Protesters Draw Attention to Sweatshop Conditions at DKNY
December 22, 2000
By Associated Press
Protesters and organizers from the Oakland-based Asian Immigrant Women Advocates (AIWA) rallied in San Francisco downtown amidst busy shoppers last weekend as part of a nationwide boycott against clothing designer Donna Karan of New York, who is accused of harboring sweatshop conditions at their garment factories.
“Garment workers here in the San Francisco Bay Area face similar working conditions to those sewing DKNY — poverty wages and working conditions that cause permanent injury and disease,” said Stacy Kono of AIWA. For us, supporting the DKNY workers’ call for justice is about supporting all sweatshop workers and demanding corporate responsibility from the greedy manufacturers and retailers.”
The boycott is in conjunction with a class-action lawsuit that holds Donna Karan accountable for alleged labor abuses.
In Los Angeles, a settlement agreement has been reached between twelve garment workers and XOXO Clothing Company Inc., accused of violating labor laws.
Attorneys from the Asian Pacific American Legal Center representing the workers say their clients were denied fair wages and overtime. In some instances, workers were denied pay altogether, the lawyers say.
The company has agreed to settle the case for $62,000, which is five times the amount in wages actually owed to the workers.
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