mass rapes of ethnic minority women and girls, and forcibly conscripts thousands of children into the military. By selling products Made in Burma or Made in Myanmar, May helps the Burma dictatorship get cash from American consumers Join in a national call-in every Friday and express your outrage over May Department Stores carrying products Made in Burma. CALL one of the following busy May stores:
Also, call James Harner, Vice President for Customer Service at 314-342-6300. Ask to speak with the manager and then make these points in your phone call: 1. You are aware that May does not source private-label product from manufacturers in Burma; but that their Vendor Responsibility Program makes little difference as long as the company continues to retail products from companies who are not concerned about the conditions under which the products are produced. 2. May Department Stores policy does not address the manufacture of products in countries with the worst labor standards of all: those where there is no rule of law, like Burma. 3. Factories in Burma, including garment factories, are closely tied to prison, convict, forced, or indentured labor and child labor which May claims to oppose. Forced labor -- including forced child labor -- is used in the construction of factories in Burma and infrastructure as well. 4. Other companies have agreed to stop stocking products from Burma, including Federated Department Stores, Wal-Mart, Burlington Coat Factory, Gart Sports, IKEA, Williams Sonoma, Crate & Barrel, Costco, and Family Dollar. 5. Since May carries products made in Burma from a small number of suppliers it should be easy for them to stop. 6. May perpetuates slavery in Burma by helping to create a demand for products made there, and May has the moral duty to stop. 7. MOST IMPORTANT: YOU WILL NOT SHOP AT ANY MAY DEPARTMENT STORES (or its subsidiary chains Lord & Taylor, Famous-Barr, Filenes, Foleys, Hechts, Kaufmanns, L.S. Ayres, Meier & Frank, Robinsons-May, Strawbridges, The Jones Store, Davids Bridal, After Hours, or Priscilla of Boston) UNTIL THE COMPANY STOPS SELLINGS GOODS FROM BURMA If you are outside of the calling areas listed above, you can WRITE a letter to the May Department Store CEO at the address below: Gene Kahn Chairman/CEO -- May Department Stores Please send details of your conversations with Mays representatives or letters to CEO Gene Kahn to dbeeton@freeburmacoalition.org. For more information about the Boycott of May Department Stores, see www.freeburmacoalition.org, write dbeeton@freeburmacoalition.org, or call 202-547-5985. Information for this alert came from the Free Burma Coalition. |
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