U.S. Clothing Retailers Settle Saipan Workers Suit
Six more American retailers have settled a wage violation claims class-action lawsuit filed by apparel workers in Saipan.
All the defendants who have settled have agreed to a code of conduct and have earmarked more than $20 million to fund worker compensation and monitoring of the factories in the U.S. territory.
According to Al Meyerhoff, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, the settlement is subject to court approval but is expected to pass smoothly.
“These settlements open a new chapter in Saipan—for workers and factories alike,” said Meyerhoff in a statement. “We are delighted with the outcome and look forward to swift court approval.”
Each of the six U.S. retailers—Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap Inc., J.C. Penney Company Inc., Lane Bryant Inc., the Limited Inc. and Talbots Inc.—will make a one-time contribution to the settlement fund, without making an admission of wrongdoing.
The settlement calls for adherence to strict employment standards, including a guarantee of extra pay for overtime work, safe food and drinking water, and a relocation fee for workers who wish to return to their home country.
The settlement fund will finance an independent monitoring program with unannounced inspections of the factories and investigations of worker complaints.
The lawsuit, alleging that Saipan’s garment industry violated U.S. labor and human rights laws, was filed on behalf of immigrant workers from nearby Asian countries. The suit charged that those workers were drawn to Saipan with promises of high pay but then allegedly encountered a pattern of long hours, low pay and other objectionable working conditions.
The lawsuit named both retailers and manufacturers, and on the retail side, Target is still disputing the claims. On the manufacturing side, Levi Strauss & Co. has not agreed to the settlement, and according to Linda Butler, a spokeswoman for Levi’s, the denim manufacturer had stopped sourcing garments from Saipan before the lawsuit was filed.
“We had used contractors in Saipan for a period of time beginning in 1998, but then we began to phase out our production there,” said Butler. “As our strategic sourcing plans evolved, Saipan wasn’t a part of those plans. We had completed our production by January of 2000, and we were added to the lawsuit in March of 2000.”
Butler also said that even though the settlements are being made without admission of guilt, participation, for Levi’s, would go against company values.
“Fundamentally, the allegations that are made against our company are not true,” she said. “We believe that to settle untrue claims compromises our company’s values. It would have been to our economic advantage to settle quickly [rather] than to continue litigation, but we felt strongly about the principles involved.”
Levi’s will continue to oppose the allegations of the lawsuit, but Butler said that the company is in support of the monitoring program and proposed improvements.
“Given our history of promoting and advocating workers’ rights, we are hoping that the monitoring program will be effective and improve the working conditions in Saipan,” said Butler.
The Saipan garment factories produce more than $1 billion worth of clothing sold annually in U.S. stores. —Darryl James
