Recently, the Emerald ran a letter from the public relations department of Russell Athletic (“Sewing plant closed because of economic issues, not union,” ODE, 5/20/09) in which Russell contested claims brought against it by more than 66 universities nationwide. As a concerned student of UO, I would like to address these claims.
Russell asserts that it was forced to close its Jerzees de Honduras factory strictly for economic reasons. However, there is considerable evidence that anti-union animus played a pivotal role in its decision to close the factory. This information was first addressed in a report by the Worker Rights Consortium and was later corroborated by the Fair Labor Association, which concluded in a resolution sent out on Feb. 16 that “the closure of the factory has been determined, at least to a significant extent, by the existence and activity of the union.” Even if economic arguments can be made for the decision to close the factory, the presence of any anti-union motive automatically makes the closure illegal under both Honduran law and the FLA and WRC codes of conduct.
It is also worth noting that Russell Athletic has a history of taking pejorative action against workers seeking to unionize, then later denying these illegal activities took place. In September 2007, when 145 workers from two Honduran factories were fired for forming a union, Russell vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Later, the company was forcibly held accountable by concerned students across the United States, which resulted in the workers being reinstated. Are we to believe their PR representatives, that the current situation is really any different?
Russell was right about one thing: This issue is very complex. Do not let it fool you into thinking it was a simple matter of economic downturn that closed this factory. Even if the economic situation created a need to close some factories, evidence shows that Jerzees de Honduras was specifically targeted for closure because it was seen as a problem, a place where workers were unionizing to stand up and fight for basic human rights. Russell even admitted as much in early February of this year when it released a statement saying “we acknowledge that management mistakes were made that led to a failure to adhere” to “standards on freedom of association.”
An in-depth analysis of the findings contained within the WRC and FLA reports, as well as updates on the ongoing investigation, can be found at: http://reininrussell.blogspot.com and http://www.workersrights.org/RussellRightsViolations.asp.
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