TITLE: Emergency Support For College Appparel Workers In Mexico

AUTHOR:

ORG: Kukdong Factory Worker

DATE: January 17, 2001

On Tuesday 9 of January, at 8:00 am 800 workers making college apparel in exico staged a work stoppage. The Kukdong International Mexico factory makes sweatshirts for the Universities of Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, Arizona and Indiana, amongst others. It is located in Atlixco, Puebla. The workers are demanding: 1) That the company disregards the current nonrepresentative union 2) The reinstatement of illegaly fired workers 3) That the company recognize the organization that the workers are forming. Workers plan to continue the stoppage until the company meets the demands. They have taken over the factory and are controlling the gates. Already they have been harassed with anonymous notes and there is some fear that the police or union thugs might attack them. We are asking individuals, and especially organizations, to do the following: 1) Contact Nike and Kukdong and let them know that you are aware of the events in Mexico, and demand that they comply with Mexican laws, Nike's Code of Conduct, University codes of conduct and Agreement 87 of the ILO with regards to the rights of freedom to organize. The addresses are the following: Nike, Kukdong International Mexico SA de CV, Fax: 011-52-244-610-24 E-mail: Kukdong@avante.net.mx 2) Send letters of solidarity (preferably in Spanish) to the workers at the following e-mail address: librado@gofairtrade.net Letter From a Kukdong Worker Brothers and Sisters: We are workers at the Kukdong Internacional SA de CV factory. We make sweatshirts for Nike, some with university logos. We have been working for a year and month, during which we have suffered mistreatment from the Koreans. Some talk to us in their language, and though we do not understand them at the moment, after researching the words, we know that what they call us the most means "trash". We write you to ask for your support and solidarity with the stoppage we have done. We don't want to hurt the company, we just want to remove the union, since we were forced to join it and threatened with being fired if we did not. People who started work in the factory were made to sign their affiliation without knowing what they were signing. The union gained power, but this power was not to help the workers, but to serve the union's and the company's interests. Therefore we were forced to stop work to show our disagreement, and to be heard. We thank you for your attention. Sincerely, Josefina Hernandez Ponce END top