Labor in Nicaragua (from Labor Alert)

[Philip Ferguson <plf13@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I recently received the e-newsletter below from Labor Alert/Campaign for
Labor Rights.  People on the Marxism List might be interested:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


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NICARAGUA: THE STRUGGLE INTENSIFIES
posted September 9, 2000

Campaign for Labor Rights to mobilize its Rapid Action Network!!!
Important new round of leafleting October 5-15!!!
Kohl's is primary focus - leafleting also slated for Target outlets
We urge all anti-sweatshop activists to participate!!!
Kohl's has to concede - Let's make it sooner rather than later!!!

In this alert:
If you are wondering how you got on this list
Update from Nicaragua
Overview of campaign strategy and activity
Plans for new U.S. solidarity activity
Action request - IMPORTANT!!! Oct. 5-15 leafleting



UPDATE FROM NICARAGUA

[Information for this alert provided by the Nicaragua Network:
202/544-9355, <nicanet@xxxxxxxx>; Witness for Peace: 202/588-1471,
<bennett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; and the National Labor Committee:
212/242-3002, <nlc@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The campaign in support of unions in Nicaragua's Las Mercedes free trade
zone is making an impact. Kohl's and Target, the management of the Chentex
and Mil Colores factories, the free trade zone management, the Nicaraguan
government and the U.S. embassy in Nicaragua all have been shaken by the
international pressure which the workers' struggle has inspired.

KOHL'S AND TARGET CUTTING AND RUNNING? There is growing evidence that both
of these U.S. retail companies are downsizing their production at the
conflicted factories. If so, this move is almost certainly an attempt to
avoid the heat which the solidarity campaign has generated. Getting
reliable information on production levels is difficult under the best of
circumstances - even more so when union busting disrupts our intelligence
system (the workers who produce for the various brands).

We have said from the start that Kohl's and Target should not cut and run.
They should use their considerable influence with the management of Chentex
and Mil Colores so that the fired union members are reinstated, the
criminal charges for union activity are dropped, the unions are recognized
and fair contracts are bargained. Far from letting Kohl's and Target escape
the heat, cutting-and-running would only add another reason why we need to
increase the heat. Downsizing and canceling of production contracts where
workers are in struggle is a form of union busting.

THE MANAGEMENT OF MIL COLORES: Craig Miller, the U.S. owner of Mil Colores,
has dropped criminal charges against the workers who had been charged and,
in addition, has asked the justice and labor ministries to decriminalize
the labor conflict at his factory. While it is technically conceivable that
the Nicaraguan government might proceed with those cases, that is hardly
even a remote possibility. Miller's action with regard to the charges is an
important sign that he may be open to negotiating the other serious issues
still outstanding in the Mil Colores labor conflict. He certainly has
reason to doubt the ability of Mil Colores to retain its customers if the
factory remains notorious as a labor rights abuser. The U.S. solidarity
coalition will maintain a spotlight on Mil Colores; however, in order not
to create a disincentive for Miller to come to terms with the union, we are
not turning up the wattage on the situation at Mil Colores as long as there
continue to be signs of progress.

THE MANAGEMENT OF CHENTEX (THE NIEN HSING CONSORTIUM): The Chentex factory
is one of several in Nicaragua owned by the Taiwanese Nien Hsing
consortium. The union at Chentex is the strongest in the free trade zone.
Hence, the Chentex labor conflict has come been receiving most of the
international attention. Lately, both Nien Hsing management and the
management of the Las Mercedes free trade zone have been circulating rumors
that Chentex may need to close in order to deflect international attention.
If this happened, Nien Hsing would either move the current production from
Chentex to existing factories or would set up a new factory to absorb that
production. Such a closure would intensify - not decrease - international
pressure on the consortium as well as on the Nicaraguan government, should
the latter permit this to take place.

One key audience for the Chentex closure rumor is the workers at Chentex
and other factories in the free trade zone. Closure threats add to the
pressures on workers already under enormous stress. It is a measure of the
cynicism of Nien Hsing and free trade zone management that they would go to
these lengths in an effort to disempower workers who have made a decision
to stand up for their rights.

Nien Hsing is not about to skip out of Nicaragua altogether. It has far too
much invested there, and the Taiwanese government is pouring millions of
dollars into various projects by the Nicaraguan government (to buy
influence with officials). The consortium will remain highly vulnerable via
international pressure on its U.S. retail customers and because of the
Nicaraguan government's concern about U.S. trade sanctions.

THE FREE TRADE ZONE MANAGEMENT: Powerful business forces in Nicaragua have
come to realize that the international uproar over union busting in the
free trade zone could scuttle their plan for rapid expansion of foreign
investment in the export sector. Those fears underlie rumors being
circulated by Las Mercedes management and Nien Hsing that Chentex may have
to close in order to spare other factories in the zone from the effects of
the solidarity campaign.

In an interesting complication, Martha McCoy, just relieved of her duties
as Executive Secretary of the Corporation of Free Trade Zones, continues to
speak her mind. She most recently remarked that "foreign investment must go
hand-in-hand with better human and labor conditions." McCoy was replaced
because her views had earned the wrath of factory managers. Fifteen
managers, most of them from Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong, wrote a letter to
the Nicaraguan Minister of Industry and Commerce accusing McCoy (among
other things) of "trying to create offices of occupational hygiene in the
free trade zone, increase wages of our workers..., set up breast-feeding
centers in our factories...."

THE NICARAGUAN GOVERNMENT: Several unions in the free trade zone have been
destroyed this year and others are under attack. People on the ground see
this as a turning-point struggle to defend worker rights in Nicaragua and
throughout Central America. This assault on unions coincides with the
signing into law of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI, or: NAFTA for the
Caribbean and Central America) on May 18 by President Clinton. Since U.S.
retailers and apparel industry leaders are predicting a 500 percent
increase in apparel production in Central America and the Caribbean
following passage of CBI, this sudden onslaught of union busting appears a
calculated attempt to do away with worker rights entirely in order to
attract foreign investors with the lure of maximizing profits.

Papers have been filed with the U.S. government which could potentially
result in Nicaragua's CBI trade benefits being put under review because of
the Nicaraguan government's failure to enforce its own labor code. Such a
review status (in effect, a probation) was used in Guatemala, adding
successfully to the pressure to resolve certain labor conflicts there. In
Guatemala, the review threatened its General System of Preferences (GSP)
trade benefits. The Nicaraguan case would be the first instance in which a
GSP-like review process was applied to CBI. What this alphabet soup comes
down to in plain English is that business-oriented officials in Nicaragua
who hope to take maximum advantage of the country's new trade status by
promoting the free trade zone to foreign investors as a union-free area
will have to think twice if they believe that doing so will place their new
trade benefits in jeopardy.

At this time, the signals from Nicaraguan officialdom are mixed. While the
Labor Ministry sided almost consistently with management for the first half
of this year, even in the face of the most blatant violations of labor law,
the 7th District Criminal Court of Managua has now accepted the Chentex
union's request to stop criminal proceedings in order to give the workers
and local non-governmental organizations an opportunity to present expert
testimony that the situation at Chentex is a labor conflict, not a criminal
case.

Another positive sign is that the Ministry of Labor recently ordered
representatives of yet another free trade zone business, Chen Yong, to sign
an agreement to reinstate some 50 workers fired for conducting a
work-stoppage to demand a wage rise and an end to sexual and other
harassment on the part of management.

THE U.S. EMBASSY IN NICARAGUA: As recently as two months ago, the attitude
of the embassy was that it did not consider the Sandinista union, which was
taking the lead in free trade zone organizing, to be a legitimate player.
Embassy staff branded union leader Pedro Ortega as a "terrorist" and a
"thug" and refused to grant him a visa to speak at conferences in the U.S.
until substantial pressure applied on the State Department by solidarity
allies convinced it to yield.

The Clinton administration puts the promotion of trade above almost any
other activity (short of campaign fund raising). With the intensification
of the campaign against Kohl's and Target, the embassy in Managua has begun
to realize that its dream of establishing Nicaragua as a low-wage haven for
footloose U.S. apparel companies is facing a rude awakening - and the
embassy is changing its tune accordingly.

U.S. Under-Secretary of Labor, Andrew Samet arrived in Nicaragua on August
29 to investigate the situation at Mil Colores and Chentex. In meetings
with union leaders, Mr. Samet expressed concern about the labor rights
situation in the free zone, which has resulted in a rising level of public
outcry in the U.S. and Nicaragua. Mr. Samet now appears to be communicating
to his Nicaraguan counterparts that they have a problem which cannot be
swept under the rug.

LABOR UNREST SPREADS: Labor unrest in Nicaragua's maquiladora (assembly for
export) sector has spread outside the principal free trade zone in Managua.
For several days in early August, 1,800 workers occupied the PRESITEX
garment factory in Sebaco (about 60 miles north of Managua) demanding
better salaries, a review of social security deductions, fair treatment by
management, paid overtime and other basic labor rights.

<><><><><>
OVERVIEW OF CAMPAIGN STRATEGY AND ACTIVITY

A SYSTEMATIC ATTACK ON UNIONS: Early this year, it became apparent that a
systematic attack on unions had begun to take place in Nicaragua's Las
Mercedes free trade zone. Nicaragua has the smallest free trade zone in
Central America, but the most heavily unionized. The evidence suggested
that the Ministry of Labor was supportive of plans by the free trade
management and owners of several clothing factories to rid the area of unions.

SOLIDARITY RESPONDS: Solidarity activists in the U.S. gathered signatures
on a petition addressed to the Labor Ministry, Las Mercedes management and
factory management - with the message that we were prepared to pressure
U.S. retailers which contract for production in the free trade zone. A paid
ad with that message also was placed in a Nicaraguan newspaper.

CAMPAIGN FOCUS: Attention next was focused on the Mil Colores factory.
Later, Chentex became an additional (and then primary) focus. In turn, the
U.S.-based Kohl's and Target companies - both of which contracted for
production in both factories - came under scrutiny. As the companies
continued to deny their responsibility, U.S. human rights activists have
ramped up their consumer pressure campaign step by step.

In early August, the consumer campaign took a new turn when the coalition
of U.S. groups coordinating their efforts made a strategic decision to
designate Kohl's its primary focus until that company agrees to use its
influence with the factory management; Target remains a focus, but
secondary to the emphasis on Kohl's. Although both companies are in a rapid
expansionary phase of opening new outlets (and thus have heightened
vulnerability to consumer pressure), Kohl's is considered the more
susceptible to pressure because it is much smaller than Target. The
coalition decided to make a particular example of Kohl's and, especially,
to turn the grand openings of its new retail outlets into a public
relations disaster for the company. Once Kohl's is convinced to use its
leverage with Chentex and Mil Colores, Target and other U.S. retail
customers of the conflicted factories are likely to see the handwriting on
the wall and intervene with factory management in Nicaragua in order to
avoid going through what Kohl's is experiencing. The U.S. consumer pressure
campaign also is sending shock waves through Nicaragua's elites.

LEAFLETING ACTIONS: In May, with only 14 days notice, local activists
organized an astounding 134 leafleting actions at Target and Kohl's outlets
in 104 cities. Then, during a 30-day period from June 17 through July 16 -
with only 9 days notice! - local activists organized another 95 actions -
during the summer, when it is much harder to mobilize. For both rounds of
leafleting, Campaign for Labor Rights mobilized its Rapid Action Network.
Witness for Peace contributed significantly to the success of the 30 days
of leafleting. STITCH also mobilized for both rounds of action.

U.S. SPEAKING TOURS: Rosa Ocampo, a fired union organizer from the Mil
Colores factory, participated in an earlier tour in May. Pedro Ortega, head
of the union federation representing workers in Nicaragua's free trade
zone, participated in a U.S. speaking tour in June.

DELEGATIONS: In July, a delegation of U.S. unionists visited their
counterparts in Nicaragua and signed an agreement outlining the direction
of the solidarity campaign. In August, a delegation of U.S. religious
representatives visited Nicaragua to demonstrate solidarity with the
beleaguered sweatshop unions. The religious delegation, headed by Bishop
Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, was technically expelled (its ordered
departure coincided with its scheduled departure date); the Nicaraguan
government threatened that it would not permit similar groups to enter the
country in the future since they "incite the people to violence against the
state." Not coincidentally, the expulsion came on the eve of the arrival in
Nicaragua of the president of Taiwan.

ANOTHER TOUR AND MORE DEMONSTRATIONS: Following the August delegation, Rosa
Ocampo (from the Mil Colores factory) and Gladys Manzanares (from the
Chentex factory) participated in a U.S. speaking tour; demonstrations took
place at Kohl's stores all along the tour route, as well as in other
cities, and with extensive media coverage, including a long piece which
aired on NPR. Several actions took place at grand openings of new Kohl's
stores.

U.S. CONGRESSIONAL ACTION: Nicaraguan media noted in August that five US
Congresspeople were directing a strongly worded letter to Taiwan President
Chen Shui-Bian (who recently visited Nicaragua), setting forth the
conditions suffered by workers in the Taiwanese-owned Chentex factory. In
July, 64 U.S. Representatives signed a letter urging President Clinton to
direct the U.S. Embassy and Labor Department "to encourage or even mediate
a return to good faith negotiations between Chentex and [U.S.-owned] Mil
Colores managements and the independent CST unions to resolve this
conflict, including reinstatement of the fired union leaders and members."

INTERNATIONAL LABOR INVOLVEMENT: Neil Kearney, General Secretary of the
International Federation of Textile, Garment and Leather Workers, arrived
in Nicaragua this past week. He has singled out four Nicaraguan garment
factories - Chih Hsing, Jem III, Mil Colores and Chentex - for their poor
labor rights record and has called on them to work with the Nicaraguan
government in respecting human rights. "If not," he cautioned, "it will be
hard for you to sell your products anywhere in the world." The Federation
has a network of 2,150 affiliates in 130 countries.

SUPPORT FROM TAIWAN: Taiwanese unionists have contacted Campaign for Labor
Rights to ask how they can exert pressure in their country in support of
the unions in Nicaragua's Las Mercedes free trade zone.

<><><><><>
PLANS FOR NEW U.S. SOLIDARITY ACTIVITY

KOHL'S: Kohl's is clearly feeling the pressure. Several activities are
planned to increase that pressure until Kohl's agrees to use its influence
with the conflicted factories in Nicaragua.

"S26" ACTIONS: Demonstrations at Kohl's outlets are scheduled for September
25 and 26 by organizers of some of the local "S26" actions taking place
throughout the U.S. in solidarity with the international protest against
fall meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
(scheduled for Prague this year). Jobs with Justice is taking the leading
role in mobilizing for S26, in coordination with the 50 Years Is Enough
network and other U.S. organizations.

MORE DELEGATIONS, MORE SPEAKING TOURS: A second delegation of faith-based
representatives is planned for September 20-23, followed by a U.S. speaking
tour of two Nicaraguan sweatshop workers. A delegation of Kohl's and Target
shareholders is being planned for October 9-16. A November speaking tour by
Nicaraguan workers also is in the works.

AN IMPORTANT NEW ROUND OF LEAFLETING IN OCTOBER: Campaign for Labor Rights
is mobilizing its Rapid Action Network for another major turnout of
leafleting Thursday, October 5 through Sunday, October 15. The primary
focus will be on Kohl's outlets, but leafleting also is planned at Target
outlets. Kohl's has a round of grand openings on October 6 and Target has a
round of grand openings on October 8. Leafleting actions will be at both
existing outlets and newly-opened stores.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS JOIN THE CAMPAIGN: The environmental task force of the
Nicaragua Network, Action for Communities and Ecology in the Regions of
Central America (ACERCA) and Campaign for Labor Rights are collaborating on
a project to research and publicize toxic exposures and other health
hazards in the Las Mercedes free trade zone and toxic run-off endangering
Nicaraguans who live (and fish) downstream from the free trade zone.

<><><><><>
ACTION REQUEST

Important new round of leafleting October 5-15!!!
We urge all anti-sweatshop activists to participate!!!
Kohl's has to concede - Let's make it sooner rather than later!!!

Campaign for Labor Rights is mobilizing its Rapid Action Network and is
calling upon all local anti-sweatshop activists to organize leafleting at
Kohl's and Target outlets sometime during October 5-15. It is a question of
when, not if, Kohl's will realize that it has to use its influence with the
conflicted factories in Nicaragua. This round of leafleting could be decisive!

CONTACT CAMPAIGN FOR LABOR RIGHTS at <CLR@xxxxxxx> or 541/344-5410 to let
us know if you are planning a leafleting event. We will have new leaflet
masters available soon.

Where there is a Kohl's outlet, we are asking that you prioritize
leafleting there. In communities with a Target outlet but no Kohl's, please
leaflet at Target. In communities where both are present, activists may
decide that a roving action would be energizing; however, we ask that you
try to maximize the size of your demonstrations and not dilute the impact
on Kohl's (and the potential for attracting press coverage) by dividing
your demonstrators simultaneously between two sites.

We want leafleting actions in communities anywhere that there are Kohl's or
Target outlets. In communities where a grand opening is planned, this
presents a great opportunity for press coverage - especially if the
demonstration is large.

The demand is for Kohl's and Target not to cut-and-run, but to use their
influence with Chentex and Mil Colores so that those factories rehire the
fired union members, drop charges against unionists (Mil Colores has now
done this!) and recognize and bargain a fair contract with the unions.

KOHL'S GRAND OPENINGS SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 6
In many cases, the stores are open weeks before the grand opening.

COLORADO
Fort Collins; 813 East Harmony Road
Longmont; 1211 S. Hover Street

ILLINOIS
Elmhurst; 303 South Route 83

MICHIGAN
Flint Township; 3030 South Linden Road
Rochester Hills; Hampton Village; 223 East Auburn

MISSOURI
Fenton; Gravois Bluffs; 115 Gravois Bluffs Plaza Drive

NEW YORK
Bay Shore; Masters Plaza; 2060 Sunrise Hwy
Massapequa; 5300 Sunrise Highway
Oceanside; 3600 Long Beach Road

NORTH CAROLINA
Kernersville; Harmon Mill Center; 224 Harmon Creek Road

OKLAHOMA
Owasso; Owasso Market; 12405 East 96th Street North
Southeast Tulsa; Eastside Market; 11001 East 71st Street
Riverside; Riverside Market; 9595 South Delaware Avenue

PENNSYLVANIA
Easton; North Hampton Crossing; 3728 Easton Nazareth Hwy


TARGET GRAND OPENINGS SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 8
In many cases, the stores are open weeks before the grand opening.

CALIFORNIA: Auburn and Costa Mesa
CONNECTICUT: New Britain, South Windsor and Waterford
FLORIDA: Lakeland
MASSACHUSETTS: Everett, Milford, Saugus and Woburn
MARYLAND: Greenbelt
MICHIGAN: North Ann Arbor
MINNESOTA: Northfield
NEW JERSEY: Edgewater and Fairfield
OHIO: Springfield
PENNSYLVANIA: Erie, Plymouth Meeting, State College and West Mifflin
SOUTH CAROLINA: Hilton Head
VIRGINIA: Christiansburg
WASHINGTON: North Gate