The AIN’T I A WOMAN?! Campaign

Sponsored by:
Chinese Staff & Workers’ Association
P.O. Box 130293, New York NY 10013-0995
Phone: (212) 619-7979 * www.cswa.org * cswa@cswa.org

Workers Launch National Boycott Against Clothing Manufacturer Liberty Apparel & Demand Manufacturer Accountability for Sweatshops in the U.S.

When: Thursday, July 8, 2004 at 12 Noon
Where: 1407 Broadway (between West 38th and West 39th Streets) in Manhattan

The Ain’t I A Woman?! Campaign will launch a national boycott against clothing manufacturer Liberty Apparel and demand that manufacturers like Liberty and DKNY be held accountable to their subcontracted workers. The garment workers who are suing Liberty Apparel will be joined by free-lancers, temp, home attendant, and office workers to collectively demand that Liberty Apparel and other manufacturers stop hiding behind the subcontracting system to try to evade their responsibilities under the labor laws. By coming together in this Campaign, workers are taking a stand against the illusive subcontracting system and sweatshops here in the U.S.

Garment workers toiled in one of the Liberty’s factories in New York City sewing clothing for 14 hours a day at $3 an hour. After working up to 80 hours a week with wages withheld for up to eight months, the workers, mostly women, had little time to eat or sleep let alone be with and care for their families. In fact, several workers had to send their babies back to China to be raised—a growing pattern among overworked, immigrant parents in the U.S.

At the heart of the sweatshop system is the subcontracting system. This system encourages manufacturers to violate the law and reap the greatest profits from workers’ suffering. Although women, immigrants, and people of color are more hardest hit by the subcontracting system, it is spreading well beyond the garment trade to include more and more industries such as construction, temp, high tech, and office work, janitorial and cleaning service, poultry, meat-packing, and home healthcare.

Recently, the Liberty workers got a lower court ruling overturned, but it was sent back to the same lower court judge that originally ruled against the workers. The long-fought gains of workers organizing to hold manufacturers accountable remains in jeopardy. We are boycotting Liberty Apparel because it is using the court proceedings to delay paying the workers. Subcontracted workers are coming together to fight against the rising tide of sweatshops in the U.S. before the case is reheard in the lower court this fall.

Zheng vs. Liberty Apparel Could Gut the Fair Labor Standards Act |
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