The GAP and the Sweatshop Labor in El Salvador
Kernaghan, Charles & Briggs, Barbara
My name is Judith Yanira Viera. I am from El Salvador and I am 18 years old. For over a year, I worked in the Taiwanese-owned Mandarin International maquiladora factory in the San Marcos Free...
...On maquiladora worker in front of a the assembly line Gap store in New York...
...In June, because of all the firings, the workers carried out a work stoppage...
...The colonels hired thugs to beat up the union leaders...
...where I worked, one of the women felt sick and went for a consultation with this doctor...
...There are many minors--girls aged 14, 15 and 16who work in Mandarin...
...Many times these thugs have gone to the unionists' homes at night and demanded that they quit the union, saying that if they didn't, they would suffer the consequences...
...We have all been blacklisted, and cannot find new jobs...
...The Gap sells these shirts for $20 each in the United States...
...and working until 4 a.m...
...In other words, the women's wages amount to under 1% of the sale price of the shirts in the United States...
...She and Claudia Molina, a 17-year-old maquiladora worker from Honduras, crisscrossed the United States and Canada on a two-month speaking tour last year sponsored by the National Labor Committee...
...They would hit us with the shirts and tell us to work faster...
...They make the children work the same long shifts as the adult workers...
...On Fridays, we would work straight through the night, starting at 7 a.m...
...The company called the police, who beat the people who were on strike...
...She found out that she was pregnant, and that the pills the doctor had given her were to make her abort...
...One of the owners of the free-trade zone is former army colonel Mario Guerrero...
...Penney...
...Instead, if a woman feels sick, she must go to the plant's doctor...
...It gets very hot in the plant, and the ventilation is poor...
...Despite ample evidence of labor-rights violations by Mandarin, the Gap has consistently maintained that in its investigations, including several trips to visit the plant in El Salvador, it has found Mandarin to be a "model" operation that treated its workers with "decency and respect " Under intense pressure from the growing evidence of abuses at Mandarin, the Gap announced its decision to pull out of El Salvador in November...
...They would like to continue their studies, but the company does not permit it...
...From Monday to Thursday, our work shift went from seven in the morning until nine at night...
...The Gap continues to deny its role in the exploitation...
...If someone doesn't want to work overtime, they punish her by making her go outside and sweep under the sun for the whole day...
...We would sleep overnight at the factory on the floor...
...He used to follow me in his car...
...They also kidnapped our union's secretary general, Eliseo Castro Perez...
...The women are not allowed to go to an outside health clinic even though they deduct medical insurance from our pay...
...For over a year, I worked in the Taiwanese-owned Mandarin International maquiladora factory in the San Marcos Free Trade Zone, where we made shirts for the Gap, Eddie Bauer and J.C...
...ine Gap acquires a substantial portion of its clothI ing from contractors in Central America, including Mandarin...
...Organizers argue that the company should use its leverage as a major buyer to demand improved working conditions for maquiladora work- ers...
...My two sisters and I were amongst those fired for joining the union...
...On several occasions, this man invited me to go out with him...
...until 5 p.m...
...In June, 1995, the company fired more than 350 workers, including pregnant women, minors and union leaders, which is illegal...
...By pulling out, they say, the Gap further punish- es poor workers in developing countries...
...He told me that if I went out with him I would not be fired...
...They beat him, tortured him, and threatened him, saying that they would kill his family if he didn't reveal the names of the leaders...
...Each time, we had to get a ticket from the supervisor, and then we were allowed no more than three to five minutes...
...Another excolonel, Luis Alonzo Amaya, is Mandarin's head of personnel...
...In the factory, there is no purified water, and the drinking water they give us is contaminated...
...At the Mandarin plant, women like Judith are paid 18 cents for every Gap shirt they make...
...Even though we worked a 14-hour day, we were only permitted to go to the bathroom twice...
...The supervisors often screamed at the women...
...Like a number of other U.S.-apparel firms, the Gap has established much-touted Corporate Codes of Conduct that require contract shops with whom it does business to abide by their countries' labor laws...
...The following day, we would work from 7 a.m...
...He gave her some pills, but she still felt sick the next day, so she went back to the clinic...
...Despite these very long hours, the most I ever earned was 750 colones [about $43] per month...
...Because of all this maltreatment, the workers formed a union...
...Judith Yanira Viera's testimony was gathered by Barbara Briggs and Charles Kernaghan, who are staff members of the National Labor Committee...
...He takes advantage of the situation to give them contraceptive pills so they won't Judith Yanira Viera (left), and another get pregnant...
...I was so afraid that I had to go home accompanied by my two sisters...
...Labor organizers, however, say the company's decision to pull out is tantamount to recognizing its incapacity to monitor its contractors and enforce its own codes of conduct...
Vol. 29 • January 1996 • No. 4
