Important News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 16, 1999

Los Angeles Sweatshop Workers Who Sewed University Clothing Demand Justice

Students Urge Universities to Take Action in First Test of Codes of Conduct

Los Angeles, CA---Concerned with reports of ongoing human rights abuses in many garment factories, students across the country have been campaigning to ensure that the t-shirts, hats, and sweatshirts that bear their schools' names are not manufactured under sweatshop conditions. Several universities have adopted Codes of Conduct for Trademark Licensees to prevent such abuses. The recent discovery of a Los Angeles sweatshop sewing jackets for several universities who adopted codes of conduct will put these policies to their first test.

A Los Angeles company, J.H. Design Group, employing primarily Latino workers, sewed jackets for USC, UCLA, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Nebraska, Ohio State, Tennessee, Notre Dame, Indiana, and Florida, as well as Nike, Reebok, Disney, NASCAR, NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL. Eight workers have come forward to file a lawsuit against the factory alleging illegal working conditions. The workers will announce the filing of the lawsuit at a press conference today on the USC campus, where students will present an alternative plan for implementing their Code of Conduct, called the Worker Rights Consortium.

The workers will describe:

Working seven days a week, 10-12 hours a day

Working full days, then being forced to take work home, working until midnight and on weekends, to meet their quotas

Receiving sub-minimum wages, often without overtime pay

Illegal firings for speaking out about sweatshop conditions

Inhumane treatment, including verbal abuse and subjection to racial slurs.