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Author Topic: Sweatshop Diddy?
robbie_dee
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Babbler # 195

posted 30 October 2003 01:04 PM      Profile for robbie_dee     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Hip Hop Fashion Star's Line is Tagged with a Sweatshop Label (NYT)

quote:
19-year-old Honduran apparel worker and a leading workers' rights group said yesterday that the hip-hop artist Sean Combs was using a sweatshop in Honduras to produce tens of thousands of shirts for his Sean John fashion company.

The worker, Lydda Eli Gonzalez, said the factory's managers yelled and cursed at workers, forced them to work unpaid overtime and fired employees for being pregnant. She said that when workers sought to unionize last summer to improve conditions, she and 14 other outspoken union supporters were suddenly fired.

Steve Hawkins, owner of the factory, Southeast Textiles S.A., called the charges lies and said that the factory strictly complied with the law and maintained good conditions.


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[ 30 October 2003: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]


From: Iron City | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
robbie_dee
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 195

posted 30 October 2003 01:10 PM      Profile for robbie_dee     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Here's an update:

Honduran industrialist accuses worker who spoke out of 'treason'

quote:
[Maquila worker] Gonzalez spoke to reporters in New York on Tuesday -- and on Wednesday, a leading Honduran industrialist said her statements amounted to treason.

"Those who defame the country are traitors to the motherland because they do not build, but only damage, and represent nothing and nobody," fumed Jesus Canahuati, president of the Association of Maquiladoras of Honduras, the umbrella organization representing the industry.
***
"This charge comes at a bad moment because we are about to conclude a free trade agreement with the United States," Canahuati said. Free trade opponents are "looking to damage the textile industry, which is one of the main issues that is being negotiated," he added.


[ 30 October 2003: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]


From: Iron City | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
robbie_dee
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 195

posted 31 October 2003 06:44 PM      Profile for robbie_dee     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
P Diddy feels the Heat Over Sweatshop Charge (Washington Post)

quote:
When he created a garment line with the slogan "It's not just a label, it's a lifestyle,"19-year-old Lydda Eli Gonzales may not have been what he had in mind.

But there she was Tuesday, a small-boned Honduran woman standing in front of the Fifth Avenue building that will house Sean John next spring, accusing the owners of the factory where she worked of imposing mandatory unpaid overtime, instituting pregnancy tests for new employees and serving the women water that contained fecal matter.

"We are totally slaves," said Gonzales, who worked in the factory in Choloma for 13 months. "We live inhumane lives."



From: Iron City | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged

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