Russell Ath. to rehire laid-off workers (Honduras)

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Workers laid off at a Honduras plant will likely be back to work in 2010.

After Russell Athletic announced changes to its employee maltreatment, the University of Minnesota may be in line to renew an apparel contract they cut just months ago.

“Our office will be advising the University that Russell is now in compliance with our University labor standards,” University General Counsel Mark Rotenberg said.

A vigorous student campaign to end workers’ rights infractions at a Russell Athletic manufacturing plant in Honduras claimed victory Nov. 18 when the Worker Rights Consortium announced an agreement had been reached with the athletic apparel company.

In February, the University dropped its contract with Russell after the WRC reported that the company violated the University’s licensing code of conduct.

“I see no reason why Russell could not be a contracting party for our licensed apparel,” Rotenberg said.

Under the new agreement, Russell will rehire 1,200 workers from its Jerzees de Honduras plant which the company shutdown Jan. 30 in Choloma, Honduras. In addition, the company has pledged $2.5 million in financial aid to the workers, which equates to roughly $2,000 for each worker. Russell also agreed to open a new unionized factory in the country.

“It’s an extraordinary breakthrough for not just the workers of Russell Athletic in Honduras but for workers throughout the apparel

industry in Central America,” said WRC Executive Director Scott Nova. “Workers in that region have been struggling to defend the right to organize for decades in the apparel sector with virtually no success, and there’s been relentless repression of that right by employers throughout the region.”

The WRC is a nonprofit labor rights organization that works with universities to monitor labor conditions in factories around the world.

The national student campaign led by United Students Against Sweatshops pressured more than 90 schools to cut or suspend their contracts with Russell Athletic.

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