News on Sweatshops in Latin America

The last unionized maquiladora in Guatemala has closed but a handful of union activists are demanding justice, including full back pay and severance, relocation to other jobs, and an end to blacklisti

In a significant victory for maquila workers, workers won a collective bargaining agreement on August 12 at a large textile manufacturing facility in the Dominican Republic owned by Hanesbrands, Inc.

The Worker Rights Consortium released a new report in early July, showing that a PRI-affiliated organization, Anotorcha Campesina, carried out violence against the local union at the Mexmode factory i

In this season's review of maquila struggles in Central America, workers face more factory closings, continue to push for negotiations, and fight against economic hardship.

Despite being forced to cast their ballots in public in front of hostile managers and threats of closing the plant, a majority of workers voted for an independent union at the Vaqueros Navarra factor

Factory closings and worker rights violations have continued in Central America in recent months. The following summaries highlight a few of the key recent struggles.

Guatemala

The anti-sweatshop movement suffered another loss when the Just Garments factory was forced to closed in El Salvador in April 2007.

San Salvador, December 20, 2006

To the national and international community

We, the former employees of Hermosa Manufacturing, would like to inform you:

That one year and nine months have passed during which time we have been waiting for the proper authorities to serve justice with regards to our cases and the injustices committed at Hermosa Manufacturing, among them the fact that we have not been paid severance, holiday bonuses, salaries, overtime, and other benefits that we are legally entitled to.

In February, the anti-sweatshop movement lost one of its most important maquila victories as well as the oldest maquila union in the region when two factories closed down in the Dominican Republic and