Chicago union members urge clothing stores to raise Cambodia wages

Author: 
WU Chicago (CIMC Repost)
Locality: 

Union Members, Activists to Urge Clothing Retailers to Support Cambodian Workers’ Fight for $177

Union Members, Activists to Urge Clothing Retailers to Support Cambodian Workers’ Fight for $177

Part of September 17 International Day of Action

to Lift Hundreds of Thousands out of Poverty

CHICAGO-On Wednesday, September 17 at 12:00 Noon, local workers, community leaders, and global solidarity activists will visit local stores of global apparel companies selling Cambodian-made garments – including H&M, the biggest buyer of garments from Cambodia – to deliver a message: consumers don’t want clothes that are tainted with exploitation and repression.

The protest will take place as garment workers in Cambodia demonstrate in their workplaces in an effort to raise the minimum monthly wage in one of Asia’s poorest countries to $177 per month. Similar protests are being held in 30 cities including New York, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Dallas and San Francisco.

WHO: Local union members and anti-sweatshop activists.

WHAT: Demonstration, chanting, leafleting, delegation to deliver letter to store manager.

WHEN: 12:00 Noon.

WHERE: H&M at 22 N State St., Chicago, IL 60602

VISUAL: Banners and signs about the low wages of Cambodian workers making H&M clothes.

As Forbes reported earlier this month, a lack of nutrition along with workplace problems such as poor ventilation, high temperatures, and toxic fumes have caused mass faintings of Cambodian workers. Such incidents have been callously dismissed by Cambodian garment industry officials. “Mass faintings happen in any factory in the world,” Ken Loo, general secretary of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, told Forbes.

Workers United, an affiliate of SEIU, represents over 80,000 workers at U.S. apparel factories and distribution centers, laundries and the food services and auto parts industries,

See also: http://www.wwd.com/business-news/government-trade/workers-united-sets-cambodia-wage-campaign-7916808

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