[R-G] 3000 Workers on Strike in Jordan Sewing for Wal-Mart, Gloria Vanderbilt and gap

[aaron at istop.com]

3000 Workers on Strike in Jordan Sewing for Wal-Mart, Gloria Vanderbilt and 
GAP     
Monday, December 24 2007 @ 05:59 AM PST
Contributed by: WorkerFreedom
Views: 56  
Three thousand foreign guest workers, 50 percent of them young women--1,500 
from Sri Lanka, 900 from Bangladesh, 400 from India and 100 from Nepal--have 
been on strike since Monday, December 10, 2007. The situation is critical. 
At least 10 workers were beaten today by the police. Before going on strike, 
the workers had written to the Jordanian Ministry of Labor seeking help, but 
received no response.

Three Thousand Workers on Strike in Jordan Sewing for Wal-Mart, Gloria 
Vanderbilt and GAP

Workers Beaten by Police

By National Labor Committee
Published: Dec 15, 2007 at 07:37

Three thousand foreign guest workers, 50 percent of them young women--1,500 
from Sri Lanka, 900 from Bangladesh, 400 from India and 100 from Nepal--have 
been on strike since Monday, December 10, 2007. The situation is critical. 
At least 10 workers were beaten today by the police. Before going on strike, 
the workers had written to the Jordanian Ministry of Labor seeking help, but 
received no response.

* Workers paid less than half the wages legally due them, earning a take-
home wage of just $30.95 a week for a minimum of 78 hours of work, while 
they should have been paid at least $64.88.

* Routine 12 1/2 to 14 1/2-hour shifts, from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00, 9:00 or 
10:00 p.m., seven days a week with at most two days off each month. Workers 
are at the factory 80 1/2 to 93 1/2 hours a week.

* Two young women report being raped by factory management.

* Managers routinely shout and curse at the workers and even slap and beat 
them for falling behind in their production goal or making minor errors.

* Workers say they are locked in the factory and afraid that if a fire 
breaks out they will be trapped. 

* The bathrooms are filthy.

* Factory dorms are very cold, lack heat and are seriously overcrowded with 
12 people crammed into each room.

* Workers describe the factory food as too little and often stale, with 
an "awful" taste.

* Factory management does not pay medical expenses and does not respect the 
workers' legal right to 14 days paid annual vacation.

* Workers are paid just 15 cents for each paid of jeans they sew for Wal-
Mart and Gloria Vanderbilt.

Background

Hours:

12 1/2 to 14 1/2 hour shifts, from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00, 9:00 or 10:00 p.m., 
seven days a week. At most the workers receive just two days off a month. 
Workers are at the factory 78 hours to 93 hours a week

Routine Shift

7:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (Work, 5 hours)
12:30 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. (Lunch, 1/2 hour)
1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Work, 4 hours)
5:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. (Break, 15 minutes)
5:15 p.m. - 8:00, 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. (Work, 2 3/4 - 4 3/4 hours)

Wages:

Workers are paid just $39.10 a week and $169.42 a month (120 JD) for working 
a minimum of 78 hours a week, including 30 hours of mandatory overtime. On 
average, the workers are earning just 50 cents an hour, which is well below 
the 75-cent legal minimum wage, not to mention the legal overtime premiums 
due the workers. What makes matters even worse is that management deducts 
$35.30 each month for room and board, reducing the workers' take-home wage 
to just $30.95 a week, which is less than half of the $64.88 the workers are 
legally owed.

Legal Minimum Wage in Jordan:

* 75 cents an hour
* $35.84 a week (48 hours)
* $155.30 a month
* $1,863.62 a year
* All weekday overtime must be paid at a 25 percent premium--93 cents an 
hour.
* All overtime on Fridays, the legal holiday, must be paid at a 50 percent 
premium--$1.12 per hour.

For toiling a minimum of 78 hours a week (6 1/2 days), the workers should 
have earned $35.84 for the regular 48 hours, $22,32 for the 24 hours of 
weekday overtime at 93 cents an hour, and $6.72 for six hours of overtime on 
Friday at $1.12 an hour for a total of $64.88 and not the $30.95 the workers 
are taking home.

Production Goals:

Each assembly line, with 70 to 75 sewing operators, must complete 2,400 
pairs of jeans in the standard 12-hour shift. The production goal is 
mandatory. This means the production line must complete 200 pairs of jeans 
an hour with an average of 72.5 sewers. In effect then, each worker must 
complete 2.76 pairs of jeans per hour or one pair every 32 minutes. At a 
take home wage of just 40 cents an hour, this means that the workers are 
earning just 15 cents for each pair of jeans they sew.

The workers smuggled "Gloria Vanderbilt" and "Behold" labels out of the 
factory. 

They also report routinely sewing clothing for Wal-Mart--which U.S. Customs 
documents confirm--and for The Gap. More information will follow.

Please ask the Jordanian Government to intervene immediately and to bring 
the Classic factories into strict compliance with all Jordanian labor laws.

Ask Wal-Mart, Gloria Vanderbilt and GAP to clean up their contractor's plant.

HRH Prince Zeid Ra'ad
Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the US
Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
3504 International Drive, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
Telephone number: (202) 966 - 2664
Fax number: (202) 966 - 3110
E-mail: HKJEmbassyDC at jordanembassyus.org

Lee Scott
President & CEO
Wal-Mart Stores
702 Southwest 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716
FAX: 501-621-2063

Gloria Vanderbilt:
Wesley R. Card, President & CEO
Jones Apparel Group Corporate Offices
1411 Broadway
New York, NY 10018
Tel: (212) 642-3860
Fax: (212) 703-9154

Glenn K. Murphy, Chairman and CEO
Gap Inc. Headquarters
Two Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
tel: (650) 952-4400
fax: (415) 427-2553