VICTORY! #WorkersOverUnderArmour

USAS just learned that Under Armour has committed to pay in full for orders already completed and in production! Follow the Work er Rights Consortium Covid-19 Tracker to check out other brands that have paid up, along with companies that need to follow suit.

This is a great win for thousands of garment workers producing for Under Armour across the globe. Payment of orders will help offset financial uncertainty for workers and their families during this pandemic. Other corporations such as Gap, Walmart, Ross, and Amazon must also commit to paying for their orders in full!

While we celebrate this victory we also know that multibillion-dollar corporations, including the likes of Under Armour and Nike, must be accountable to workers who make their profits possible. Long have brands underpaid workers to reap immense profit off of their labor, union-busted to circumvent workplace organizing efforts, and evaded responsibility for the devastation workers face when brands cut and run — ultimately impacting entire communities. Paying for orders they already placed is the least they can do to be responsible to garment workers. The struggle does not end here as workers on the ground continue to build power and fight for their livelihoods in the face of corporate greed. #PeopleOverProfit

Shout out to everyone who participated in the #WorkersOverUnderArmour tweet storms, photo actions, sent demand letters, and signed and shared the petition. Thank you for your solidarity!

“We found out today that Under Armour, a brand that many colleges and universities license with, has finally committed to pay for the orders it already placed. This is a huge win for garment workers we’re in solidarity with in places such as Indonesia. It’s unacceptable that Under Armour took this long to make a commitment to pay for its orders — what amounts to pocket change for a brand that is worth billions of dollars. At the end of the day, while we celebrate this victory we also know that multibillion-dollar corporations, including the likes of Under Armour and Nike, must continue to be accountable to the workers who make their profits possible. Long have brands underpaid workers to reap immense profit off of their labor, union-busted to circumvent workplace organizing efforts, and evaded responsibility for the devastation workers face when brands cut and run — ultimately impacting entire communities. These injustices are not a thing of the past. Exploitation is alive and well in the global garment industry and USAS is here to say enough is enough. Under Armour paying for orders they already placed is the least they can do to be responsible to garment workers. The struggle does not end here as workers on the ground continue to build power and fight for their livelihoods in the face of corporate greed.”

— Ana Jimenez, USAS International Campaigns Coordinator

Please donate to USAS and help us win more victories!

Thank you for participating in the #WorkersOverUnderArmour Photo Action!

What do students, workers, cats, dogs, and chickens all have in common? They’ve had ENOUGH of Under Armour stalling and failing to join other major brands in committing to pay in full for garment orders completed and in production. #WorkersOverUnderArmour

The WRC’s COVID-19 Tracker shows which brands are acting responsibly toward suppliers and workers during the pandemic: www.workersrights.org/issues/covid-19/tracker

Take a look at the photo collage featuring workers, students, alumni, and animal friends! Stay tuned for campaign updates and actions next week!

Photo Action #WorkersOverUnderArmour

Thank you for participating in Tuesday’s Twitter action! Join garment workers TODAY by participating in the #WorkersOverUnderArmour photo campaign! Under Armour has yet to make a public commitment to pay for the orders they’ve already placed and just a few days ago we learned that workers producing for Under Armour in Indonesia have experienced a cut in their wages.

Linda Ratnasari, a garment worker at the PT Kaho Indah Citragarment factory in Indonesia shares: “Both brands and suppliers have been making huge profits from our labours all these years, and now in this pandemic they don’t want to take responsibility for our well being by cutting our wages. As a worker and a mother of a new baby I am now deeply worried, how am I going to provide for both myself and my child? My husband works at the same factory with me, and now our wages are going to be reduced to half, while prices of the basic needs are now soaring due to current situations.”

Linda is one of thousands of garment workers whose ability to provide for themselves and their families is not only being impacted by this global pandemic but also by brands like Under Armour’s irresponsibility to workers.

Today, be in solidarity with garment workers like Linda in Indonesia and across the world by creating a sign that says “Under Armour pay your orders! Do right by garment workers! #WorkersOverUnderArmour” and taking a selfie! Your solidarity picture can be posted across social media platforms and here are sample tweets/captions that can be shared with your picture! Just remember to tag @UnderArmour and @USAS and include the hashtag #WorkersOverUnderArmour in your tweets and captions:

Supporter tweet/caption: I support garment workers! It’s time for @UnderArmour to join major brands like @Nike & @adidas in committing to pay in full for orders completed and in production. #WorkersOverUnderArmour usas.org/paygarmentworkers @USAS

Worker solidarity tweet/caption: I support workers at Pt. Kahoindah Citragarment in Indonesia who are making @UnderArmour apparel! Their wages have been cut by 50%! @UnderArmour must commit to pay completed/orders in production in full! #WorkersOverUnderArmour usas.org/paygarmentworkers @USAS

Student tweet/caption: Students like me are in solidarity with garment workers! If @Nike could #JustPayIt why can’t @UnderArmour pay for orders completed/in production. #WorkersOverUnderArmour usas.org/paygarmentworkers @USAS

If your university licenses with Under Armour (University of Maryland, University of California system, University of Wisconsin–Madison, etc) tweet/caption:

As a student of (university) which licenses with @UnderArmour I demand you stop putting the livelihoods of garment workers at risk! Commit to pay for completed/orders in production in full! @Nike did it why can’t you? #WorkersOverUnderArmour usas.org/paygarmentworkers @USAS

We look forward to seeing all of your pictures!

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Take action in support of garment workers by tweeting Under Armour:

Supporter tweet: I support garment workers! It’s time for @UnderArmour to join major brands like @Nike & @adidas in committing to pay in full for orders completed and in production. #WorkersOverUnderArmour usas.org/paygarmentworkers @USAS

Worker solidarity tweet: I support workers at Pt. Kahoindah Citragarment in Indonesia who are making @UnderArmour apparel! Their wages have been cut by 50%! @UnderArmour must commit to pay completed/orders in production in full! #WorkersOverUnderArmour usas.org/paygarmentworkers @USAS

Student tweet: Students like me are in solidarity with garment workers! If @Nike could #JustPayIt why can’t @UnderArmour pay for orders completed/in production. #WorkersOverUnderArmour usas.org/paygarmentworkers @USAS

If your university licenses with Under Armour (University of Maryland, University of California system, University of Wisconsin–Madison, etc) tweet the following:

UPDATE: Nike Victory & Under Armour Action #WorkersOverUnderArmour

Breaking! Nike has committed to pay in full for the garment orders they placed that have been completed or are still in production according to the Worker Rights Consortium’s Covid-19 Tracker.

However, Under Armour has yet to commit and this is unacceptable! It’s time for us to let them know they must put #WorkersOverUnderArmour and publicly commit to paying for their orders.

There is no excuse for a brand making billions to fail to pay for the orders they’ve already placed which impacts workers and their family’s livelihoods over the coming months during this trying time. Under Armour must pay workers what they are rightfully owed! #WorkersOverUnderArmour

Take action in support of garment workers TODAY at 2pm EST by tweeting Under Armour:

If your university licenses with Under Armour (University of Maryland, University of California system, University of Wisconsin–Madison, etc) tweet the following:

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Support Garment Workers Now- Nike & Under Armour Need to Pay Up! #JustPayIt #WorkersOverUnderArmour

There’s an urgent need to support garment workers right now! Sign and share this petition throughout your networks! Also please tweet the following:

Tweet: Unlike brands such as Adidas, multibillion-dollar corps like @Nike & @UnderArmour have failed to publicly assure suppliers they’ll pay for orders they already placed, putting garment workers’ lives at risk. Sign petition: https://bit.ly/PayGarmentWorkers #JustPayIt #WorkersOverUnderArmour

The global pandemic we’re facing has led to growing precarity in the lives of millions of workers across the garment supply chain. Unlike other international garment brands such as Adidas, multibillion-dollar corporations like Nike and Under Armour have failed to publicly assure suppliers that they will pay for orders that are already in the process. As a result, millions of garment workers, most of whom are women of color and the sole breadwinners of their families, are at risk of losing their jobs without compensation or severance.

Garment workers already experience poverty wages, unsafe working conditions, and attacks on their right to organize unions. The pandemic further exacerbates these conditions, in which once again, the heavy toll of brands’ negligent actions falls on workers. Brands have built billions of dollars in profit on the backs of garment worker labor and, during this crisis, millions of garment workers from Bangladesh to Myanmar, and Cambodia to Honduras, are calling on brands to pay up!

Two of the largest sportswear brands in the world, Nike and Under Armour, have not made a public commitment to continue paying the orders they have already placed to their suppliers. Because the orders were already placed, there are cases in which suppliers have already bought the fabric or have already hired workers to complete those orders. Without the commitment to pay for these orders, workers will not be paid. We know very well that Nike’s history of sweatshop scandals is ever so salient despite efforts to align themselves behind messages of racial justice and women empowerment. Such actions on behalf of the company, especially during a global health crisis in which, more than ever, unequal power relations are being exposed, demonstrates a complete disregard for the lives of the workers who make Nike and Under Armour’s profits possible. These companies have literally built their empires upon the backs of working-class women of color.

Nike and Under Armour must commit to pay for orders in factories where women workers have secured a voice at the table and rights on the job through decades of organizing. If they do not, this further demonstrates the ways that brands exploit the global garment supply chain, ultimately devastating the lives of millions of women workers and their families. In 2019 Nike alone hit revenues of $39 billion. There is absolutely no excuse for them to not pay workers who are the very reason these profits are even possible. Nike and Under Armour must pay workers what they are rightfully owed!

We demand Nike and Under Armour to make a public commitment to pay for the orders they’ve already placed. In addition, because these brands have demonstrated a history of being highly negligent and irresponsible, we demand they provide a guarantee of income to suppliers to allow them to continue to pay workers for the next 3 months. These are the same workers brands like Nike and Under Armour have made billions of dollars off of by underpaying them for years. The least they can do is pay for the orders they’ve already placed and help secure workers and their families livelihoods over the next few months during this trying time. Enough is enough! #JustPayIt #WorkersOverUnderArmour

Sign and share this petition throughout your networks! Also please tweet the following:

Please donate to USAS and help us win more victories!alu