On Thrusday June 13 at noon Chicago activists will leaflet Footlocker, 219 S. State Street, to call on Footlocker to support worker rights by urging their supplier, Tainan Enterprises to reopen its Salvadoran textile maquila which the company recently closed to avoid unionization.

Tainan El Salvador's union received legal recognition after a long struggle. They were successfully organizing workers and about to reach the 50% plus 1 threshold that mandates collective bargaining under Salvadoran law when the company closed the plant. The company claimed that there was not sufficient production to maintain the plant, but the company as a whole had plenty of orders--it had just sent then to its other factories around the world.

Following a campaign by U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project, major U.S. customers of Tainan Enterprises, including the Gap, Ann Taylor, and Phillips- Van Heusen have written to Tainan to oppose the company's violation of workers' right to union representation. Footlocker, however, has not done so.

The Chicago action is part of an International Day of Solidarity with the Tainan El Salvador workers. Actions will also take place in El Salvador and in Taiwan, where the company is based. More information is available on the U.S./LEAP web site at www.usleap.org.