Boycott of Liberty Apparel Continues as Workers Ready for Court Case

by Amee Chew
June 30, 2005

In New York City, a worker-called boycott of Liberty Apparel continues. The workers, along with the Chinese Staff and Worker Association (CSWA), are renewing their calls for organizing, because their case is set to be reheard in a lower court later this year.

In 2001, 26 garment workers came forward to demand that Liberty Apparel take responsibility for sweatshop conditions that included 14-hour workdays, wages of $3 per hour, and no overtime pay. Their workweeks of over 80 hours were so grueling that some women were forced to send their babies back to China to be raised. The workers have still not been paid for four to eight months of work, while Liberty Apparel representatives continue to visit factories and order speed ups if the workers want their pay.

When a lower court ruled against the Liberty workers, they appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. After hundreds of supporters demonstrated outside the courthouse, the Appeals Court overturned the lower court's decision – but has sent the case back to the same court to be heard this fall.

Over the last few decades, garment and other subcontracted workers in NYC successfully used the Fair Labor Standards Act and other laws to hold manufacturers – or “general contractors” – accountable, including DKNY, Streetbeat Sportswear, Tracy Evans, Kathie Lee Gifford, and the City of New York. The Liberty case might reverse these hard-won gains if the lower court delivers an unfavorable ruling. Several groups of subcontracted workers who are organizing in NYC, including a new group of Streetbeat workers, are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the case.

CSWA's “Ain't I A Woman?!” campaign notes that Liberty is using the subcontracting system to deny responsibility for conditions they profited from for years. This system encourages manufacturers' intentions to violate the law, and moreover, is spreading beyond the garment industry to other trades such as construction, temp work, high tech office work, janitorial and cleaning service, poultry, meat-packing, and home healthcare. Increasing numbers of working people in the U.S. face escalating overwork for some and underemployment for others. While women, immigrants, and people of color are hardest hit, CSWA reminds us that sweatshop conditions are not only a “Third World” or “immigrant” phenomenon.

The boycott of Liberty Apparel is an attempt to bring together people from diverse backgrounds, to demand that manufacturers be held accountable to their subcontracted workers, and demand that Liberty Apparel pay the unpaid wages and overtime owed to the workers.

Boycott Liberty Apparel!

Liberty Apparel makes clothing under several different labels, including:

• L.A.N.Y.
• Beware!
• Girl Tribe
• GODDESS
• Iced Blues
• Zoey Beth

Liberty Apparel is carried in retail stores across the country:

• Family Dollar
• Fashion Cents/Norstan Apparel
• Simply Fashion
• Conway
• if you find Liberty Apparel at a store near you, click here for how you can help.

To sign a boycott pledge online, click here.

For more info about the campaign and how to get involved, click here.