Sweatshop free or Union buster?

American Apparel is a leading t-shirt and apparel manufacturer and one of the fastest growing apparel companies in the United States. The company has aggressively promoted itself as a socially responsible company and purported that its products are manufactured 'sweatshop free.' However, for the over 2,000 American Apparel employees, the workplace is not without significant problems.

In September 2003, workers at the factory began organizing a union with UNITE (now UNITE HERE) to address their concerns and to gain a voice on the job. Issues such as no paid time off, lack of affordable healthcare, production methods, and treatment by supervisors were the main issues of workers trying to organize.

The workers efforts to organize and gain the right to collective bargaining were immediately met with serious resistance from the company. Owner Dov Charney and his management team immediately launched an anti-union campaign, even though Charney had publicly stated that he would never interfere with employee organizing and would remain neutral in the process. Through intimidation, interrogation, and threats of closing the facility, American Apparel created an atmosphere of fear that quickly chilled the workers attempts to organize.

The company's activities included holding captive meetings with employees, interrogating employees about their union activities and sympathies, soliciting employees to ask the union to return their union authorization cards, distributing anti-union arm bands and t-shirts, and requiring all employees to attend an anti-union rally. The company's most devastating tactic though was threatening to shut down the plant if the workers organized.

One worker reported that a supervisor told him and others 'if the Union came into the Employer, it was possible that the Employer would have to shut down and move locations. He said that where Unions enter companies, problems are created and companies choose to move locations.' The worker also reported that he was told that his support for the union 'would put 1200 jobs in danger.'

The workers and the union filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board for the company's violations of Federal labor law. The company settled the charges by agreeing to post in the facility a document stating that it would not engage in anti-union activity. However, the company's previous behavior and threats had already succeeded in preventing workers from organizing.

Rather than truly commit to the principles of being 'sweatshop free' and respecting the workers' freedom of association and the right to form unions, American Apparel denies its workers the right to collective bargaining and the ability to have a voice on the job. Many workers still believe they would greatly benefit from union representation and collective bargaining, but are waiting for an atmosphere free of harassment and intimidation that would fairly allow them to exercise their right to decide on union representation.

From Behind the Label