Workers & Students win the battle of Jerzees Choloma

Russell Athletic, in response to pressure from United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), agreed to re-open its Jerzees Choloma factory in Honduras and re-hire all workers fired, after the factory was shut down following attempts by the workers to unionize. USAS, the national network GSC is a member of, became involved in the case after the Workers’ Rights Consortium, a group that monitors working conditions in factories producing university apparel, reported the violations in the factory.
Numerous students at several high-profile colleges and universities in the United States, many of which are members of the WRC, wrote letters and petitioned their administrators to take action against the injustice done to the workers in the factory in Honduras. In response to the pressure by the students, the universities, including the Univeristy of Guleph and Georgetown University, suspended or threatened to cut their contracts with Russel Athletic, which is owned by clothing company Fruit of the Loom.
After many days of negotiations the WRC, in a statement released to students on the 26th of October, said that the company had agreed, unconditionally, to re-open the factory, re-hire any workers fired and provide back-pay from the date of dismissal to all workers. Russell Athletic also agreed to revise its Code of Conduct to respect the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively. The WRC also pledged to monitor the situation closely and ensure that Russell Athletic would act “expeditiously and aggressively” to remedy the situation.
The WRC report of Findings and Recommendations on the incident can be found here.