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Hollywood Stars: Don't Wear Hugo Boss on the Oscar Red Carpet

When you're selling high-end fashion like Hugo Boss suits, you can afford to pay decent wages to the people who make them. But Hugo Boss is stuck in the 20th Century. They say they need to shut down their U.S. suit factory in Cleveland and fire more than 300 workers. They say they want to make suits more cheaply in Turkey or Eastern Europe. They don't even claim the Cleveland factory is losing money -- they just say they need to make a bit more money. Please.

That's why Danny Glover is asking stars not to wear Hugo Boss on the red carpet -- and show their solidarity with workers with a pin on their lapels.

Click below to take action by contacting the celebrities yourself.

http://action.workersunitedunion.org/page/s/tellhollywood

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Hugo Boss Workers Fight to Save their Jobs

Hugo Boss spends millions on sports sponsorships like competitive sailing, tennis, golf, auto racing, and soccer.

And yet they'd like you to believe that they can no longer afford to employ suit manufacturing workers in the U.S.

Don't believe them.

Click here to watch worker video.

Hugo Boss made more than $140 million in profits in the first nine months of 2009, according to the company's third-quarter report. The company paid shareholders more than $135 million in dividends last year, on top of a huge dividend of $637 million in 2008.

The amount Hugo Boss says it is trying to save by closing its U.S. suit manufacturing plant is only a few million dollars... a drop in the Hugo Boss bucket.

Tell Hugo Boss Chief Operating Officer Dr. Andreas Stockert to keep the company's U.S. suit manufacturing plant open and keep hard-working Americans on the job.

Andreas_Stockert@HugoBoss.com

212-940-0600

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GAP's 1969 flashback -- These jeans are UNION MADE!

Gap LogoThe GAP's 1969 "Real Straight" jeans sporting the "Made in Canada" label are made by Workers United, SEIU members.  In the 1990's, consumer outrage forced the GAP to address sweatshop conditions at their factories overseas.  10 years later, the GAP's turnaround includes improved environmental practices, a vender compliance program that monitors overseas factories, and a commitment to manufacturing, in part, at union shops in North America.

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Ontario Workers Fend off UNITE HERE Raids and Win!

ontario workers marchThe Ontario Labour Relations Board confirmed that 90 percent of workers at seven workplaces across Ontario voted to be represented by the Workers United Ontario Council instead of UNITE HERE. "I don't know how many times and in how many ways we have to tell UNITE HERE we don't want to be part of their union," said Joe Barbisan, a Xerox worker and President of Workers United Local 1414B, a local of the Ontario Council.  Votes have been taking place since September of this year, but ballot-counting was delayed after UNITE HERE filed motions to prevent workers' votes from being counted.

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NLRB Rejects Aramark's Excuses

The National Labor Relations Board found merit in charges that Aramark unlawfully refused to bargain with 220 members of Workers United, Western States Regional Joint Board, Local 3, at three Bay Area industrial laundries. The board has accepted a settlement that requires the company to negotiate with workers, grant union representatives access to its laundries and pay the union months of escrowed union dues. "With the economy being so bad, we need the security of a strong union contract to make ends meet and to make sure we have health insurance for our families," said Nelida Rincon, a 20-year employee and first shift shop steward for Local 3.

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Hartmarx workers rally against big bank greed

union members rally against ABAWhen the American Bankers Association showed up in Chicago this week they were greeted by 5,000 angry taxpayers rallying to demand accountability from bailed out banks. Four hundred Workers United members employed by Hartmarx turned out for the protest.

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Workers United Rallies to Save the Garment Center

Local 10 members at Save the Garment Center RallyThe fight to protect New York's Garment Center heats up again! Workers United joined Save the Garment Center coalition members including top fashion designers like Nanette Lepore, retailers like Bloomingdales, fashion students and elected officials to ask the city to protect the garment industry's manufacturing space and use tax incentives to encourage further economic growth.

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Workers United Featured in New HBO Doc

Schmatta posterSchmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags, is a new HBO documentary that tells the story of NYC's Garment District (watch the trailer online). The film prominently features Workers United President Bruce Raynor and Joe Raico, a retired garment cutter and President of Local 10.

Schmatta debuted on Monday, October 19th on HBO and will air again next month. Schmatta shows how unionizing the garment industry made the American Dream possible for countless immigrant workers and how bad trade deals weakened the middle class. It depicts the dangers of sweatshops and the fight that union workers led against unsafe conditions in garment factories.

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Philly School Workers Unveil a "Lethal Weapon"

Danny Glover and school workers at city hallActor and activist Danny Glover joined Philadelphia school workers to announce a new resolution that could raise wages for hundreds of the lowest paid workers in Philadelphia's schools.

"Labor unions have been a real force for good in the life of my family and in so many other families like mine," said Glover.  "Unfortunately, food service workers and noon time aides in Philadelphia's schools haven't had the wages, benefits and respect they deserve." Read the Philladelphia Daily News for more:

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Say No to Backroom Deals and Payoffs - Let the Workers Vote

Right now, the democratic vote of workers all over St. Louis is being overruled by a backroom deal orchestrated by UNITE HERE President John Wilhelm. Worse, a Local 74 official reported that Wilhelm offered him tens of thousands of dollars to hijack the Local and return to UNITE HERE.

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