Students and factory workers to rally Monday to pressure Georgetown to defend worker rights

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.examiner.com/x-2071-DC-Special-Interests-Examiner~y2009m2d1-Students-and-factory-workers-to-rally-Monday-to-pressure-Georgetown-to-defend-worker-rights?cid=exrss-DC-Special-Interests-Examiner



Georgetown students and two of the Honduran workers who made Georgetown University apparel will rally Monday at 12 noon at Red Square on the Georgetown University campus. They are calling on the school to cut ties with the apparel manufacturer that owns the Honduras factory which the students and workers say committed a series of labor rights violations.
The workers, Moises Elisias Montoya Alvarado and Norma Estela Mejia Castellanos both worker leaders at Russell’s Jerzees de Honduras were fired from the factory after attempting to form a union. The factory was later closed altogether by its owner the Russell Corporation, a major licensee producing Georgetown logo apparel. The students are part of the Georgetown Solidarity Committee, an affiliate of the nationwide United Students Against Sweatshops.

The University of Miami, a major licensor of logo apparel, has already terminated its licensing agreement with Russell over the violations and other universities are considering similar moves.

Russell Corporation violated worker rights by firing over 140 workers for organizing a union, making statements that attributed the plant’s closure to unionization, and the closure decision itself, which was found to be driven by anti-union retaliation.

Closing a factory due, partially or wholly, to the formation of a union is a violation of Georgetown University’s codes of conduct for apparel production.

In response to these violations, a number of U.S. labor rights advocacy organizations have filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an agency of the Organization of Americas States, to take proactive measures to assure these worker leaders’ safety.

[midnight]

1. It would be great if the university listened to the students and

workers, and cut ties with the Russell Corporation.