Jerzees de Honduras Organizers Speak Out!

This Sunday, Feminism Without Borders had the opportunity to host worker/organizers from the factory Jerzees de Honduras, which mades UMD apparel but was unfortunately closed by Russell Athletics to repress unionization on Saturday.

A few interesting notes about the telling testimony of Norma and Moises, VP and President, respectively, of the union in JDH, particularly as it relates to the comments of Joe Ebaugh, UMD's Director of Licensing who negotiates contracts with companies like Russell Athletics.

Joe Ebaugh must be commended for coming out to this event. We e-mailed him an invitation and also publicly called for his attendance, and he did come, despite the odd timing on Superbowl Sunday. However, once again, he seems to be hearing but not really listening!

A particularly interesting interaction was when Ebaugh questioned whether Norma and Moises had recieved the severance package with future opportunities for employment and backed pay, which Ebaugh had heard was promised by Russell executives. Of course, Norma and Moises were familiar with these empty promises; they revealed that in fact they had been blacklisted so they can no longer find work in other factories in Honduras. Notices of jobs that didn't exist were posted on the walls of the factory and all the workers were threatened to try to get the names of the union organizers. When they didn't give in, all workers were blacklisted, with the exception of some of the managers who have been feeding info on the unionization movement to their superiors. Quite a severance package!