Main bicycle producer Specialised reportedly owes Salvadoran staff $659,000 in unpaid wages.
A 2024 investigation by the Employee Rights Consortium has discovered that 831 staff who misplaced their jobs after an APS garment manufacturing facility in El Salvador closed in August 2022 have been denied their wages and severance advantages, which is in opposition to Salvadoran regulation.
In reality, in accordance with the Employee Rights Consortium, Salvadoran regulation required that the employees be compensated for 28 days of unpaid wages and 50% of their severance pay by December 13, 2022, with the contingent that APS would safe a purchaser for the manufacturing facility.
APS didn’t safe a purchaser in time, and in consequence, the manufacturing facility’s unionized staff filed a lawsuit in opposition to the manufacturing facility for his or her full unpaid wages and severance pay.
One of many corporations the employees produced clothes for was Specialised. The opposite three corporations are Gildan Activewear, Kellwood Firm, and Hanes manufacturers.Â
Gildan Activewear and Kellwood Firm just lately returned to talks with the employees and agreed to pay them two-thirds of the overall wages and severance owed to them, a fee of 1.34 million {dollars}, in accordance with the investigation.Â
Based on the Clear Garments Marketing campaign (CCC), neither Hanes nor Specialised have assumed any accountability in paying the employees their remaining owed third of the wages and severance pay.
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Salvadoran unions proceed to press Hanes and Specialised to contribute to the ultimate third of wages and severance pay owed to the employees. Inexperienced America, a member of the CCC, has additionally jumped on the push, encouraging American shoppers to stress Specialised with a petition and electronic mail marketing campaign, which has already acquired 10,000 signatures and the assist of 30 organizations.Â
Nonetheless, the CCC claims that Specialised has been “totally unresponsive to all efforts created from labor rights group to debate the case with them,” and has even blocked the e-mail domains of a number of CCC organizations which have tried to contact the corporate on behalf of the Salvadoran staff.Â
The Employees Rights Consortium investigation corroborates this unresponsiveness, stating: “With respect to Specialised, for the reason that APS manufacturing facility closed, each the WRC and APS staff’ representatives have written to its executives on a number of events looking for the corporate’s help in addressing the nonpayment of legally due compensation to the workers. Specialised has by no means responded to those communications.”
In speaking to Biking Weekly, Specialised denies these claims, stating it has been in ‘fixed communication.’
“Specialised takes its dedication to accountable manufacturing very severely. We now have been in fixed communication with our provider that utilized this El Salvador manufacturing facility previously and have clearly communicated our expectation that the employees’ claims be dealt with and resolved appropriately,” Specialised spokeswoman Kelly Henningsen informed Biking Weekly. “Whereas we’re not aware about the main points of the continuing authorized course of involving the employees and the manufacturing facility, we have now been monitoring and can proceed to watch the matter in shut cooperation with our provider and are trying ahead to a decision by means of the native course of and in accordance with our expectation.”
That is an ongoing story. Within the meantime, Specialised has created a webpage devoted to their dedication to accountable manufacturing, which could be seen right here.
