This week, after nine months of negotiations, workers at the Jerzees Nuevo Dia factory in Honduras and Russell Athletic have negotiated an unprecedented collective bargaining contract. This comes nearly a year and a half after the CGT union federation brought Russell Athletic to the table to negotiate a historic and sweeping agreement as a result of tireless worker organizing coordinated with USAS’s Rein in Russell campaign. The campaign resulted in the re-opening of the Jerzees Nuevo Dia factory and the rehiring of all formerly laid off workers whose factory Russell Athletic had previously shut down in retaliation to worker organizing.
The contract negotiated between Russell and the SITRAJERZEESND union in Jerzee Nuevo Dia includes a 19.5% wage increase, effective immediately, with another 7% wage increase in January; amounting in a 26.5% wage increase overall. In addition to that, the Jerzees Nuevo Dia bargaining team negotiated an expansion of the factory to hire 250 additional workers, as well as free lunches, free transportation to and from work, and investment in new machinery that will help workers reach production quotas and earn higher wages and bonuses. This is absolutely unheard of in the Honduran garment sector.
An important aspect in the agreement signed by the CGT union and Russell Athletic in November 2009 also stipulated that Russell would agree to third-party facilitated freedom of association trainings in all of their other plants, and that Russell and parent company Fruit of the Loom comprise the single largest private employer in the entire country of Honduras.
There’s no way that this unprecedented contract that will transform the Honduran garment sector would have been won without students across the US demanding that universities cut their Russell contracts until Russell came to the table and negotiated with workers, in coordination with tireless worker organizing by the CGT union. We applaud Russell’s shift toward a new business culture that values freedom of association and a cooperative work relationship with the CGT union, and we encourage the company to continue developing this attitude of good will in all their other plants in Honduras and throughout the global apparel industry.
Similarly, we encourage schools to reestablish their Russell contracts in light of this groundbreaking agreement, and for students and consumers to prefer college apparel from union plants such as Jerzees Nuevo Dia and Alta Gracia.
As we turn up the heat on Sodexo and the FLA, let’s remember that students and workers proved that companies can treat their workers with respect and dignity, and that factory and service jobs don’t have to be sweatshop jobs.
Amazing work to everyone involved in the historic Russell campaign and to everyone making history this Spring.
Read more about the Russell Victory here.
