Han-Soll Factory, Sweating for the NBA and NFL

Cover design: Tomas Donoso

July 2005

NFL and NBA Workers in Honduras

A Report by the National Labor Committee 540 West 48th St., 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10036 Tel: 212-242-3002 Fax: 212-242-3821 www.nlcnet.org

Table of Contents Report Research Method Introduction Update on Factory Conditions Han-Soll and FITH Agreement List of NFL/NBA Jerseys Made in Han-Soll Factory PIERS Documents Transcript 1 Transcript 2 – Julia Transcript 3 Documentation of Hours, Wages and Production Costs Hours Wages Pay Stubs Declining Wages Production Costs PIERS Documents Profile of New York Giants Jersey Made in Han-Soll Following the Money Trail An Appeal

Addenda Transcript 4 Select NFL/NBA Jerseys PIERS Documents Honduras Exports U.S. Department of State Human Rights Report on Honduras, 2004 Codes of Conduct

A note on how the research was conducted This report is a rare opportunity to hear directly from the workers in Honduras who sew NFL and NBA jerseys. Unlike Reebok, which spends over $150 million dollars a year on advertising and has no trouble making its voice heard, the Han-Soll workers repeatedly warned us that if management ever found out that they were meeting with us, they would all be fired immediately.

It took great courage, and trust, for these workers to come forward to tell the truth about factory conditions and the violations they endured.

The NLC interviewed dozens of Han-Soll workers between April and July 2005, our last interviews being on Sunday, July 17. At each meeting we spoke with different groups of HanSoll workers, repeating the same questions to verify our information. The meetings were conducted in safe locations and under the condition that the workers’ identities would remain strictly confidential to protect them from being fired. We received numerous worker pay stubs, and visited the workers in their poor homes. Such home visits more than anything else graphically illustrated the below subsistence wages earned by workers sewing $75 jerseys for the NFL and NBA. On two occasions, we filmed the workers locked in the Han-Soll factory compound, having to purchase their lunch from outside vendors by stretching their arms over the fence and through the barbwire.

Using PIERS (Port Import Export Research Service) data, which is compiled from U.S. Customs documents, we were able to track millions of dollars worth of NFL and NBA jerseys shipped from the Han-Soll factory in Honduras to Reebok in the U.S. In this way, we also discovered that the landed customs value of the $75 jerseys was just $5.03 each.

Through store searches—NBA Store, Champs, Foot Locker, Modell’s, and Sports Authority— we were able to purchase 26 individual jerseys made in Honduras carrying the names of NFL and NBA superstars.

Terrell Owens, Plaxico Burress, Jason Kidd…

NFL and NBA Jerseys made in Developing World Sweatshops When we purchase a $75 NFL or NBA jersey, do we ever imagine that they were made by young women…

•

Locked in a factory compound ten to thirteen hours a day;

•

Discriminated against if they become pregnant;

•

Being paid just 19 cents for every $75 jersey they sew—meaning their wages amount to just 3/10 of one percent of the jersey’s retail price!;

•

Insulted, shouted and cursed at by supervisors who are constantly speeding up the production lines;

•

Who are discouraged from speaking and need permission to use the bathroom—and if they take too long, supervisors come to get them out;

•

Who can be docked three days’ wages for taking a sick day;

•

Who are forced to work overtime and can be at the factory up to 64 hours a week;

•

Earning a base wage of just 65 cents an hour, which meets only 60 percent of a family’s basic food needs, leaving them trapped in deplorable living conditions;

•

Who have no idea that Reebok, the NFL, or the NBA even have codes of conduct which are supposed to protect their rights—many instead thinking the codes are rules demanding overtime to meet production goals;

•

Who have no rights, who could be fired for even meeting with us, and surely would be fired and blacklisted if management even suspected they were organizing.

These are the conditions in the Han-Soll factory in Honduras where jerseys for the NFL and NBA are being sewn.

Han-Soll Honduras, S.A. de C.V. Km 22.5, Carretera a Occidente Montegrande, Naco, Quimistan Santa Barbara, Honduras -Phone: 504-559-1521/23 -South Korean-owned.

-Approximately 1,500 workers in two plants—A and B. As the Honduran government has extended free trade zone status to cover the entire national territory of the country, the Han-Soll factory—and its U.S. clients, the NFL, NBA and Reebok—are exempt from all corporate income, province and municipal taxes, as well as from all import and export tariffs.

Han-Soll is a multinational in its own right, with a total of nine factories in Honduras, Vietnam, Saipan, Guatemala, and South Korea. In addition to Reebok, the NFL and NBA, Han-Soll produces clothing for Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Victoria’s Secret, and the Limited among others.

The Han-Soll factory in Honduras has the capability to produce 1.3 million garments per month and 15.6 million for the year.

The Han-Soll factory is just one of many making jerseys under sweatshop conditions for the NFL, NBA and Reebok. In the Southern Apparel factory, also in Honduras, Michael Jordan Bulls jerseys were made for Nike under the same abusive conditions, where workers were stripped of their rights. In El Salvador, at the Chi Fung factory, Nike made NBA jerseys under exploitative conditions. The Chi Fung factory resembles a prison, with a locked metal gate, turrets, and armed guards.

It does not have to be this way.

We know from shipping documents required by the U.S. Customs Department that the NFL and NBA jerseys made at the Han-Soll factory enter the U.S. with a landed customs value of just $5.03. The landed customs value accounts for the total cost of productions of the jerseys— including all materials and accessories, both direct and indirect labor, profit to Han-Soll management, and shipping costs.

This means that the NFL, NBA and Reebok are marking up the price of the $75 jerseys by 1,400 percent. In fact, Reebok spends $3.26 just to advertise the jersey, 17 times more than they pay the sewers who made it.

So surely there is enough money for the NFL, NBA and Reebok to clean up the Han-Soll factory, to end the violations, and pay the women a wage sufficient to at least allow them to climb out of misery and into poverty, and to live with a modicum of dignity.

Though, in effect, each worker sews 40 jerseys a day, and 400 in two weeks, a single NFL and NBA jersey retailing for $75 is equal to what the workers earned in that two-week period.

This is an appeal.

This is not an attack on the NFL or the NBA and certainly not on the players, who no doubt have not the slightest idea where or under what conditions the jerseys carrying their names are made.

Nor is this an attack against Reebok, which may even rank among the more decent corporations.

This is an appeal. If the NFL, NBA, Reebok and the players take these violations seriously, they have the power to turn Han-Soll into a model factory overnight. One thing is certain though. It is wrong for the players associations to be using royalties gained through sweatshop labor to finance their own strike fund and union.

The NFL, NBA and Reebok should not pull their work from the Han-Soll factory, but they must demand that the rights of the workers are finally respected.

Members Amount Collected in Dues Amount Collected in Licensing Royalties

NBA Players Association 414 $4,750,000 $30,000,000

NFL Players Association 2080 $18,529,725 $46,679,478

*Information from NBA and NFL Players Association LM-2 Filings with the US Department of Labor

UPDATE – JULY 21, 2005 Han Soll, responding to National Labor Committee investigation and possible media attention, institutes significant factory reforms.

As of Tuesday, July 12, Han Soll has ended the mandatory 13-hour shifts from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., which were typically demanded two or three nights a week. Shortly before this, Han Soll also ended the obligatory one hour of overtime, from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., which was routinely demanded on a daily basis. Now the workers are let out at 4:30 p.m. each day after completing the legal regular eight-hour work day.

Also, on Friday evening, July 15, Han Soll’s general manager, Shin Woo Kang, signed an agreement with Israel Salinas, president of the progressive Independent Federation of Honduran Workers (FITH), committing to weekly meetings to improve worker-management relations at the factory and agreeing in practice that a union will finally be allowed to be formed at the plant.

The new union will work to end the violations, to improve factory conditions and respect for worker rights, and will seek fairer wages. Before this, two attempts to organize a union at Han Soll were blocked through illegal firings.

At this stage, these are just promises. There is always the possibility that Han Soll, in a month or two, after international pressure is lifted, could return to its former sweatshop practices.

However, this is not likely, since it appears that Reebok was pressing very hard behind the scenes to bring about these reforms. For now, we must recognize and applaud the significant improvements committed to by Han Soll and Reebok.

These sudden improvements made in reaction to the NLC investigation clearly prove what we have been saying all along. If is the tiny NLC was able to quickly win such improvements, one can only imagine what could be accomplished if the NFL, NBA and the players applied similar concrete pressure. Especially the players. These are some of the greatest athletes in the world, enjoying enormous celebrity status and power. If even a small group of these famous athletes would speak out, they could have a profound impact toward ending sweatshop abuses across the world. And if anyone could demand an end to starvation wages and insist on payment of at least subsistence level wages for the women sewing their jerseys, who is in a better position to do this than these powerful athletes?

The players should demand that anyone sewing their jerseys—or other logo products—be treated with respect, guaranteed their legal rights and paid a subsistence level wage so that they could climb out of misery and at least into poverty.

This could have an impact across the world, since NFL, NBA and for that matter, Major League Baseball goods are being made not just in Honduras, but also in China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Russia, Korea, Guatemala, Costa Rica and El Salvador.

What Must Be Done * The players must adopt strict human rights standards—guidelines demanding that any jerseys or other logo goods carrying their names are made only by workers whose rights are respected and who earn at least a subsistence-level wage. And, yes, these workers must have the right to organize a strong, independent union to defend their rights, just as the players have done. * The players, the NFL and NBA should release the names and addresses of the factories they use around the world to make their trademark goods. The transparency that comes with such public disclosure would be a powerful statement by the players and the owners that they are not trying to hide sweatshop production, the violation of women’s rights or below-subsistence wages. This is a very simple, doable step which could easily be carried out with the tap of a finger to print out these factory lists.

At Least a Beginning: In a modest first step, Han Soll management signed an agreement with the Independent Federation of Honduran Workers (FITH) and the Unitary Confederation of Honduran Workers (CUTH) to begin regular weekly meetings to improve labor management relations and working conditions. This is a significant step, since the two previous attempts to form a union at Han Soll were met with illegal firings.

Secretary of State in the Offices of Labor & Social Security Regional Offices SPECIAL AGREEMENT In Naco, municipality of Quimistán, department of Santa Barbara. It being 4:00 p.m., Friday, 15th of July, 2005.

Having met in the offices of the company HANSOLL HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V. on the part of representatives of the company, Mr.’s SHIN WOO KANG, general manager, JEONG HWA LEE of Social Compliance, SUNG TAE KING, Administrative Manager, and LOURDES MEJIA HAWARD in her condition as legal representative of the company HANSOLL DE HONDURAS S.A. DE C.V.; for the INDEPENDENT FEDERATION OF HONDURAN WORKERS (FITH) ARMANDO VILLATORO and ALEJANDRO DERAS; for the UNITARY CONFEDERATION OF HONDURAN WORKERS (CUTH), ISRAEL SALINAS and BAUDILIO ANDARA, and for the Ministry of Labor in representation of the honorable Secretary of State, lawyer GERMAN EDGARDO LEITZELAR VIDAURRETA done by Lawyer EDIL NOEL IZAGUIRRE BACA in his condition of Regional Director of Labor and the Lawyer FRANCIS LEONEL ANAMORADO, Labor Section Attorney. The meeting, realized at the initiative of ANDREW J. SAMET to seek solutions to the developing problem in the company HANSOLL DE HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V. and arises from the firing of worker members and Leaders of the Union of said company, whose legal recognition was granted on August 25 and inscription on October 4 of 2004, which is duly registered in the office of registry of Social Organizations of the Ministry of Labor. After long deliberations, the following agreements were reached.: 1.) The company declares that it did not have official information of the existence of the union, but that now, knowing the legal documentation of said organization, it agrees to work in a joint manner with the union organization.

2.) That the Union and Company agree to have meetings once a week to seek solution to the problems that present themselves in worker-management relations.

3.) The Union declares its willingness to cooperate with the Company so as to maintain an atmosphere of good relations.

4.) The parties agree to initiate a process of positive coexistence in the framework of respecting the labor laws existing in the country.

The signers leave record that this agreement will be validated after the signatures of the parties by the Honorable Secretary of State German Edgardo Leitzelar in the Offices of Labor and Social Security. The content of this document having been read to the parties, they ratify and sign it to jointly certify jointly with the signatures that bear witness.

Signatures

The meeting was initiated by Andrew Samet, an attorney with Sandler, Travis and Rosenberg, P.A., one of the largest law firms in the U.S. focused on international trade. Mr. Samet, based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, represents the Han Soll company, and perhaps Reebok. In the initial negotiations, apparently not-so-veiled threats were made, that if the workers persisted in publicly denouncing the violations at Han Soll, the factory would close and relocate to China, and everyone would be left without a job. There was also an attempt to persuade a union leader to sign an open letter to the U.S. media stating that all the violations at Han Soll had been corrected—which he refused to do.

Jerseys Made in Han-Soll Factory NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE Player, Number

Team

Price

Jamal Lewis, #31 Ed Reed, #20 Julius Peppers, #90 Chad Johnson, $85 Andre Johnson, #80 Tom Brady, #12 Aaron Brooks, #2 Tiki Barber, #21 Plaxico Burress, #80 Eli Manning, #10 Jeremy Shockey, #80 Randy Moss, #18 Terrell Owens, #81 Ben Roethlisberger, #7 Alex Smith, #11

Baltimore Ravens Baltimore Ravens Carolina Panthers Cincinnati Bengals Houston Texans New England Patriots New Orleans Saints New York Giants New York Giants New York Giants New York Giants Oakland Raiders Philadelphia Eagles Pittsburgh Steelers San Francisco 49ers

$75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $65 $75 $75 $75 $75 $80 $75 $75

Annual Salary

Game Salary

$4,765,029

$297,814.31

$513,000

$32,062.50

$750,000

$46,875.00

$826,750

$51,671.88

$5,005,000

$312,812.50

$5,504,200

$344,012.50

$3,500,000

$218,750.00

$3,979,100 $1,115,400

$248,693.75 $69,712.50

$4,744,000

$296,500.00

$466,467

$29,154.19

$6,073,204

$379,575.25

$9,160,700

$572,543.75

$2,002,000

$125,125.00

N/A

N/A

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Player, Number

Team

Price

Chauncey Billups, #1 Richard Hamilton, #32 Jason Richardson, #23 Kevin Garnett, #21 Jason Kidd, #5 Jamal Crawford, #11 Stephon Marbury, #3 Kurt Thomas, #40 Mike Bibby, #10 Peja Stojakovic, #16 Chris Webber, #4

Detroit Pistons Detroit Pistons Golden State Warriors Minnesota Timberwolves New Jersey Nets New York Knicks New York Knicks New York Knicks Sacramento Kings Sacramento Kings Sacramento Kings

$75 $85 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75 $75

*See Addenda for photos of these jerseys

Annual Salary $5,455,200 $7,812,500

Game Salary $66,526.83 $95,274.39

$3,534,000

$43,097.56

$16,000,000

$195,121.95

$14,796,000

$180,439.02

$5,760,000

$70,243.90

$14,625,000

$178,353.66

$5,884,500 $10,500,000

$71,762.20 $128,048.75

$6,875,000

$83,841.46

$17,531,250

$213,795.73

One Million Dollars’ Worth of Jerseys in a Single Month In the single month of April 2005, Han-Soll factory in Honduras shipped an estimated 200,000 replica jerseys, worth over one million dollars to the NFL. In May, Han-Soll shipped another $500,000 worth of NFL and NBA jerseys to the U.S.

PIERS

honduras jerseys

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A DE C.V. KM 22.5 CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE MONTEGRANDE, NACO QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2) DHL-DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-821-2420

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 13,805.00 KG 48.00 728 2.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0528

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB17099 NACO 9143879 61 109,185.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 4/5/2005

Coastal Region:

AMS Commodities Container

Description

TEXU7166590

REPLICA JERSEY (NBA) / (MEN'S KNIT SHIRT) / W

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

33,673.

MEN KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

PCS

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

TEXU7166590

NM

Note: Bills of lading that contain multiple commodities will list the total weight and TEU's for the entire bill of lading This listing contains information which is the property of the Journal of Commerce. It is provided for the exclusive use of our clients

in accordance with our purchase agreement. It may not be sold or released for the benefit of a third party.

(C) Copyright 2002, Commonwealth Business Media,Inc 33 Washington St., 13 Fl.,Newark,NJ 07102.

US Port: GULF

PIERS

honduras jerseys

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A DE C.V. KM 22.5 CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE MONTEGRANDE, NACO QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2) DHL-DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 15,190.00 KG 54.00 817 2.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0528

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB17080 NACO 9143879 61 120,141.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 4/5/2005

Coastal Region:

AMS Commodities Container

Description

SAMU4003533

REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT SHIRT) / 8

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

817.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

SAMU4003533

NM

Note: Bills of lading that contain multiple commodities will list the total weight and TEU's for the entire bill of lading This listing contains information which is the property of the Journal of Commerce. It is provided for the exclusive use of our clients

in accordance with our purchase agreement. It may not be sold or released for the benefit of a third party.

(C) Copyright 2002, Commonwealth Business Media,Inc 33 Washington St., 13 Fl.,Newark,NJ 07102.

US Port: GULF

Interview Number One filmed on April 24, 2005. Eighteen workers participated.

NFL and NBA Workers Speak Out We met with the Han-Soll workers in a safe location on Sunday afternoon, April 24, 2005. Their names have been changed to protect their identities. Every worker told us that if management knew they were meeting with us they would all be fired. The majority of Han-Soll workers are young women in their twenties.

What follows is a transcript of that meeting, which gives us a rare opportunity to hear directly from the young women in Honduras who sew the $75 jerseys for the NFL and NBA. We admire their courage for speaking out.

Workers immediately recognize the Giants Plaxico Burress jersey: Charles Kernaghan (CK): The North American companies tell us that they respect all human and workers’ rights here and that they pay a good wage. The workers sit in two rows facing each other, expressionless, fanning their faces in the afternoon heat. We are here to try to find out the truth about working conditions and wages. But first, can you tell us what labels you make?

Workers: Everyone nods their head. Yes. CK: What are they?

Josefina: Reebok.

CK: Do you make shirts like these? A blue Reebok Giants NFL jersey, emblazoned with the name Burress and the number seventeen, is held up for the workers to inspect.

Workers: Yes. That one.

Rosa: She points at the football jersey. We inspected that one.

Josefina: She takes the jersey from Charlie’s hands and runs one of her index fingers down the right seam of the jersey. Right now we are doing one that has a tape down the side.

CK: Do you remember making this kind of a shirt? Distinctively? Charlie holds up the jersey once again for the workers to get a better view.

Workers: Yes. Everyone gathered nods their heads.

CK: When did you make it?

Josefina: That has been there [in the factory] for more than a year. A year and a half.

Rosa: In January it will be a year with Reebok.

Barbara Briggs (BB): It ended in January?

Sonya: No, it’s there now.

CK: You’ve been making this label for a year?

Workers: A year and a half.

CK: Is there a lot of production or just a little?

Josefina: They ask for very high production.

CK: But how many production lines at the factory are making the jersey?

Josefina: For that one. Points at the football jersey. There are three lines right now at the plant.

Rosa: There are three lines in each plant. There are six.

BB: Making this garment? So there are two Han-Soll plants?

Josefina: Yes. A and B. The next question is directed at the woman worker who said she made NFL jerseys.

CK: Which factory did you work in?

Josefina: In Plant B. CK: When did you make this [NFL] style?

Josefina: About 3 or 4 months ago… since they change the styles a lot, but it’s always the same label.

Thirty operators must sew 1,200 jerseys a day: CK: [How many workers are there on] a line that makes this shirt? Charlie holds up the Giants jersey once again for all the women to see.

CK: If you can think back to this style [NFL Jersey] . . . were there 20 workers in a line?

Thirty?

Sonya: Like thirty, right? She points towards Josefina to double check the number. Because you made it on line thirteen, right?

Josefina: Yes. We made that on line thirteen. She points at the jersey.

Sonya: Just operators, well, there were about 30 in all.

CK: And what was the production goal?

Josefina: For that [jersey] it was 1,200.

BB: Per day?

Josefina: That’s it. With this, it was 1,200 a day.

CK: How many hours were you working?

Josefina: From 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

BB: So the production goal was for 1,200 from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.?

Josefina: Yes. 1,200.

Stunned at the cost of the jerseys they sew— “one jersey would pay two weeks of our wages”: CK: Do they know how much this shirt costs in the U.S.?

Workers: They remain quiet and move their heads from side to side.

BB: Charlie will do the calculation to lempiras, because it is sold in dollars in the U.S. CK: It sells for 1,410 lempiras ($75).

Workers: Each piece?!

The workers look around at each other, smile, and break into laughter. Gasps of disbelief and surprise fill the small hall at the news. A woman worker touches her forehead and shakes her head.

Josefina: That’s what we earn in two weeks!

CK: They would earn 1,400 in two weeks?

BB: In two weeks. That’s what she said.

CK: That’s what they would earn . . . but they work on 1,200 a day . . .

Workers: Yes. 1,200 pieces a day.

Workers have never read or been informed of the NFL, NBA or Reebok Codes of Conduct, but think they are rules demanding they meet production goals, including obligatory overtime: CK: How about the Codes of Conduct of Wal-Mart and the rest of the companies - the clients are they up on the wall?

Paulina: In English and Korean.

BB: In English and Korean?

Workers: We don’t understand them. The workers laugh at themselves.

CK: So there is something placed on the wall? In English and Korean. The workers nod their heads.

CK: Not in Spanish?

Workers: No. CK: What do you think the Code is? Has it ever been explained to you?

Carmen: The rules for work.

CK: What kind of rules?

Carmen: Like if the client asks for something . . . asks for a certain amount of production, maybe asking that this be complied with . . . that their order be completed in time. She says this with hesitation.

CK: So you consider that the Codes would have to do with meeting the production goal?

Carmen: Well, if an operator, if she, for example, doesn’t complete the production goal, they don’t give her incentive . . . they don’t give her a bonus, they can even punish her.

Josefina: And they keep them until 8:30 p.m. doing overtime.

(NOTE: In the additional interviews that follow, the workers again return to how meaningless the codes of conduct have been, having no impact whatsoever in ending the violations.)

Forced overtime— “You can tell them your mother died, but they don’t care.

You have to work.”: CK: We want to share something with you. It’s that the Codes of Conduct are not rules for production. The Codes of Conduct of the companies supposedly protect your rights, the rights of the workers. If you could read the Codes of Conduct, they say that overtime has to be voluntary, 100% voluntary, not obligatory.

Josefina: There they require you to do them. They punish you…they send you to Personnel, to the office, when you don’t want to do them.

Paulina: They take away your incentive.

CK: We will come back to this issue. The Codes of Conduct say that they have to respect all the Labor Laws of Honduras. It says that they have to treat the workers with dignity and respect.

And the Codes of Conduct give you the right to organize a union. We will send Alejandro the Codes, but in Spanish, maybe they could be distributed to the workers, so they can know the Codes of Conduct that the North American companies supposedly guarantee.

Carmen: The problem is that they could be put up today, but they won’t take it into account.

That’s what happens with those rules. They might put it there, but they won’t take it into account for you . . .

CK: And what are the hours?

Workers: From 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

BB: You always enter at 7:30 a.m. and you always leave at 5:30 p.m.?

Carmen: Well, the normal schedule is 8 hours, but from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. is one hour overtime. It’s obligatory. We have to do it.

CK: So it should be from 7:30 a.m. to 4 o’clock?

Carmen: Until 4:30 p.m., but it’s obligatory until 5:30.

CK: And you get paid overtime for that?

Carmen: The extra hour is included in the normal day pay. They pay 97.70 lempiras daily. If we stay from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. they pay overtime…

Rodrigo: They require you to work a Saturday, too.

BB: One Saturday per month?

Rodrigo: Alternate Saturdays every two weeks. They pay us every 15 days.

CK: Every other Saturday you have to work overtime?

Workers: Yes. CK: What are the hours on Saturday?

Workers: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

CK: How frequently do you work until 8:30 p.m.?

Carmen: Depends on the work.

CK: Does it happen twice a year? Twice a month?

Carmen: Twice a week. Right now there is not a lot of work, but when there is work…

CK: So on average twice a week?

Carmen: We were working even more, but a client came and demanded that we not work so many hours overtime.

CK: What happens if you can’t stay? Because of a child or something like that?

Carmen: They don’t really care there. You can tell them, “My mother died.” You still have to stay.

Josefina: They always pressure you to stay. If not, they threaten you with the incentive.

BB: That they won’t give you a bonus?

Josefina: They only give us a 120-lempira bonus each week for making the production goal every day of the week. If we don’t make the production goal on one day, we lose the whole incentive….

CK: What if you can’t work overtime—say you have to go home at 4:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m., what happens?

Carmen: If they need the work . . .

Josefina: They always make you. Because if not . . . they will always threaten you with the incentive.

Rodrigo: That they will take it way.

Organizer: So it is obligatory?

Josefina: It is obligatory to work.

CK: So they would take the 120-lempira incentive away? Would they give you a warning before taking it away?

Josefina: Sometimes.

Paulina: Sometimes, yes. They even give a suspension; they give you two or three days’ punishment….

CK: If you can’t work overtime, they really give you a 2 or 3 day suspension without pay?

Josefina: Yes. They take away from your pay, they don’t give you your complete pay.

Carmen: They take away the Seventh Day and the two days.

CK: So if you couldn’t work overtime, if you have to leave at 4:30 p.m., what would be the first thing they would do?

Josefina: The supervisor would find you and yell at you – insult you.

Carmen: There are signs posted all over the factory saying, “Overtime hours are not obligatory”—so when the client comes, he will see it. But—no.

CK: Those signs are posted on the walls?

Carmen: In the bathrooms. Everywhere. But they don’t comply with that.

CK: If you can’t complete the production goal, do they ever keep you working without pay?

Josefina: No, they always pay the 23 lempiras for staying three extra hours.

CK: So from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. you get paid 23 lempiras an hour?

Josefina: Yes, for the 3 hours.

CK: You mean 23 lempiras total? About 8 lempiras an hour?

Josefina: Yes, something like that. And they make you produce, working to meet the production goal.

Woman sewing NFL garments loses her child: Carmen: There have been cases where people have serious illnesses and what they do is ask that they quit. They won’t give many sick days.

Josefina: I lost a child working there. I was working sick. I went to the woman doctor at the factory. She examined me and said I didn’t have anything wrong. Later she sent me to the hospital and I went to have an ultrasound done, and it was positive, but when I arrived at the hospital the child was already dead.

CK: So they take out the Social Security, but you can’t go to the Social Security clinic?

Josefina: And if the doctor gives even one day sick leave, they always take away the incentive.

Cheated out of half an hour of their lunch break: Organizer: Tell them what time they give you for lunch.

Josefina: Well, they give us an hour, but they require us to be back at 12:30 p.m.

BB: So they give you an hour?

Francisca: But the operators have to be back by 12:30 p.m.

BB: So in reality you get only half an hour?

Workers: Yes, half an hour.

CK: When is the lunch break? Supposedly it goes from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.?

Workers: Yes. CK: But they require you to go back at 12:30 p.m.?

Workers: Yes… CK: How many breaks do you get during the day?

Josefina: Just the half hour for lunch.

BB: They don’t give you a 15-minute break in the morning?

Workers: No. No. No morning break, or afternoon.

CK: How do they make you go back to work a half hour early? Do they call you?

Josefina: So the production goal will come out.

BB: So do they go into the cafeteria and yell at you?

Josefina: Before leaving our work post they tell us we have to return early to make the goal.

Abusive treatment— supervisors insult and shout at workers that they have shit instead of brains: Rodrigo: Our supervisors insult us. They scream at us. When a machine breaks down, they don’t recognize that - the problem that there is in the work area.

Francisca: Our supervisor has even asked if it is necessary to have a bat to hit us over the head.

As she says this she plays with her baby girl. The other workers laugh at the absurdity and truth behind the comment. The translator has to double check with another bilingual person to make sure she has understood the comment correctly.

Rodrigo: And they threaten us with vulgar words.

BB: What kind of words do they use?

Rodrigo: They say we don’t have brains, what we have is shit, that’s what they say.

BB: That you have no brain?

Rodrigo: Yes, that we have no brain, but shit. That is what they say. Touches the top of his head.

CK: Where are these supervisors from?

Workers: They are Honduran.

Organizer: What else do they say?

Josefina: They call us chicken heads. They all break into laughter.

Francisca: That we should leave our husbands outside. That maybe if our work comes out wrong, they say it’s because we are thinking about our husband, or our boyfriend [Chivo-billy goat; vulgar term for male lover]. Everyone laughs again.

CK: So, they don’t treat you with respect?

Workers: No. No. All the workers chime in unison.

Josefina: They don’t respect us.

Carmen: They say that the Koreans insult them, so they have to yell at us. When the work is bad or we don’t make the goal, the Korean insults and screams, so they scream at us.

Workers need permission to use the bathroom… and if they take too long, the supervisor comes to get them out: CK: So the goal is always very high?

Carmen: It varies.

Josefina: Every week it goes up.

Carmen: If management sees that you completed a goal in little time one week, the next it goes up.

CK: But still, is it easy work, so you can talk with your workmate?

Carmen: No, you have to work. She wiggles her fingers and shakes her head crazily.

Josefina: You have to always be working.

CK: Are you allowed to speak to each other?

Workers: No. CK: Can you go to the bathroom when you need to?

Josefina: Sometimes they come to get you out.

Maria: You have to ask permission to use the bathroom.

CK: How does that function? You have to ask permission and they give you a ticket?

Josefina: No, you don’t need a ticket, but you have to ask for permission and if you take too long, the supervisor will come get you.

CK: What do you mean by delay? If you spend an hour in the bathroom?

Josefina: If your stomach is upset, you still need to return to your machine quickly.

BB: How long can you be in the bathroom?

Francisca: 5 minutes.

Josefina: Looks at Francisca. Not even 5 minutes. If you stay as long as five minutes the supervisor will come to get you.

BB: If you stay 10 minutes?

Josefina: They’ll punish you.

Total denial of freedom of association— any worker even suspected of organizing will be fired and blacklisted: CK: Do you have the right to organize a union?

Workers: No. No. Josefina: They fire you.

Rodrigo: If they realize that there’s a union, that some workers in the factory are organizing, they say to harass them, they tell the supervisor…the Korean tells the line chief to harass them so they will quit.

Josefina: And the lawyer says, “When they fire them, we will put them out on the Internet so they’ll be washing plates, so they won’t be able to get work.”

Carmen: I have a question. If this were authorized—to create a union in the factory, why do we have to be doing this in a hidden way if this is authorized? Why are we hiding if this is legal?

CK: Is the Ministry of Labor doing its job? Does the Ministry of Labor help you?

Carmen: Here, supposedly, the factory has the Ministry of Labor bought off.

CK: Well, we will coordinate with Alejandro and the FITH and CUTH. But we can guarantee you that we can communicate directly with the labels to put pressure on the factory, to demand respect for your rights. Especially Reebok, they would have to send people down here to investigate.

NFL-NBA-Reebok audits are a joke— workers threatened to lie: Carmen: Look, in fact, the last time before a client came, the legal advisor comes [onto the shop floor] and chooses people. Before the client can call them, she calls them to human resources. I was in one of those interviews, and the lawyer said, before the interview, that we should help, that we shouldn’t say what they do to us in the factory.

BB: Like what?

Carmen: The client that interviewed me asked about everything - water, bathrooms, food, bad food, bad water. They say they are going to try to fix this, but…

Francisca: They turn on the air conditioning like at 10 a.m. – very late. When one is producing you feel the heat. The water is hot.

BB: They turn on the air conditioning at 10 a.m.?

Francisca: Yes, very late. She slaps her left hand on her thigh and sighs.

Carmen: And when there is overtime, they turn it off.

CK: When do they turn it off?

Francisca: Right now, they have this thing that they turn it off at 4:30 p.m.

CK: Is the factory hotter than it is here right now?

Josefina: It is very hot.

Francisca: Hotter than here.

Teresa: It’s hotter and you are working, you are moving because you are working hard.

CK: Is there a lot of dust in the air?

Workers: Yes. CK: Does it bother your breathing?

Workers: Yes. Carmen: We have a case now. She points to Rosa who is sitting by her side. She and I have a compañera [co-worker] in cutting who has problems with her vocal chords. They gave her examinations and were giving her sick days, but now they are telling her that they can’t give her more sick time. The doctor examined her and sent her to therapy, but they cannot pay the sick leave that she needs for recovery.

CK: Do you have any questions for us?

Maria: Why is it that when someone comes to interview us, the boss always finds out? We are told that it is going to be secret and no one will find out. But then the boss finds out and says, “You said such and such thing.”

Josefina: They always find out what has been said in the meetings.

Maria: They are sold out to the company—the people who the clients send to interview. They say it is secret - nobody is going to know.

CK: Where do they meet? In a conference room?

Maria: Yes, in the office at the factory. And afterward the boss, the Korean, knows your name and everything that’s been said and everything.

Workers locked in factory compound— have to reach over the fence to buy food: CK: Do you eat at the factory cafeteria or do you buy your food outside?

Carmen: She vigorously shakes her head. The cafeteria food is very bad. There have been times when bugs creep out of the food. Once I found a worm in my food. Worms.

CK: Do people bring their own food?

Carmen: Yes. Some buy it. There are people who come to sell food at the factory.

CK: Can you leave to buy the food?

Carmen: The gate is closed, and they pass it above or below. That is the only way to buy the food. You figure out a way of squeezing in the food.

CK: So you are actually locked inside the compound?

Workers: Yes. Yes. Carmen: All around.

Wage is not enough— workers say they have gone backwards over the last two or three years, falling even deeper into poverty: CK: What do you earn?

Carmen: 1,300 lempiras.

Josefina: That includes the one hour overtime from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

CK: So you earn on average about 1,600 lempiras every two weeks.

Francisca: No. 1,300 lempiras. Without overtime 1,100, and some 1,080.

Carmen: The normal wage is 97.70 per day.

CK: And the incentive is 120 a week?

Carmen: For them. Points at Josefina and Francisca. For the operators.

Josefina: For the Reebok [jersey] they pay us only 120. And the production goal is 1,200.

Francisca: For others maybe it’s 80 or 100.

CK: Is there an attendance bonus?

Workers: No. CK: So you get the normal wage, Seventh Day, overtime and the incentive?

Workers: Yes…

CK: Is the wage enough?

Workers: No. The salary doesn’t cover our needs. It’s very little.

CK: Is it the same or going down? Can you buy the same as four years ago or has your buying power gone down?

Maria: It’s gone down, because everything has gone up. The food cost has gone up.

Take the fear away and 100 percent of the workers would join the union: CK: Why do you think the company doesn’t want you to organize a union?

Carmen: They would have to pay a lot of money. When you make a union, they have to pay benefits [or severance pay]. What they do is to try to make you quit so they don’t have to pay anything.

CK: And if the fear of being fired were not present, would many workers like to have a union?

Workers: Yes. The majority.

Maria: One hundred percent. Everybody.

NFL and NBA jerseys for Reebok are the majority of production in the factory: CK: We want to thank you very much. We really learned a lot, and we want to try to work with you. …. who has the most production now in the factory?

Workers: Reebok.

-Supervisor BeatenOn Tuesday, May 10, Miss Chong—who the workers refer to as the plant chief— attacked a supervisor, shouting at him in Korean and kicking him in the back several times. The supervisor had no choice but to bow his head and accept the abuse and humiliation. He was forced to resign. Miss Chong was furious that the assembly line he was supervising was not meeting their target.

Julia sews $75 jerseys for Super Bowl quarterback Tom Brady and other NFL and NBA superstars, yet unlike these highly paid athletes, Julia, her husband and two young children live in a primitive one-room hut lacking electricity or running water. Julia is paid just 19 cents for every $75 jersey she sews. Both Julia and her husband have worked at the Han-Soll factory for more than two and a half years.

“We work mostly for food,” Julia says.

Existing every day on “fried beans, cheese, butter—nothing more for dinner.”

“We sometimes go into debt to be able to buy shoes for the children.”

Asked if her life is better now than it was two or three years ago, Julia responds: “No, I see it as the same, because it doesn’t improve….”

Asked about the $75 price for the NFL jerseys, Julia responds: “…for us it is not just because just imagine that with one jersey they pay us for two weeks of work…but our wage barely covers our cost of living.”

Julia’s “hope is to be able to fulfill everything my children need, that being food, shoes, clothing, all that.”

Julia feels that if the workers are finally able to exercise their legal right to organize a union, “…we could live a little better—a little less overwhelmed at work because that supervisor scolds me too much and sometimes they tell you that you are good for nothing…”

Julia told us: “When I was pregnant, they punished me with three days suspension [without wages], just because I was going to the bathroom, I was going because I was pregnant. But they told me I was in the bathroom a lot. So that’s why they punished me.”

Interview with Julia, Sunday, July 17, 2005

NLC Interviewer: We would like to know a little bit about you. For example, do you have breakfast at home and have dinner with your family at home? What do you normally eat at home?

Julia: Sometimes in the morning I get credit outside the factory – they give me credit outside the factory – and when they pay me I pay, and for dinner we have fried beans, cheese, butter – nothing more for dinner.

NLC Interviewer: That is everyday?

Julia: Yes, everyday.

NLC Interviewer: And what do you eat on paydays or Sundays?

Julia: Well, on Sundays, since I’m at home, I make spaghetti, rice, cooked plantains, only that.

NLC Interviewer: What about meat and chicken?

Julia: When there is enough money, sometimes, when there is none, no, because the wage is not enough because . . . we have to buy milk for the girl and pay for someone to baby-sit her.

NLC Interviewer: How much do you pay for a babysitter?

Julia: The girl is charging 500 Lempiras ($26.51) to take care of them.

NLC Interviewer: Per month?

Julia: Every two weeks. Yes, 500 Lempiras every two weeks and I spend 400 Lempiras ($21.21) on milk every two weeks.

NLC Interviewer: 500 Lempiras for both of them?

Julia: No, only for her, only the little girl. She looks after both of them, but only the girl drinks milk.

NLC Interviewer: Your husband, who also works at Han-Soll like you, and both your children, how much do you spend per week or every two weeks just on food?

Julia: Just on food? Well, we have to save at least 400 Lempiras just to have dinner, so that the money lasts the two weeks.

NLC Interviewer: If I understand you, you spend 400 Lempiras every two weeks on food?

Julia: Yes. NLC Interviewer: Or per week?

Julia: No, every two weeks because I eat at midday outside the factory.

NLC Interviewer: But, adding the 400 Lempiras you spend on dinner plus what you spend on lunch and breakfast, how much do you spend?

Julia: Yes . . . that is to say, outside we pay 250 Lempiras ($13.26) the two, 250 Lempiras each for lunch every two weeks, that’s almost 500 Lempiras between both of us every two weeks, for breakfast we sometimes have to set aside 200 Lempiras ($10.60) per week to have breakfast outside the home.

NLC Interviewer: So, in total, based on what you have just said, it is like 1,000 Lempiras ($53.02) that you spend on food.

Julia: Yes, only on food and nothing more . . . we work mostly for food and for things like clothing, we sometimes go into debt to be able to buy shoes for the children or we take out a loan outside the factory because they do that there, so that one can pay.

NLC Interviewer: That’s to say, they lend out money for the week or two weeks?

Julia: No, a lady brings clothing – shoes for children – and so sometimes we buy them on credit from her.

NLC Interviewer: But you have found it necessary to take credit . . . rented money, as they say?

Julia: Yes, I have also taken out loans because my little girl got sick – she had a fever for three days – my sister lent me 200 Lempiras and I went to the Maria Caterina Rivas hospital (a public hospital for people not registered in Social Security – that is, the unemployed or those in the informal economic sector), the thing is that there is no health insurance where I work, and so the doctor scolded me and asked me why as a working woman I did not have health insurance and I told him I didn’t know why – that it wasn’t my fault, I only worked, but they had never given me Social Security and so he told me,

“You that works ought to have some kind of health insurance.” “Yes,” I told him. “I pay but they don’t pay for the Social Security because we don’t have any.” I told him. “Look,” he told me, “This better be the last time you come for a consultation,” he told me, “next time you come we will not attend you, because you work, you ought to have health insurance.”

NLC Interviewer: And where was that?

Julia: At the Maria Caterina Rivas hospital.

NLC Interviewer: So he was telling you that you had to go the Honduran Social Security Institute and not the public hospital?

Julia: “Yes, because the public hospital is for those that do not work, perhaps for those that don’t work, for those with no choice” . . . since I work I have to have my Social Security, he (the doctor) told me that.

NLC Interviewer: And how many years have you worked there?

Julia: I entered in December and I am about to complete three years, I’ve worked there like two years and eight months, around there.

Julia: I work in Han-Soll, in Han-Soll of Honduras.

NLC Interviewer: And do you feel that you are better off now than three years ago or how is your situation?

Julia: No, I see it as the same, because it doesn’t improve . . . because the money that is left over sometimes is invested in the children.

NLC Interviewer: You have seen those jerseys, right, that are manufactured at Han-Soll. Did you know that they sell them for $75 in the United States, that’s to say, 1,410 Lempiras for each one. How do you feel about that? Do you think it’s just? How do you feel?

Julia: Well, no, no it’s not just, because that work . . . I work in cutting and I review that work, I inspect it, so that they enter the production lines and sometimes I check up to 1,300 revisions, yes, and for us it is not just because just imagine that with one jersey they pay us for two weeks of work. Just imagine the 1,300 review inspections I make a day, what would that be in two weeks? And tell me another thing. According to (management) it is a lot what they pay us, but our wage barely covers our cost of living.

NLC Interviewer: How much did you say you would need to live more or less every two weeks?

Julia: Since we both work, at least 5,000 Lempiras ($265.11, or $132.56 a week, meaning each of them would earn $66.28 a week) because we pay for day care, food for them and for us some clothing, shoes – all that, perhaps we could live a little better.

NLC Interviewer: And what do you hope for yourself and your family in the future? What are your hopes?

Julia: Well, my hope is to eventually own my house, to be able to fulfill everything my children need, that being food, shoes, clothing, all that.

NLC Interviewer: And do you think the union will help in anything now that it has been formed?

Julia: Well, I think yes, right. In the case that they win it, we could live a little better – a little less overwhelmed at work because that supervisor scolds me too much and sometimes they tell you that you are good for nothing, better that you stayed at home sleeping they tell you – even though you work hard for them it’s like you’re doing nothing.

Interview with Julia, July 13, 2005

Sewing $75 NFL jerseys, Julia still can only afford the very cheapest informal day care with a neighbor.

Asked what kind of care her children get, Julia responds: “Well, sometimes I see things I don’t like, but what can I do…I’ve realized that she takes care of her a little bad. I can see it, and she smells a little bad.”

Julia: I pay 500 every two weeks for the two of them.

NLC: Each 2 weeks?

Julia: Yes. NLC: And what kind of care do they get?

Julia: Well, sometimes I see things I don’t like, but what can I do.

NLC: Your baby gets sick?

Julia: No, but I’ve realized that she takes care of her a little bad.

NLC: How did you find this out?

Julia: Well, I can see it, and she smells a little bad.

NLC: And how far away is it, where they care for your baby?

Julia: Close, like about 3 blocks.

NLC: And your husband, what does he do?

Julia: He works there too in Han Soll.

NLC: He works in the same plant?

Julia: Yes, he works in the same plant. He is an operator.

NLC: And the money that you both earn in Han Soll, does it resolve the problems [needs] of your home?

Julia: Hardly at times, because…and no more than just enough for food, because for the girl it’s almost 500 lempiras for her milk, and then 500 lempiras for their care.

NLC: Every 2 weeks, every month?

Julia: Every two weeks. 500 for the milk every 2 weeks, and 500 to have them cared for is 1000 lempiras gone. Plus the food we pay for at the factory, and there is practically nothing left.

NLC: What do you do when your children get sick or you get sick?

Julia: Look, there there’s no Social Security.

NLC: There’s no Social Security in the factory?

Julia: No….gone a day and you get a warning….had to take to the hospital, 3 days, and they did not want to attend them there in the “Caterina”…

NLC: In San Pedro Sula?

Julia: Yes, in San Pedro Sula…they told me it was prohibited because I was working and I had to go to Social Security. But they told me they would not attend me another time.

NLC: But they deduct your Social Security?

Julia: Yes, here, I have the receipt.

NLC: So you had to take your baby to Catarina [hospital].

Julia: Yes, and there doctor scolded me and everything. They said that workers had to go to Social Security. And they said that the next time, they would not attend me, because workers have to go to Social Security. They really yelled at me. Muchacha, they said to me, You “You work, you have to go to Social Security,” he said to me. …You don’t have to explain that to me, I told him..but…

NLC: So they take out the Social Security. How much do they take out?

Julia: They take 14.49.

NLC: 14.49 lempiras (77 cents)?

Julia: Yes. And the [base] wage is only 1075 ($57.00 for two weeks, or 65 cents an hour).

NLC: That’s what you earn in 2 weeks?

Julia: No, minimum wage. With 7th Day I earn 1344.31 ($71.28 for two weeks, or 81 cents an hour).

Julia: …When I was pregnant they punished me with 3 days suspension, just because I was going to the bathroom. I was going because I was pregnant. But they told me I was in the bathroom a lot. So that’s why they punished me.

NLC: Can we go outside?

[They go outside the house] NLC: What do you cook there?

Julia: I cook the beans on Sunday, because the canister [propane] doesn’t last.

NLC: And you have that for dinner every day?

Julia: No, some days beans, some days tortillas and cheese.

NLC: And Sundays?

Julia: She laughs. Sundays, sometimes spaghetti, rice…

NLC: What time do you get up to bathe?

Julia: You mean there? We bathe there. Indicates area with drums of water.

NLC: Here to take care of your necessities? Indicates latrine.

Julia: Yes, a latrine.

NLC: And here’s where you bathe, on this little spot?

Julia: Yes. NLC: And what time do you get up to bathe?

Julia: At 5:00.

NLC: Your husband too?

Julia: Yes. NLC: In other words, you lack a bathroom. There is none.

Julia: We haven’t made one.

NLC: And electricity?

Julia: There isn’t any.

Sewing $75 NFL Jerseys But Trapped in Extreme Poverty ---Julia’s Weekly Expenses--Working at Han-Soll, Julia earns a base wage of 1,025 lempiras, or $57, every two weeks, which comes to 65 cents an hour. With the attendance bonus, she can earn 1,344.31 lempiras, which is $35.64 a week, and 81 cents an hour, before any deductions such as for Social Security.

Her husband also works at Han-Soll as a sewing operator, earning the same wage, so their combined income is $71.78 a week. They have two small children.

Julia walked us through some of her basic weekly expenses.

Per Week • The cheapest informal day care—leaving her children with a neighbor

$13.26

• Powdered milk for her eight-month old (Day care and milk alone consumed more than three and a half days wages.

Julia earns $6.48 a day.)

$10.60

• Supper for the family (Julia could only afford to spend just $1.51 a day for dinner, or 38 cents each, which is why they have to rely on fried beans and tortillas as their daily staple.)

$10.60

• Lunch for Julia and her husband purchased from the least expensive outside vendors, often on credit (Traditionally lunch is the major meal in Central America.)

$13.26

• Breakfast, also purchased from vendors outside the factory

$10.60

So, even these limited basic expenses total---

$58.32

These limited basic expenses consume 80 percent of Julia and her husband’s combined weekly salaries, and we have not even begun to consider other core necessities such as paying for rent, propane for cooking, safe drinking water, candles and batteries, health care and medicines, sanitary goods for the home, used clothing and shoes, etc.

Two people, both working at the Han-Soll factory sewing $75 NFL and NBA jerseys, do not earn enough money to live even under these extremely primitive conditions. Julia and her husband must borrow money to survive.

When asked what wage she and her husband would need to earn so they could climb out of misery and at least into poverty, where they could live with a modicum of dignity, Julia responded that with a base wage of $1.19 an hour, or $9.47 a day, she could raise her family with decency. This is her hope.

Julia’s Home Julia lives with her family in a primitive one-room hut, measuring 12 by 15 ½ feet, put together with scraps of wood. The walls are full of gaping holes, which are either stuffed with or covered over by plastic to keep the rain out. The zinc roof traps the heat, so indoor temperatures can easily rise to over 104 degrees in the afternoons. There is an opening for a window, but they cannot afford glass.

There is no electricity or running water. They use candles for light. The “shower” is an outdoor 50-gallon drum, with a cup used to splash water on themselves. It is here, standing in the dirt, that they also wash their clothes and dishes. The have to buy drinking water, as their only source of water, a nearby pond, is polluted and unsafe. The “bathroom” is an outhouse with a toilet lacking a seat and an old sheet for a door. To save money on propane, most often they cook outdoors on a makeshift stove using wood. All they can afford to eat is fried beans, cheese, butter and tortillas. Among their few possessions are a small round plastic table and four plastic chairs—the kind that sell for $2.99 each in U.S. discount stores. They have no television and their radio is broken. There are no streetlights or garbage collection in their neighborhood. Despite these conditions, the house was immaculately clean. This is the home of a hard working family struggling to maintain their dignity.

Interview Number Three filmed on Sunday, July 17, 2005. Twenty workers participated.

Locked in the factory compound.

Workers have to purchase their lunch by reaching over the fence and through the barbwire.

Factory cafeteria food often makes the workers sick.

NLC Interviewer: Han Soll also says that you can freely leave the factory at any time and that nobody is closed in, and that you can take lunch outside the factory?

Teresa: No. That’s a lie, because one can’t go outside the gates, because there are guards and they don’t let one leave. They have to pass you the food through the..the mesh that’s there for security.

NLC: Those who buy, why do you buy the food outside and not inside?

Teresa: Ah..Because the cafeteria is very bad. At times it harms the stomach. So that’s why we can’t eat in the cafeteria.

NLC: You have had the experience of feeling bad or getting sick on the food?

Teresa: Yes. NLC: What has it caused?

Teresa: Like vomiting…

Santiago: Sometimes they just give you tajadas [fried plantain chips] with cabbage…and they charge you 20 lempiras ($1.06) and they give you tajadas and an old dressing that they put on…well there you’re just throwing out your money.

NLC: Can you explain what tajadas are?

Santiago: Banana tajadas, see, and they put you a little cabbage, like that, and sometimes you get sick.

Discrimination against pregnant women.

If management discovers that a woman is pregnant within the first two months of employment, she is fired.

NLC: You are aware of [pregnancy] cases?

Querida: I know a case of a girl whose mother just died and she came to work at Han Soll, and her belly was already visible and we tried to speak up for her with the supervisor but they didn’t let her.

Isabel: They just called her. They realized immediately and they called her and they fired her.

Isabel: She returned and says that they just fired her because, and the girl even tried, since she needed the work, she tried to abort, because her mother just died and she had to maintain her little brothers. …. And she cried when they called her.

Humiliating treatment. “…he gave me a knock on the head and he said to me, ‘Brother chicken head, hurry up.’ In other words, all the people laughed, so all the people know that I was humiliated and I couldn’t say anything.”

NLC: You all have told us that sometimes they call you ‘chicken brains’ or something like that, who have they said that to, can you tell about it?

Esteban: To me, a supervisor named Henry said to me, hurry up, hurry up brother—to me he says brother chicken head. And one time he gave me a knock on the head, well, he hit me…his name’s Henry and one day they put me with him and he gave me a knock in the head and he said to me brother chicken head, hurry up. In other words, all the people laughed, so all the people know that I was humiliated and I couldn’t say anything.

I was humiliated, well, since I am involved in things about God, and I can’t lift a hand against anyone, because maybe it’s a sin, something like that.

He’s a supervisor who is still working there. He’s Honduran.

Isabel: Henry was the one who said if he had a bat he’d hit us in the head.

NLC: Why?

Isabel: Because a style had come in and we had not put out the goal, and putting out bad quality, and they called us at 4:00 and said that he needed a bat to hit us in the head. That we were incompetents, because we would not be working in whatever factory.

Obligatory overtime.

Mandatory 10 to 13 hour shifts.

From 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and at least two nights a week, till 8:30 p.m.

Two women sewing operators report being obligated to walk a 14 ½ hour shift from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and then being told to “not punch out.”

Workers who cannot stay for overtime lose their incentive pay as punishment.

Workers who do not sign a sheet volunteering for overtime are taken to see Miss Chong, the production chief, who says: “ ‘And you, why you not want stay? Have to help goal not come out.’ So, that’s how they obligate one. The supervisor threatens you that they’ll take away the incentive and bonus.”

NLC: Han Soll says that you don’t work overtime, that there is no overtime in that factory.

What can you tell me regarding that?

Soledad: Yes, there is overtime, because sometimes they obligate us to stay when we don’t make production and they say it is our fault. Because I stayed [late] on Tuesday and Thursday and then Melisa threatened me and said that it was our fault because we didn’t have the overstitching of the sleeve and the attaching the sleeve, that the production didn’t come out.

There the production is counted because… They ask us production of 120 per hour for the sleeve and we can’t do them…so what goes out is 60 pieces.

NLC: But there has always been overtime?

Soledad: There has always been overtime, because I’ve stayed late Monday and Tuesday…Tuesday and Thursday I’ve stayed late.

NLC: Last week?

Soledad: No, this week. This week.

NLC: From what time to what time?

Soledad: Ummm, from 4:30 to 8:30.

NLC: But I understand also..that working, for example in April, May to June to 5:30 in the afternoon every day, and a Saturday from 7:30 to 4:30. Is that so?

Mariposa: In the last months, yes, we have worked from 7:30 to 5:30. But just now they changed when we leave. We go in at 7:30 and we leave at 4:30, and we always work Saturdays in between.

NLC: And Saturday, from what time to what time?

Mariposa: Always from 7:30 to 4:30.

NLC: One Saturday yes and the other no?

Mariposa: Yes, Saturdays in between.

NLC: And Tuesdays and Thursdays?

Mariposa: Well, we always leave at 4:30.

NLC: Not in the months of April, May, June?

Mariposa: I don’t understand you.

Mariposa: Yes, before, yes. Yes, they obligated us to do a lot of overtime, Tuesdays and Thursdays always from 4:30 to 8:30.

NLC: At night?

Mariposa: Yes, at night.

NLC: These overtime hours are not obligatory. Those who want to, work them, she who doesn’t want to, doesn’t work them. Can you explain how it is, if it’s true that’s how it works?

Mariposa: Look, well, when one doesn’t want to stay, they threaten you that they’ll take away the bonus, because they give us a bonus of 40 lempiras, not to everyone, it’s the best operator, they say.

Cameraman: What is best operator?

Moriposa: Well, the one that works the most, who likes to collaborate. That’s how I understand it. They give us a bonus of 40 lempiras, and if one doesn’t stay late for overtime, they take away the bonus.

NLC: But the company says that they can demonstrate with documents signed by you all, that confirm that you are working the overtime not under obligation, voluntarily. What can you tell me about that?

Isabel: They threaten one that they are going to take away the incentive. They take away the bonus and one day when I stayed until 9:00, supposedly they told [asked] me if I could stay until 9:00 and I told them yes. They came at 9:00 and told me 9:30 and I couldn’t take it and they kept me until 10:00 and supposedly there was going to be a line supervisor who was going to drop us off at our houses, and he left us at the highway.

NLC: When was this?

Isabel: A month and a half ago. And they refused to sign that my timecard was marked.

Instead they told me the same hours were paid, they gave me 100 lempiras from 4:30 to 10:00 at night and told me not to punch out. That day we didn’t punch out, another compañera and I. NLC: And what work do you do?

Isabel: Operator.

NLC: What label?

Isabel: It was a t-shirt style, but I don’t know what label.

NLC: That about their saying that you sign a document saying that the overtime hours are voluntary. Is it like that, or not, or they don’t confirm anything?

Isabel: Well, they pass a sheet around, right? They pass a sheet and put down the code and the name and whoever wants to sign, signs. Then afterward, they take it to the supervisor, and whoever didn’t sign, the supervisor calls him. “Aha, why didn’t you stay late.” And then they take them to Miss Chong, and Miss Chong once there: “And you, why you not want stay? Have to help. Goal not come out.” So, that’s how they obligate one.

The supervisor threatens you that they’ll take away the incentive and the bonus.

Isabel: When they need a style and the goal doesn’t come out, then they demand that some leave that that hour.

NLC: From 7:30 in the morning to 8:30 at night?

Isabel: Yes. As overtime.

NLC: Is it voluntary?

Isabel: Supposedly it is voluntary, but if you leave, then the next day you have to go to Personnel if you sign, if you sign and you leave.

NLC: If you don’t sign?

Isabel: No, if you don’t sign, no. But they take away the incentive and the bonus.

NLC: Do you all feel obligated to work?

Woman worker: Obligated.

Pressured to start work early at 7:15 a.m. and to work through half their lunch hour—unpaid.

Taking just 10 or 15 minutes to eat.

NLC: Miss Chong, what position does she hold there in the company?

Isabel: Chief, supposedly of all the lines in the plant. And she, from 7:15 already wants one to be sitting working. “Why they standing?” And maybe the orders haven’t come yet. Supposedly the orders are five to 7:30 one has to be cleaning her machine. That’s fine. But then she wants one to be working already at 7:15, because she’s given me warnings a number of times.

NLC: And this is for everyone? It happens to everyone in the factory, or is it just in her case?

Is it like that also for those who are working with Reebok?

Soledad: Yes, it’s like that. Because at 7:15 they want one to be there…to work and come in early, also at noontime, so now what they do is at 12:15 they open the doors for one to go in and they make a pass for one to go in at 12:10 to be signed in by the Korean, so one will go in at that time and one just goes out to eat quickly and go in because they mark one down for 12:10.

NLC: And the quick eating—how much time?

Soledad: Ten or 15 minutes at the most and you eat in a way that you don’t even…you’re strangling yourself.

NLC: An hour for lunch?… A worker interrupts.

Soledad: An hour for lunch NLC: And that half hour, you are paid for it?

Soledad: No. No, they don’t pay that half hour.

After learning of the National Labor Committee investigation, Han-Soll changed course and began obligating the workers to take an hour for lunch— by locking the workers out of the factory. But management did not lower the daily production goal.

Teresa: Before we had to go in at 4:30 [sic. They mean 12:30], although from…to 12:30 for the goal, to put it out, but this week they don’t open the gate to go in early. The gate, and I’m telling you, not the gate where the guards around outside, but rather, where the internal guards are who are inside the company. The maquila ones, yes, inside.

NLC: So this week you all are taking your one hour lunch?

Teresa: Well, it’s that they open it at 12:45, they open it there. Because before they had a lot of problems, so now they don’t open at that time. We used to benefit ourselves, because we would go in early because the goal they asked of us, yes, we would be able to complete it and now since they don’t let us enter, who knows what we are going to do…and they are asking the same goal as always.

Constant pressure to produce.

“I feel tired, exhausted and like I can’t take any more.”

NLC: To be able to produce in the Han Soll factory, do you receive pressure or do you work gently, calmly.

Lola: …under pure pressure..because if we don’t make the goal..if one stops for a bit, there she is watching you. And takes our time too.

NLC: What is “take the time” Lola: The supervisor takes our time.

NLC: And they pressure the operators to put out the work?

Isabel: Maybe one makes only 80 pieces, and they say, ‘look at the sheet that they take the time’ and they say, ‘No, here it says that 140 have to be done in an hour,’ They check that way how much capacity one has and if they don’t give you a warning, they call you to Personnel because very little goal.

NLC: And how to you feel after the shift?

Teresa: I feel tired, exhausted and like I can’t take any more. One feels tired because one doesn’t get up , because to see that you can’t lose minutes by walking there.

Below subsistence wages. “…the money isn’t enough, not enough even to eat.”

Workers sewing $75 NFL and NBA jerseys have to borrow money to survive.

NLC: Han Soll says that the wages you receive are sufficient to live well and that you can buy everything. What can you tell me about that?

Esteban: I earn 1,300 and look, I’ve been working there for 4 years, right, and they’ve never given me a bonus.

NLC: What work do you do?

Esteban: Operator. I’ve been working 4 years and one month. Right now we are doing some sweatshirts…Yes, I think that’s what it is. Right? Yes, look, I’ve been working there four years and they’ve never given me a bonus and I kill myself like a burro. I go in at 12:30, I just eat and go back in, because there, they obligate one to be working inside. I just eat and go inside to the line. (NOTE: Working through a half hour of the lunch break) NLC: That payment that they make, is it monthly or two-weekly?

Cameraman: Interrupts. Your personal experience, how much do you earn?

Esteban: Well, I only earn 1,390 lempiras and at times in the shop where I buy food, instead I end up owing for the next pay period.

NLC: You mean there’s not even enough to cover food?

Esteban: Yes, because I pay for a room, you understand.

NLC: And some compañera who has children? Your wage?—for example you, there with the baby?

Mandy: With care for the kids, the money isn’t enough, not enough even to eat. Sometimes one gets to the next week [after payday] and without money, you have to see where in the shops they’ll give you.

NLC: And you?…Is the money enough for you? Do you live in your own house, or rent?

Mandy: No, right now I’m rent… that is, I’m paying, paying the house.

NLC: And how do you view your economic situation? Are you a single mother?

Mandy: Yes, it’s just me. Yes [single mother].

NLC: You have to carry all the family expenses?

Mandy: Yes, because I buy everything there. Sometimes it’s not enough and the next week I have to see where I’ll get it from.

NLC: Do you live alone, or with other people?

Mandy: I live with my mother.

Even after four years of work at the Han-Soll factory, workers report no improvement in their lives.

“Just on food, and the money’s gone.”

NLC: How many of you have worked in Han Soll for more than 2 years? Raise your hands.

NLC: You have worked for more than 4 years. Do you believe you have been able to progress considerably, buy? Has your life gotten better?

Serena: No. That is to say, I don’t have a lot of things because the pay that they give me is little and I can’t buy what I need. Just on food, and the money’s gone.

Esteban: I was building a house in Santa Barbara, but a man lent me 5,000 lempiras, and instead he took 3,000 from me in interest and rather, I still how him interest [laughter], I still owe him 2,000 and I paid him interest of 2,000 and I didn’t continue with the room [one room house], that is, I didn’t continue with the house. The wage doesn’t allow it, and worse, I got a girl pregnant, there in Naco…the little boy, I have to be buying for him. I have to go to the shop and buy on credit because there has to be milk. I’m stretched to the limit.

Modest demands.

The sad part is that workers sewing $75 NFL and NBA jerseys say if they could earn a base wage of just 95 cents an hour, they could climb out of misery and at least into poverty.

NLC: Maybe someone can answer the question for me, how much do you think would be sufficient to live. How much would you hope to earn to live with a little bit of solvency, with decency?

Isabel: About 2,000 ($106.04 for two weeks and $53.02 per week). About 2,000 every two weeks, to be able to earn 1,000 a week, but just to half get by.

NLC: Anyone else?

Querida: Yes, like the compañera said, because it’s not enough. I have my children and if I don’t pay [rent]—I have my own house, but that doesn’t cover for one.

NLC: How much would be enough?

Querida: Like she said, about 2,000 lempiras. Earn 1,000 a week, because in other factories they earn that, and just in Han Soll you don’t earn more.

NLC: And the house is your own? You built it with your work at Han Soll?

Querida: No, my father left it to me.

NLC: It’s inherited?

Querida: Yes. NLC: Do you think that working at Han Soll, you could buy a house?

Querida: She laughs. No. Never, if only by pure effort it covers to buy ones food. [break in tape] Querida: And now the least little thing is very expensive. Not saying that one is trying to buy to fill a freezer of food and everything. The wage doesn’t cover.

NLC: And you have small children?

Querida: Yes.

NLC: And what do you do when they get sick. Do you take them to Social Security, or do you have to buy them the medicine?

Querida: You have to buy the medicine because there’s no Social Security. There’s a private clinic.

NLC: But they deduct Social Security from your pay stub?

The factory is hot.

Sweating while working.

NLC: Is the factory air-conditioned?

Woman worker: No, it doesn’t have any.

Woman worker: Yes, it has air [conditioning] but sometimes not…that is, they turn it on really low.

NLC: So, is it like where we are now, in the air conditioning in this office?

Woman worker: [Laughing]. No! You imagine it like here—and there, you sweat because of the heat that you are working in.

Esteban: …There’s an air [conditioner] that has some bags…like this…It doesn’t have any strength. They are air [conditioners] with like a pump and they just put a little there…There’s not like in other companies where the air conditioners are stronger, they put big air conditioners…It doesn’t have much capacity.

NFL, NBA, Reebok Codes of Conduct completely meaningless.

No worker could explain what was in the codes and no one had any idea that the codes were meant to protect their rights. At best they are wall decorations.

NLC: The company says that the brands’ codes of conduct, specifically Reebok, are there in the factory, on the wall, in Spanish. Can you tell me if this is true?

Enrique: Yes there are, the labels are there, the Reebok label is there.

NLC: And what does it say?

Enrique: That, no…I’ve pretty much not read it, me. But yes, it’s there in Spanish, it’s there…ones rights. But I’ve pretty much not given much attention to that.

NLC: Does someone know what those Codes of Conduct say? Has someone read them or have they been explained.

Gloria: No. We don’t know, because supposedly they are written in Korean.

NLC: How do you all know they are written in Korean?

Gloria: Because we don’t understand the letters written there.

NLC: But your compañero says that there’s one written in Spanish. How is it possible that he is able to see it and everyone else can’t?

Gloria: I don’t know. Maybe he speaks another language. Everyone laughs.

NLC: Thank you. Repeating: Are there Codes of Conduct in the factory in Spanish?

Lola: Well, to tell the truth, since we don’t have a chance to read, or, we can’t stop to read there, so for that reason we don’t know if there are, or not.

Workers recognize NFL jerseys they sewed at Han-Soll.

•

Plaxico Burress, #17

New York Giants

•

Randy Moss, #18

Oakland Raiders

•

Ben Roethlisberger, #7

Pittsburgh Steelers

•

Julius Peppers, #90

Carolina Panthers

•

Ed Reed, #20

Baltimore Ravens

•

Terrell Owens, #81

Philadelphia Eagles

Querida: But about Reebok, just about the whole plant has that Reebok.

NLC: In the U.S. we have seen an enormous quantity of sports clothing of the Reebok label made in Honduras like for example this. Do you recognize it?

Soledad: Number 90. Points at a photograph of the back of a Julius Peppers/Jacksonville Panthers jersey. We have made it, this number 90. About two months ago they took the number 90 style from us and put in another.

NLC: And what was the daily production they asked of you?

Soledad: 1,200 and every operator 1,200 also.

NLC: From what time to what time?

Soledad: From 7:30 when we began to work until 4:30.

NLC: 1,200?

Soledad: Yes. 1,200 pieces per day.

NLC: It wasn’t until 5:30 p.m.?

Teresa: Umm, the goal? Before, yes, but now since a little while ago, like about a month, they’ve said that the goal that we used to have until 5:30, that we should do it up to 4:30. They didn’t drop the goal, they only dropped the time to work and we have to work more in that hour because they dropped an hour and they didn’t drop the goal.

NLC: And this, do you recognize where it says ‘Jamal Crawford/New York Knicks, Chris Webber/Sacramento Kings,’ Do you recognize it?

Teresa: Mmmm. No, we have only made football shirts. This maybe in Plant A. Maybe the compañeras in Plant A. NLC: Well, Mari, maybe you all have made that on your line?

Querida: In plant A, lines 7 to 12 are making the original that has those numbers. They are making the original and the replica, the Reebok ori… I have the replica, and it doesn’t have a number, it’s solid.

NLC: Explain that to us.

Querida: The replicate doesn’t carry any number, it’s just like this—un-sleeved—but it’s not the original, the original does carry a number.

NLC: And how many pieces do they ask of you per hour? Per shift?

Querida: Umm, the daily goal? Umm, 1,200 or 1,300.

NLC: And how many operators are there per line?

Querida: I think that there are 34 operators per line.

NLC: Who recognized this label, Alex Smith/San Francisco 49ers and Jacksonville Panthers?

Teresa: Operators, yes, there are 30 they say. Manuals, I don’t know how many. But operators, yes, there are 30. Manuals are like the ones who put the number, because this comes as a sticker, that has the number for the sleeve and the number for the body. So they put that on, and others cut threads, to make the work orderly.

NLC: And this, Randy Moss/Oakland Raiders and Ben Roethlisberger/Pittsburgh Steelers—they are also found in the department stores in the U.S. Do you recognize this?

Soledad: Yes, number 18 [Moss]. Yes, we have done this…That one too [7-Roethlisberger].

But my compañeros are in pressing and they iron this work, and they know it very well.

NLC: But you have sewn these things?

Soledad: No. Just number 18 we have done. This number 7, no.

NLC: And Number 18, what goals do they ask?

Soledad: The same, the same 1,200.

NLC: In what period?

Soledad: Then we had from 7:30 to 5:30.

NLC: And how many operators per line?

Soledad: On my line there are 28 operators and 5 manuals.

NLC: Do you recognize these, Plaxico Burress/New York Giants and Chad Johnson from the Cincinnati Bengal? Do you recognize it, have you worked on it in Han Soll?

Teresa: This shirt (points to Plaxico Burress jersey photo) yes, but back in December.

NLC: Last year?

Teresa: Yes, of last year. Right now we are doing one, but it’s solid. It doesn’t have numbers, the one we have on our line. It doesn’t have numbers.

NLC: And of these ones, you made how many? [Referring to the Plaxico Burress jersey] Teresa: 1,200, but in the lines we have to put out more, because of the bad quality that comes out sometimes, so the complete goal would come out up ahead.

NLC: And really, how many did your line make?

Teresa: Like 1,300.

NLC: And from what time to what time did you work doing this?

Teresa: We worked from 7:30 to 5:30, although now they have changed, now they have taken away the hour from 4:30 to 5:30. Now the goal that they used to ask for by 5:30, we have to complete it at 4:30 because they said, to not take away our incentive that they gave us.

NLC: And how much is the incentive?

Teresa: 120, 100 depending on the operation the person does weekly.

NLC: How many operators on your line earn the incentive?

Teresa: Everyone, although the manuals they have it lower. I don’t know why the differences, but they give them only 30 lempiras, although I’m not in agreement about this because it’s too little and they work too.

NLC: And the incentive is earned all the time?

Teresa: Yes, when one makes the goal and if one doesn’t make the goal that they ask for, they lower the incentive and there are times that if it is lower than 80% that they say the won’t give you anything.

NLC: So that means [inaudible]..and now that you are working an hour less, do you succeed in making the goal?

Teresa: We started and we weren’t making it and but afterward she [Miss Chong] started to demand and said why, why weren’t we making the goal, then I, I don’t know how, but like we came in early to see how to do that goal.

NLC: So you mean that now you’re making more effort?

Teresa: We push ourselves to achieve the goal so they’ll give us 100 lempiras a week.

NLC: And Aaron Brooks/New Orleans Saints and Ed Reed/Baltimore Ravens, you all have worked these styles?

Soledad: We have done Number 20 NLC: Are you making it now?

Soledad: Not right this minute. Right now we are doing a plain one without numbers. But before we did number 20 [Ed Reed/Baltimore Ravens].

NLC: And this one [Ed Reed]. When did you work on it?

Soledad: Umm, like sometimes they change the style every week or a month. They put in this on two days or three days one style with such and such a number, then they put in 20..

NLC: In what month did you work on this one?

Soledad: About two months ago we worked on number 20.

NLC: And what production goal did that ask?

Soledad: The same workers, and the same goal, 1,200.

NLC: Here we have this style, found in New York, Jamal Lewis/Baltimore Ravens and Terrell Owens/Philadelphia Eagles. Do you recognize it?

Soledad: That number we have done, 81 [Owens], more have come out, but these change, the same style, but other numbers.

NLC: When did you work on this one [81]?

Soledad: Umm, a couple of months ago, and also it’s that one week they put in one number and sometimes the next week another number, because the ask for a lot of the number like that.

NLC: And the goals that they ask of this one?

Soledad: The same, 1,200.

Han-Soll Factory, Honduras Documentation on Hours, Wages, Production Costs _________________________________________ Hours: • • • •

Obligatory Overtime Standard 10-to-13-hour shifts Workers at the factory 64 hours a week Forced to work through half their lunch hour

Note: Factory conditions as of June 2005: Once Han Soll management and Reebok became aware of the NLC investigation and possible media attention, mandatory overtime hours at the factory were immediately cut back. The one hour of obligatory overtime each day, from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., has been ended, along with the four-hour overtime shift, from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., which had been required at least twice a week. Also, the workers are no longer pressured to work through half of their lunch hour in order to reach these excessive production goals.

The standard shift at the Han-Soll factory is ten hours, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, with a nine-hour shift on Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

There is a one-hour break for lunch from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. But the workers are routinely ordered back to their workstations at 12:30 p.m. in order to meet the daily production goals.

Failure to meet production goals for even a single day results in loss of the production bonus for the entire week. The half-hour lunch is the only break the workers receive all day.

Under normal circumstances, three hours of obligatory overtime are required every Tuesday and Thursday night from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Also, eight hours of overtime is demanded every other Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

On average, it appears that the workers are at the factory 59.5 hours a week. For example, during the week of February 21, many workers were at the factory 61 hours, while during the week of April 4, it was 59 hours. It is only when the factory is very slow that the Han-Soll workers would work the normal legal workweek of 44 hours.

National Labor Committee, July 2005

Page 23

At the high end, the workers are at the factory 64 hours a week, while working 61 hours.

High End Hours Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

7:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. to

5:30 p.m.

8:30 p.m.

5:30 p.m.

8:30 p.m.

4:30 p.m.

4:30 p.m.

Despite the fact that signs are posted all over the factory, and even in the bathrooms, that overtime work is voluntary, the reality is quite the opposite. The signs are no doubt meant for Han-Soll’s U.S. clients like the NFL, NBA and Reebok. For the workers, the daily reality is that overtime is forced. Failure to work overtime will immediately result in the loss of the 70 to 100 lempira weekly production incentive, or $3.72 to $5.32, which at the high end means the equivalent of losing one day’s base wage. If a worker protests the forced overtime on more than one occasion, they will be threatened with a two or three-day suspension without pay.

It is not that overtime is a problem for the workers. Given the below-subsistence wages they earn at Han-Soll sewing NFL and NBA garments, the workers need and are dependent upon overtime work in order to survive. It is only on those rare occasions when a child is sick or they have a pressing family engagement that they ask to be excused.

Often what happens, once issues such as the problem of forced overtime become public, is that factory management lashes out at the most outspoken workers, whom they suspect may have spoken with “outsiders,” and as punishment bars them from all future overtime work. This is not what we want the NFL, NBA or Reebok to do. No worker should be punished for speaking the truth.

Wages:

• Below-subsistence level wage of 65 cents an hour • Base wage meets only 60 percent of a family’s basic food needs • Workers are earning less now than they did three years ago The base wage at the Han-Soll factory—after a government-mandated minimum wage increase in April 2005—is 1,075.48 lempiras ($57.02) every 15 days. Given that the normal legal workweek is 44 hours, and 88 hours for a two-week period, the base wage comes to 64.8 cents an hour. However, when the attendance bonus (commonly known in Central America as “Seventh Day’s pay”) is added, this could increase the pay for the two-week period by 293.32

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National Labor Committee, July 2005

lempiras, or $15.55, which would increase the hourly wage by 17.7 cents, bringing it to 82 cents an hour. But a Han-Soll worker only receives this “attendance bonus” if they do not miss a day or come late at any time during the week.

Base Wage $ 0.65 an hour $ 5.20 a day (8 hours) $28.60 a week (44 hours)

Wages at Han Soll Base Wage plus attendance bonus $ 0.82 an hour $ 6.56 a day (8 hours) $36.06 a week (44 hours)

The workers at the Han-Soll factory can also earn a modest weekly production bonus of 70 to 120 lempiras, or $3.71 to $6.36. It appears that only 50 to 60 percent of the workers actually earn this bonus, which requires the entire assembly line to reach their assigned production quota every day of the week. If even one worker fails to meet her production goal on just one day, the entire assembly line will lose their bonus for the week. This is Han-Soll’s way of pitting the workers against each other, so they pressure each other to work faster.

However, calculating the average hourly incentive is very difficult for several reasons. First, the average work week is 54 hours and not the regular 44 hours. Also, as we have seen, many if not the majority of workers are pressured to begin working 15 minutes earlier, at 7:15 a.m. rather than at 7:30 a.m. The same pressure is placed on the workers to work through half their lunch hour in order to reach their production goal to receive the incentive. This is another 45 minutes a day for which the workers are not paid. Further, many workers believed that the hour of mandatory overtime from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. each day was unpaid, but rather, was compensated through the production bonus, which is paid in cash. Of course, not all the workers receive the incentive, and of those who do, no everyone receives 100 percent of the incentive. If they do not reach their goal, they will earn a smaller portion of the incentive. If they fall below 80 percent of their goal, they receive nothing. Given the above, we determined that a solid estimate for the average hourly incentive would be four cents, bringing the top wage to 86 cents an hour.

Top Sewer’s Wage $ 0.86 an hour $ 6.88 a day (8 hours) $37.84 a week (44 hours) It is important to note that the production incentive has been cut by 66 percent over the last year, falling from 300 lempiras in 2004 to a maximum of 100 in 2005.

Working 53 to 55 hours a week, including 9 to 11 hours of overtime, and including the maximum production bonus, a worker can earn $46.51 to $47.63 a week. Trying to eke out an existence, the workers are dependent upon overtime work and making their production bonus.

That there are below-subsistence wages can easily be demonstrated in that the Government of Honduras’ own Ministry of Labor puts the cost to meet just basic food needs for an averagesized family at 3,814.80 lempiras a month ($202.95) which comes to $46.84 a week.

National Labor Committee, July 2005

Page 25

The base wage of $28.60 at the Han-Soll factory meets just 61 percent of a family’s basic food needs. Many independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the workers themselves place basic food costs far above the government’s estimate. And here we are only discussing food costs, without even beginning to consider rent, utilities, transportation, medical needs, clothing, daycare, school and many other daily expenses.

The Han-Soll workers told us that they are worse off today than they were three years ago. Their real wages have actually gone down.

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National Labor Committee, July 2005

NFL and NBA Workers Sinking Deeper into Misery The base wage at the Han Soll factory has risen from $4.09 a day and 51 cents an hour in January 2000 to the current $5.20 a day and 65 cents an hour in June 2005. This 14-cent growth in the hourly base wage represents a nominal 27 percent wage increase.

However, during that same period—January 2000 through June 2005—the compounded inflation rate soared 59.8 percent. The nominal 27 percent wage increase was completely wiped out. In terms of real purchasing power, the wages of the Han Soll NFL and NBA workers actually declined by 32 percent.

The workers’ wages fell even further when Han Soll cut the weekly production bonus from 300 lempiras ($15.91) a week to the current high of 120 lempiras ($6.36). This 60 percent cut in the production incentive meant the workers lost up to $9.55 a week in compensation, which is the equivalent of nearly two days’ base wages.

Also, the recent cutback in overtime work will lower the workers’ weekly income even further. In general, the Han Soll workers did not have a problem with working overtime.

In fact, given their below-subsistence level wages, they desperately need the overtime pay to survive. What the workers were objecting to was the obligatory nature of the overtime at Han Soll. On rare occasions when a child was sick or another such pressing family matter, they wanted to be let out of the factory without being punished.

Inflation Rate 2000 11.058 2001 9.666 2002 7.699 2003 7.674 2004 8.10 Jan-June 2005 4.90 A brief review of some likely expenses the workers shared with us clearly demonstrates how inadequate wages are in the export assembly section in relationship to providing for some small family’s most basic needs.

These expenses are based on a family of three people: a mother, a father, and a two-yearold son.

Average expenses per week *RENT (one room without indoor plumbing, using an outhouse and cooking with wood)

$6.75

*ELECTRICITY

$0.86

National Labor Committee, July 2005

Page 27

*WATER (not potable, meant for washing)

$1.33

*DRINKING WATER (one five-gallon jug of potable water)

$0.90

*MILK FOR A TWO-YEAR-OLD SON (least expensive powdered milk)

$6.12

*DAY CARE (least expensive day care with a close family relative)

$5.32

*BASIC FOOD NEEDS (relying almost exclusively on rice, beans, tortillas and occasionally eggs)

$47.88

$69.16 If a close relative were unavailable, even the least expensive outside informal day care would cost $18.62. A more adequate diet including chicken once a week and some fruit and vegetables would cost approximately $69.16 per week.

So even these most basic essentials for a small three-person family range from $69.16 to $103.74 per week. This means that the minimum wage of $28.60 a week meets just 28 to 41 percent of even these very limited expenses. Even the highest wage of 86 cents an hour and $37.84 a week— including the base wage, attendance and production bonus—would meet just 36 to 54 percent of these weekly costs.

And we have not even begun to speak of other essential necessities such as transportation, clothing, medical expenses, and the myriad of other daily needs, let alone savings or even the most modest entertainment.

No worker can save money on her current wages, not even someone who is single. Many workers resort to borrowing in order to survive, repeatedly running up debts of 400, 500 or 1,000 lempiras, which has to be paid off at an interest rate of 10 percent a week. So just the interest rate on a small 400-lempira loan is $2.13 a week.

Workers told us that just in the last year, the price of rice and tortillas rose 50 percent, while a tank of propane gas was up 25 percent.

Even the cheapest four-burner atlas stove must be purchased on credit, costing 400 lempiras a month, stretching out over 15 months. This means a deduction of $4.91 a week from the worker’s wage.

The workers in Honduras know their country is poor and they do not expect to live like the middle class does in the U.S., but they are seeking wages which will at least allow them and their families to

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National Labor Committee, July 2005

live with a modicum of decency, albeit far below the standards of the people who buy the products they make.

----------

Production Costs:

• Workers paid just 19 cents for every $75 NFL and NBA jersey they sew.

• Workers’ wages amount to just 3/10 of one percent of the jersey’s retail price.

We know from our discussions with the Han-Soll workers that Plaxico Burress’ #17 New York Giants NFL jersey was sewn on Line 13 in Plant B in January 2005. It was one of six lines producing NFL and NBA jerseys. Thirty sewing operators on an assembly line had a mandatory production goal, assigned by management, of completing 1,200 NFL and NBA jerseys in the standard nine-hour shift (from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., supposedly with an hour off for lunch).

The assembly line had to produce 133.33 jerseys per hour (1,200 jerseys ÷ 9 hours = 133.33 jerseys per hour). This means that, in effect, each worker had to sew 4.4 jerseys an hour, or one every 13.5 minutes (133.33 jerseys per hour ÷ 30 sewers = 4.44, 60 minutes ÷ 4.44 = 13.5 minutes).

Knowing that it takes 13.5 minutes of time to sew each jersey allows us to determine the direct labor cost involved, as 13.5 minutes is 22.5 percent of an hour (13.5 minutes ÷ 60 minutes per hour = .225 hours). Now, even if we take the highest operator’s wage in the Han-Soll factory of $0.86 an hour—base wage plus attendance and production bonuses—this means that the workers are paid just 19 cents for every NFL and NBA jersey they sew ($0.86 per hour × .225 hours = $0.1935 per jersey).

The direct labor cost of 19 cents to sew the jersey means that the workers’ wages amount to less than 3/10 of one percent of the jersey’s retail price ($0.1935 per jersey ÷ $75 jersey = 0.00258).

The cost of labor in the U.S. amounts to about 10 percent of the garment’s wholesale price. Here we see that in Central America, the cost of labor has almost been wiped out, falling from 10 percent in the U.S. to just 3/10 of one percent in Honduras.

No wonder the workers were shocked and amazed, and struggled with a sad disbelief, when we held up the Burress N.Y. Giants jersey and showed them the $75 price—1,410 lempiras! “Why, that is what we earn in two weeks,” they said, “and we make 1,200 of these a day.”

National Labor Committee, July 2005

Page 29

It is stunning, in effect, that each worker sews 4.4 jerseys an hour, 40 a day, and 400 in the twoweek pay period. Each one of them produces $30,000 worth of jerseys in two weeks, but a single $75 jersey would pay her entire wages for those same two weeks. In fact, a woman sewing $75 NFL and NBA jerseys at the Han-Soll factory makes enough jerseys in the first four and a half days of work to pay for her entire year’s base wage of $1,487.20!

The NFL and NBA may counter that we are underestimating the total labor cost involved since we are only talking about the time it takes to sew a jersey. What about cutting the fabric and all the indirect labor that is involved?

Only the NFL and NBA could answer this by providing real details, but in the industry in general, cutting equals 22 percent of the direct sewing cost, while indirect labor equals 100 percent of the direct sewing costs. This would bring the total cost of labor, direct and indirect, involved in completing a jersey to approximately 43 cents. (Sewing cost $0.19, cutting $0.045, and indirect labor $0.19.) (Another approach common in the U.S. is to estimate the indirect labor cost at 125 percent of the direct labor cost, which would also bring the total labor cost to 43 cents.) The Han-Soll workers did overhear supervisors saying that the North American companies were cheap—paying just 50 cents per garment.

The 43 cents total labor cost is still less than 6/10 of one percent of the jersey’s $75 retail price ($0.43 labor cost ÷ $75 retail = 0.0057).

In the accelerating race to the bottom in the global economy, wages for those who are at the bottom and make up the weakest link in the production chain—young women across the developing world who are stripped of their rights—are being driven so low that they are becoming almost an insignificant cost for the multinationals.

Markups: NFL, NBA and Reebok mark up the price of the jerseys by 1,400 percent!

Relying on U.S. Customs Department documentation as analyzed by PIERS—Port Import Export Research Service—we were able to track five shipments, totaling over 100,000 NFL and NBA jerseys, from the Han-Soll factory in Honduras to Reebok in just a one-month period— between October 4 and November 3, 2004. (Piers shipping documents attached.)

For example, Han-Soll shipped 18,112 NFL replica jerseys to Reebok on October 4, 2004, entering through the port of New Orleans. The amazing thing is that the landed customs value for the over-100,000 jerseys was just $91,014. This means that each NFL jersey entered the U.S. with a total cost of just $5.03 ($91,014 ÷ 18,112 = $5.025). The landed customs value represents the total cost of production of the jersey, including all materials, direct and indirect labor, profit to the Han-Soll factory and shipping costs.

This means that the NFL, NBA and Reebok are marking up the retail price of the jerseys by 1,400 percent from a total production cost of $5.03 to a retail price of $75! The markup is $69.98 ($75 ÷ $5.03 = $14.91)! Some of the shipping documents showed an even lower landed customs value for the NBA jerseys, which means that the markup on these could be even larger.

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National Labor Committee, July 2005

It is quite a contrast, showing the enormously different power enjoyed by the groups involved, that young Honduran women earn just 19 cents to sew the sports jerseys, a wage amounting to 3/10 of one percent of the retail price, while the NFL, NBA and Reebok can get away with marking up the price of the garment by 1,400 percent.

Surely there is enough money here to pay the women sewing the NFL and NBA jerseys a subsistence-level wage that would allow them to at least climb out of misery and into poverty.

This is very doable.

Paying 20 cents more per jersey would lift the Han Soll workers out of misery The startling fact here is how little it would cost the NFL, NBA, the players and Reebok to lift the workers sewing their jerseys out of misery. It would cost just 20 cents!

Many workers told us that if they could earn just 1,000 lempiras a week, or $53.02, they could live with a modicum of decency. They could afford to feed their families a few decent meals each week. They could afford milk and vitamins for their children.

A Subsistence-level Wage 1,000 Lempiras a Week Base Wage $ 0.95 an hour $ 7.60 a day $ 41.80 a week

Base Wage plus Attendance Bonus $ 1.21 an hour $ 9.68 a day $ 53.02 a week

What would happen if the NFL, NBA, the players and Reebok were to pay this $1.21 an hour subsistence level wage to the workers sewing their jerseys in Honduras? Would the price of the $75 jerseys have to skyrocket to $150? Hardly. Paying $1.21 an hour would barely put a dent in the NFL, NBA and players’ royalties, or Reebok’s considerable profits.

Paying $1.21 an hour instead of the current 82 cents to 86 cents would increase the direct labor cost to sew the jersey from 19 cents to 27 cents, and the indirect labor cost from 24 cents to 34 cents. Instead of 43 cents, the total labor cost to sew the $75 NFL and NBA jerseys would now be 61 cents. Sixty-one cents in labor costs still amounts to just eight-tenths of one percent of the jersey’s $75 retail price.

By paying the workers less than 20 cents more per jersey—18 cents to be exact—the NFL, NBA and the players could lift every worker in the Han Soll factory and their families out of misery and at least into poverty.

Twenty cents more. Surely the NFL, the NBA and the players could afford to do this, as could Reebok with its more-than-three million dollars in profits each week.

National Labor Committee, July 2005

Page 31

New York Giants Shirt Made at Han-Soll

This New York Giants long sleeved t-shirt was being sewn at the Han-Soll factory up to the end of April 2005. Each assembly line of 35 sewing operators was given a mandatory production goal of completing 1,500 shirts in the nine-hour shift. In effect, each worker had to sew 4.76 shirts an hour, or one every 12.6 minutes, for which the workers were paid 18 cents per shirt. As the Giants shirt retails for $21.00, this means the sewer’s wage amounted to less than 9/10 of one percent of the retail price.

Currently, the Han-Soll workers are again sewing NFL jerseys with half sleeves, in brilliant white, black and purple colors, and a v-neck, where the Reebok label is sewn.

The direct labor cost to sew these garments is also just 18 cents.

Following the Money Trail: Reebok spends 17 times more to advertise the NFL and NBA jerseys than it pays the women to sew them.

For the year ending December 31, 2003, Reebok spent $150,214,000 on advertising, which amounted to a little over four percent (.0434353) of total revenues, which were $3.49 billion for the year. That four percent of revenues going to promotion means that Reebok spent $3.26 to advertise the $75 team jerseys, which is 17 times more than Reebok paid the women in Honduras to sew it, which was just 19 cents.

Since Reebok’s gross profits for the year were $1.34 billion, or 38.4 percent of total revenue, this means that Reebok’s gross profit on each $75 jersey is $28.80. After subtracting the $5.03 cost of production for the jersey, this leaves $41.17 left to be divided among the NFL, NBA, the players associations, and retail outlets such as Foot Locker, Sports Authority and others.

Reebok’s net profits for 2003 were $157,254,000, which comes to more than three million dollars a week. Reebok claims a net profit of $3.39 per team jersey.

Reebok recently announced that for the first quarter ending March 31, 2005, its worldwide apparel sales grew 13 percent “driven by licensed sports products such as team jerseys, sales of which were up double-digits,” Reebok said. (Women’s Wear Daily, April 26, 2005.)

So there is money to be made on these NFL and NBA jerseys, only not for the young women who sew them in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Vietnam, China and Russia.

Would the sky fall in if the NFL, NBA, the players associations and Reebok decided to do something totally amazing and announced that from this point forward the base wage of anyone sewing their garments would be doubled? Would their business empires collapse?

In reality, this would hardly be the case. If the base wage in Honduras were doubled from 65 cents to $1.30 an hour, this would add 15 cents to the direct cost of sewing the garment.

The total would now be 34 cents, including the attendance and production bonus.

Per Year Per Week/Per Game*

Worker in Honduras Sewing NFL and NBA Jerseys $1,487.20 $28.60 per week

Average NFL Average NBA Paul Fireman, Player Player CEO of Reebok

$1,330,725.00 $4,443,055.00 $3,174,610.00 $83,170.31 $54,183.60 $61,050.19 per game per game per week

*NFL Regular Season is 16 games. NBA regular season is 82 games.

This new 34-cent direct labor cost to sew the $75 team jersey would still amount to less than 5/10 of one percent of the retail cost. This 15-cent addition would mean nothing to the NFL, the NBA, the players and Reebok, but it would make a world of difference to poor women all across the developing world who are sewing their garments.

If there is the will, there certainly are ways to improve factory conditions and wages so that the rights of the workers are finally respected and so that they and their families can live with a modicum of decency.

An Appeal: Turning Han-Soll into a Model Factory This could become a win-win situation for the NFL, NBA, the players associations, Reebok, and the Han-Soll factory and workers.

This is one of those rare opportunities when the corporations and players involved clearly have the overwhelming influence and power, if they work together, to turn Han-Soll into a model factory. If the NFL, NBA, the players and Reebok want change, it is going to happen.

Like we stated at the outset, this report is not meant as an attack on the NFL, NBA, and certainly not the players, and not Reebok, which may be among the more decent companies. Rather, this is an appeal that they work together with their Han-Soll contractor to clean up the factory and to guarantee that the legal rights of the workers are finally respected, in actuality and not just on paper.

The last thing the workers want is for the NFL, NBA, and Reebok to pull their work from the factory. To do so would only further punish the workers for having dared to speak the truth. The workers desperately need these jobs, only they also want to be treated like human beings and have their rights be respected. Like the NFL and NBA players associations, the Han-Soll workers also want a union. It is their legal right under Honduran law, and it is one of the most fundamental of the United Nations/International Labor Organization’s internationally recognized worker rights standards.

Reebok already claims to have a track record of promoting independent unions in China. Doug Cahn, Reebok’s Director of Human Rights Programs, told the Financial Times (December 12, 2002): “we have a code of conduct that says we will respect the rights of workers to freedom of association and collective bargaining…. We have inspections of factories, both announced and unannounced. But you just don’t have the assurance that they will be the same the next day.

Factories in China are incredibly sophisticated at finding ways to fool us. The best monitors are the workers themselves.”

Honduras is just a two-hour flight from Miami, and unlike China where the young workers have had no experience of independent organizing in their lifetimes and often think a union is a breakfast meeting, in Honduras the workers know why they are struggling for a union.

The Han-Soll workers also have the support of the Independent Federation of Honduras Workers (FITH) and its confederation, the CUTH, led by President Israel Salinas—who National Public Radio recently referred to as the most important and respected labor leader in Honduras.

If there is the will, Han-Soll can be transferred into a model factory. The National Labor Committee will gladly work with the NFL, NBA, the players associations and Reebok to make this a win-win situation for everyone.

Further, we are certain that once it is understood that our approach is a proactive one and not an attack on Honduras—that Honduras’ Minister of Labor, German Leitzelar, will offer his full support and cooperation. By all accounts, the Minister is a man of great integrity. The problems we are addressing here extend well beyond the Han-Soll and Southern Apparel factories, to El Salvador, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Vietnam, China and beyond.

Addenda

Interview Number Two filmed on Tuesday, July 12, 2005. Fourteen workers participated.

Workers Again Confirm that they are sewing NFL and NBA Jerseys.

NFL and NBA account for majority of Han Soll’s production—with six assembly lines in Plant A and four lines in Plant B sewing NFL and NBA players jerseys for Reebok.

Workers recognize Number 81—Terrell Owens’ jersey.

Obligatory overtime and constant pressure.

NLC: …Sewing the Reebok shirts?

Rosa: Yes. Violeta: Yes. NLC: How many lines are producing Reebok now?

Rosa: Four, just in Plant B. NLC: And in Plant A? Is there someone from Plant A? Guillermo: Six lines.

NLC: How many lines does your plant have?

Guillermo: 12.

NLC: Pointing to Rosa. And how many lines are in your plant?

Rosa: 12, but only 4 are making Reebok.

NLC: What style of Reebok are you making now?

Rosa: Right now we are making one that has a tape [stripe]. The other lines are making others that don’t have tape.

NLC: But what are they, for basketball, or football? Are they [long or short] sleeves?

Juan: Right now 81, lately just that.

NLC: And do you remember the names of the football players?

Juan: No…just David, it says in back, just about only that.

NLC: What’s it like?

Juan: Well, it’s like…almost like this the shirt. Makes some hand gestures.

NLC: And the label?

Juan: It’s Reebok.

NLC: NFL? NBA? Juan: It doesn’t have that.

Blanca: Reebok…But what I do the overstitching on the sleeve, overstitching on the sleeve.

It has tape, so it’s a little harder.

NLC: And what you are doing is for basketball, or for football?

Blanca: For football.

NLC: Do you remember some numbers or names?

Blanca: Of all that I do to make production, I don’t remember the numbers. She laughs.

NLC: When did this label enter?

Roger: Looking at Reebok label. It entered about 2 months ago.

NLC: And you worked on this? What production goal did this give you?

Roger: A production goal that was excessive. Sometimes you couldn’t even make it. They demand it. At times you can’t make it, they try to make you do a lot of overtime, because when you can’t make the goal, that’s when they make you work a lot of overtime.

NLC: And what is the goal for this shirt?

Roger: The goal right now is 650. (NOTE: The production goal for the line is 1,200 but several operations are divided between two operators.)

NLC Interviewer: In a shift, and how many workers?

Roger: In the 7:30 to 4:30 shift, with 32 workers.

NLC Interviewer: And how much to you earn each 15 days…when you make production?

Roger: With this style, you don’t make the production goal. You put in, on your part, and you can’t. So, at times that’s when you get warnings, at times, maybe you can’t and, it’s a little

strange that one wouldn’t want to work…but at times the styles are tremendously [difficult] to do.

Abusive and humiliating treatment.

Sent to sweep the floor for punishment.

NLC: And mistreatments? Including, a worker told us that “when they got angry they call us ‘chicken brain, chicken head.’ So we want to know, what have they said to you?

Josito: There is a supervisor named Carlos, And maybe one is working on the line, and he scolds you for nothing. Hurry up, you…. he says, just for nothing.

NLC: Can you repeat? What does he say?

Josito: You who have your feet in your face. That all the operators are lazy.

NLC: What experience have you had of such treatment?

Celeste: ...with a bat in the face so we’ll learn…when there are repairs.

NLC: What do they say?

Celeste: That they are going to hit us in the face with a bat, so we’ll learn. Maybe when a style is coming in, and we don’t grasp it very well and there are repairs.

NLC: And what factory is this in?

Celeste: In Han Soll.

Greta: When a style begins, and we don’t grasp the practice, quickly, they insult us, even [calling us] “M”, the supervisor we have.

NLC: What is “M”?

Greta: It’s a bad word [She laughs]. Yes, he insults us too much, really bad he insults us.

He told us that we are no good for anything.

Dulcia: There all they to do is call one stupid, chicken head, shit too.

Carolina: He says that he’ll send me, well, he sends me to Personnel, and everything. So I, what do I do—start to cry.

Marco: Well, there was the case that I, what I was doing was working on a piece that had six buttons. Five here and one at the side. So there was one time that a Chinese came up to me and told me that I had to come in early. I told him that I couldn’t because I had a problem with my teeth, and what she said, she told me that I was good for nothing. He laughs. That I had to charge my batteries or I was there for nothing then.

Garcia: Almost the whole world knows that she’s the most “macenuta”. Like when a new style comes in, at times one needs time to practice. She demands and demands of you, and maybe in

the end you can’t grasp the operation…well, what she did to me was send me to sweep [the floor] when I was new. It is something that maybe elsewhere one wouldn’t be treated that way, to be sent to sweep the bathroom.

Discrimination against pregnant women.

NLC: [pregnancy] tests?

Violeta: …they fire Gilda: Well, when other people say, so-and-so is pregnant, so they fire one, even though they don’t give the test.

NLC: So, just supposing that one is pregnant, they fire them?

Gilda: Then, they fire them.

NLC: How do they find out when a woman is pregnant?

Gilda: Well they have friends, and they tell them, and the friend tells, and like that it arrives at their ears, and that’s when they fire her.

NLC: With no pregnancy test?

Gilda: With no need for a pregnancy test. And with no more, they fire her.

Guillermo: A woman, about 35 years old. They didn’t notice that she was pregnant. So, after the two months passed, the Korean realized, and they called her to Personnel, and they tried to fire her, but to not give her her [severance] benefits, they decided to leave her.

Newly Elected Union Leaders Fired.

Workers Afraid.

Organizer: It’s said that you have had some difficulties [organizing a union].

Celeste: We had a meeting. I wasn’t there that day. And the result was that within 2 days, they didn’t leave [in their job] even one person in the executive board. That is why I have not returned to the meetings. (This woman is referring to an assembly where the workers legally organized their union and elected their new leaders, or executive board members.)

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A DE C.V. KM 22.5 CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE MONTEGRANDE, NACO QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2) DHL-DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 15,459.00 KG 54.00 817 2.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0528

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB17098 NACO 9143879 61 122,269.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 4/5/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

CRXU4435910

1X40 ST / 817 CTNS / REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

817.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

CRXU4435910

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A DE C.V. KM 22.5 CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE MONTEGRANDE, NACO QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2) DHL-DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HA NA CRICLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 14,691.00 KG 53.00 789 2.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0528

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB17095 NACO 9143879 61 116,193.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 4/5/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

CLHU4039569

REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT SHIRT) / 7

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

789.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

CLHU4039569

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V KM 22.5, CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE, MONTEGRANDE, NACO, QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2) DHL/DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 10,968.00 KG 38.00 572 2.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0536

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB19625 NACO 9143879 61 86,746.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 5/5/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

MSKU6014028

REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT SHIRT) / 2

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

572.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

MSKU6014028

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V. KM 22.5, CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE, MONTEGRANDE, NACO, QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-5591521/23

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2)DHL/DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel:

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 7,366.00 KG 25.00 383 1.00

CM CARTO

MAERSK SEALAND

Country of Origin:

Voyage

AURETTE A

MAEUXSPB17385 NACO 9242285 61 58,260.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 4/16/2005

HONDURAS 0512 Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

2002

NEW ORLEANS

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value: AMS Commodities Container

Description

MSKU3318217

40 CONTR / REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

383.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

MSKU3318217

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V. KM 22.5, CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE, MONTEGRANDE, NACO, QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-5591521/23

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2)DHL/DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 15,032.00 KG 52.00 779 2.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0530

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB17345 NACO 9143879 61 118,892.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 4/12/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

MSKU6481336

REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT SHIRT) / 7

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

779.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

MSKU6481336

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V. KM 22.5, CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE, MONTEGRANDE, NACO, QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-5591521/23

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2)DHL/DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 15,303.00 KG 53.00 796 2.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0530

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB17346 NACO 9143879 61 121,034.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 4/12/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

TRIU4978505

REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT SHIRTS) /

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

796.00

MENS KNIT SHIRTS

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

TRIU4978505

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V. KM 22.5, CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE, MONTEGRANDE, NACO, QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2) DHL-DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 6,447.00 KG 22.00 337 1.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0542

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB20209 NACO 9143879 61 50,990.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 5/24/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

UXXU2423144

GARMENTS / REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

337.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

UXXU2423144

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V. KM 22.5, CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE, MONTEGRANDE, NACO, QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2) DHL-DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 6,947.00 KG 24.00 366 1.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0538

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB19874 NACO 9143879 61 54,944.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 5/11/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

MSKU2823050

REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT SHIRT) / 2

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

366.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

MSKU2823050

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V. KM 22.5, CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE, MONTEGRANDE, NACO, QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2) DHL-DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 10,988.00 KG 41.00 614 2.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0540

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB20019 NACO 9143879 61 116,876.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 5/17/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

TRIU5901220

GARMENTS / REPLIA JERSEY (NBA) / (MEN'S KNIT

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

614.00

GARMENTS

621149/3830000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

TRIU5901220

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V. KM 22.5, CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE, MONTEGRANDE, NACO, QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2) DHL-DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 15,362.00 KG 54.00 806 2.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0540

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB20018 NACO 9143879 61 121,501.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 5/17/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

MAEU6361693

1X40 ST / REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

806.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

MAEU6361693

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V. KM 22.5, CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE, MONTEGRANDE, NACO, QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2)DHL/DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 7,482.00 KG 26.00 394 1.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0536

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB19532 NACO 9143879 61 59,175.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 5/5/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

FSCU3939136

REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT SHIRT) / 3

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

394.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

FSCU3939136

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V. KM 22.5, CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE, MONTEGRANDE, NACO, QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2)DHL/DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 7,504.00 KG 26.00 391 1.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0534

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB16928 NACO 9143879 61 59,351.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 4/26/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

GESU2957531

REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT SHIRT) / 3

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

391.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

GESU2957531

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, S.A. DE C.V. KM 22.5, CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE, MONTEGRANDE, NACO, QUIMISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, USA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2)DHL/DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 15,705.00 KG 54.00 811 2.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0530

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB17344 NACO 9143879 61 124,214.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 4/12/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

MSKU6254029

REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT SHIRT) / 8

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

811.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

MSKU6254029

NM

1

Shipper

Consignee

HAN-SOLL HONDURAS, SA. DE C.V. KM 22.5 , CARRETERA A OCCIDENTE MONTEGRANDE, NACO, QUMINISTAN SANTA BARBARA, HONDURAS, C.A. 504-6721100

ONFIELD APPAREL GROUP, LLC 8677 LOGO ATHLETIC CT. INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46219, UA

1) SAME AS ABOVE 2)DHL/DANZAS AIR AND OCEAN 3902 HANNA CIRCLE, SUITE G INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46241, USA 317-895-7000

Notify Party Measurements: Quantity: TEU's

Shipment Detail Carrier: Vessel: 2002

B/L Pre Carrier: Lloyd's Code Inbond Code Estimated Value:

MAERSK SEALAND

317-895-7000

Packaging Information Weights: 7,336.00 KG 26.00 400 1.00

CM CARTO

Country of Origin:

Voyage

HONDURAS MAERSK FELIXSTOWE 0532

NEW ORLEANS MAEUXSPB17491 NACO 9143879 61 58,023.00

For Port: 21531 PTO CORTES US Dest: INDIANAPOLIS For Dest: Mode of Transport: 10 Arrival Date: 4/19/2005

Coastal Region:

US Port: GULF

AMS Commodities Container

Description

MSKU2474318

REPLICA JERSEY (NFL) / (MEN'S KNIT SHIRT) / 3

Piers Commodities Qty (Units)

Description

HSCODE/JOCCODE

400.00

MENS KNIT SHIRT

610590/3800000

CTN

Marks & Numbers Container

Description

MSKU2474318

NM

1

Honduras exports 1.2 billion garments a year to the U.S. •

Honduras exports 1.2 billion garments a year to the U.S.—which is four garments for every man, woman and child in the country.

•

The small country of Honduras, with just seven million people, is now the third largest exporter in the world of apparel to the U.S.

•

There are 226 maquila, or export assembly, factories in Honduras, and 131,000 maquila workers. There are 20 export-processing zones there.

•

Honduras’ apparel exports to the U.S. were up 7 percent in 2004, growing from $2.5 billion in 2003 to $2.7 billion in 2004—an increase of $170 million.

•

Overall, Honduras’ exports to the U.S. were up 10 percent in 2004, totaling $3.6 billion. In 2004, the U.S. actually had a $565 million trade deficit with Honduras.

•

In the first two months of 2005—despite the WTO’s lifting of textile and apparel quotas in January—Honduras’ apparel exports to the U.S. were up 27 percent in January and 16 percent in February, for an average 21 percent increase over last year’s figures. In January and February, Honduras shipped 186.7 million garments to the U.S.

•

The stock of U.S. Direct Foreign Investment in Honduras grew 50 percent from 2002 to 2003, rising from $181 million to $270 million.

•

All trade indicators seem to be rising, including increasing overall and apparel exports to the U.S.—despite the 2005 lifting of quotas, a growth in maquila jobs, and an increase in U.S. DFI. The only indications pointing downward are the falling wages of the maquila workers and the increasing suppression of their legal worker rights.

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Licensee and Supplier Code of Conduct

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About the NBA

The NBA’s mission is to be the most respected and successful sports league and sports marketing organization in the world. In keeping with this mission, NBA Properties, Inc. (“NBAP”) is committed to conducting its business in a socially responsible and ethical manner. We expect all NBAP licensees, including their contractors, engaged in the manufacture and sourcing of products bearing NBA, WNBA, NBDL and USA Basketball (collectively “Product Suppliers”) to share this commitment. At a minimum, all Product Suppliers must adhere to the following Licensee and Supplier Code of Conduct: 1 . ETHICAL STANDARDS Product Suppliers shall conduct their businesses in accordance with the highest standards of ethical behavior.

2 . COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS Product Suppliers shall comply with all applicable laws and regulations of the countries, states and localities in which they operate.

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3 . EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES NBAP will only do business with Product Suppliers whose employees are appropriately compensated, present at work voluntarily, not at undue risk of physical harm and not exploited in any way. In addition, Product Suppliers must comply with the following specific standards: Wages and Benefits: Product Suppliers shall provide wages, overtime compensation and benefits at not less than the minimum levels required by applicable laws and regulations or the prevailing local industry levels, if higher.

Working Hours: Product Suppliers shall, at a minimum, comply with all applicable working hours laws and regulations. Except in unusual business circumstances, employees shall not be required to work more than the lesser of (a) 48 hours per week and 12 hours of overtime or (b) the limits on regular and overtime hours allowed by local law or, where local law does not limit the hours of work, the regular work week in such locality plus 12 hours of overtime. In addition, except in unusual business circumstances, employees shall be entitled to at least one day off in every seven-day period.

Child Labor: Product Suppliers shall not employ any person under the age of 15 (or 14 where allowed by local law) or under the local age for completing compulsory education, if higher.

Forced Labor: Product Suppliers shall not use any forced labor, whether in the form of prison labor, indentured labor, bonded labor or otherwise.

Harassment or Abuse: Product Suppliers shall treat each employee with dignity and respect, and shall not use corporal punishment, threats of violence or other forms of physical, sexual, psychological or verbal harassment or abuse.

Nondiscrimination: Product Suppliers shall not discriminate in employment practices on the basis of race, religion, age, nationality, social or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, political opinion or disability.

Freedom of Association: Product Suppliers shall recognize and respect the right of employees to join organizations of their own choosing and shall neither threaten nor penalize employees for their efforts to organize or bargain collectively.

Health and Safety: Product Suppliers shall provide employees with a safe and healthy working environment. Manufacturing facilities shall, at a minimum, contain clean restrooms, potable water, adequate lighting, adequate ventilation and fire exits. Residential facilities, if provided, shall also be kept sanitary and safe.

4 . ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS Product Suppliers shall comply with all applicable environmental laws and regulations.

5 . COMMUNICATION Product Suppliers shall take appropriate steps to ensure that the provisions of this Code are communicated to employees, including the prominent posting of the Code (in the local language) in their manufacturing facilities.

6 . MONITORING AND COMPLIANCE Product Suppliers shall conduct periodic audits of manufacturing facilities, on the basis of which they shall certify to NBAP on request either that (a) all products bearing NBA, WNBA and USA Basketball trademarks have been manufactured in compliance with this Code, or (b) identified facilities have been found not to be in compliance with this Code, in which event the Product Supplier shall specify appropriate and effective steps to remedy the non-compliance. NBAP or its representatives are authorized to engage in monitoring activities to confirm compliance with this Code, including on-site inspections of manufacturing facilities and residential facilities, audits of records relating to employment matters and private interviews with employees at all levels.

Product Suppliers shall retain and make available to NBAP or its representatives, either on site or at agreed upon locations, all documentation that may be required to assess whether or not the Product Supplier is in compliance with this Code.

7 . FAILURE TO COMPLY NBAP reserves the right, in addition to all other legal and contractual rights, to terminate its relationship with any Product Supplier found to be in violation of this Code.

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Honduras Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor United States Department of State February 28, 2005 -ExcerptsLink to full report: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41765.htm About two-thirds of the country's households live in poverty, and 45 percent of the population lives on less than $1.00 (18.65 lempiras) per day.

While the Labor Code prohibits retribution by employers for trade union activity, it was a common occurrence. Some employers threatened to close unionized companies and harassed workers seeking to unionize, in some cases dismissing them outright. Despite legal protections, workers were most vulnerable for being fired while forming unions. Some foreign companies closed operations when notified that workers seek union representation.

The Ministry of Labor can reach administrative decisions on allegations of unfair dismissal and fine companies, but only a court can order reinstatement of workers. The labor courts routinely considered hundreds of appeals from workers seeking reinstatement and back wages from companies that fired them for engaging in union organizing activities. Workers often accepted dismissal with severance pay rather than wait for a court resolution due to the length of this process. Lack of effective reinstatement of workers was a serious problem. Once a union is recognized, employers dismiss relatively few workers for union activity.

The Labor Code prohibits blacklisting; however, there was credible evidence that blacklisting occurred in maquilas. A number of maquiladora workers who were fired for union activity have reported being hired for 1 or 2 weeks and then being let go with no explanation. Maquiladora employees reported seeing computer records that included previous union membership in personnel records. Some employers informed previously unionized workers that they were unemployable because of their previous union activity.

When a union is formed, its organizers must submit a list of founding members to the Ministry of Labor as part of the process of obtaining official recognition. However, before official recognition is granted, the Ministry of Labor must inform the company of the impending union organization. At times, companies receive the list illegally from workers or from Labor Ministry inspectors willing to take a bribe. The Ministry of Labor did not always provide effective protection to labor organizers. In 2002, the Ministry of Labor improved its administrative procedures to reduce unethical behavior of its officials regarding union organizing. There were

fewer reports of inspectors selling the names of employees involved in forming a union to the management of the company compared with previous years. Once a union is registered, its board of directors has specific protections under the law to prevent illegal firings.

In the absence of unions and collective bargaining, the management of several plants in free trade zones instituted solidarity associations that, to some extent, function as "company unions" for the purposes of setting wages and negotiating working conditions. Others used the minimum wage to set starting salaries and adjust wage scales by negotiating with common groups of plant workers and other employees, based on seniority, skills, categories of work, and other criteria.

Labor leaders accused the Government of allowing private companies to act contrary to the Labor Code. They criticized the Ministry of Labor for not enforcing the Labor Code, for taking too long to make decisions, and for being timid and indifferent to workers' needs.

The law provides for the establishment of a minimum wage. On April 1, minimum wages that were renegotiated by the Government, the private employers' association, and the three labor confederations went into effect for the year. Unlike past years when the raise was backdated to January, the raise was not retroactive. The daily minimum wage scale is broken down by sector and by size of business: small (1-15 workers) and large (16 or more workers). The scale ranges from $2.97 (54.7 lempiras) for workers in small agriculture to $4.88 (89.7 lempiras) for workers in financial/insurance companies and workers in export-oriented businesses (including maquilas and commercial agriculture such as tobacco, coffee, bananas, and seafood). Workers in areas such as construction, services, mining, transportation, communication, etc., had minimum wages in between these two rates. The raise was approximately 12 percent for workers in small agriculture, but approximately 9 percent for most other workers. The inflation rate in 2003 was 6.8 percent.

All workers are entitled to a bonus equivalent to a month's salary in June and December every year. The Constitution and the Labor Code stipulate that all labor must be paid fairly; however, the Ministry of Labor lacked the personnel and other resources for effective enforcement. The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.

There are prohibitions on excessive compulsory overtime. However, employers frequently ignored these regulations due to the high level of unemployment and underemployment and the lack of effective enforcement by the Ministry of Labor.

The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing national occupational health and safety laws, but does not do so consistently or effectively.

Key Organizations in Honduras

FITH / CUTH Independent Federation of Honduran Workers Unitary Confederation of Honduran Workers CUTH Confederacion Unitaria de Trabajadores Hondure単os Israel Salinas, President Barrio Paz Barahona, 8 Avenida, 12 y 13 Calle San Pedro Sula Phone: (504) 5501981 Fax: (504) 550 9245

EMIH / Independent Monitoring Team of Honduras EMIH - Equipo de Monitoreo Independiente de Honduras Maritza Paredes, Director Edificio San Pedrano local 211 Prolongacion Pasaje Valle San Pedro sula, Honduras Phone: (504) 550-0938