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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8211
Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich announced today that
Jessica McClintock, Inc. (JMI) and the Asian Immigrant Women Advocates (AIWA)
have resolved the issues that separated them and will work to uphold worker
protections. This agreement signed recently ends a dispute which began in
1993.
"This agreement signifies an important milestone in efforts
to establish cooperative relationships among all levels of the industry," said
Reich. "I commend both parties for reaching this agreement."
The agreement calls for cooperative efforts by both parties
to insure workers' rights as well as to promote awareness of fair labor
practices. Although not legally responsible or required, those efforts
include:
- donating money to establish a garment workers
- education fund and for the former Lucky garment workers;education
fund and for the former Lucky garment workers;
- sponsoring scholarships for students and garment workers;
- providing garment workers with bilingual state and federal
publications to better educate them on fair labor standards;
- providing two toll-free numbers, in English and Cantonese, to make
compliance with wage and hour laws easier and more accessible for JMI
contractors'
- employees, monitored for effectiveness by the Department of
Labor;
- exploring with other groups alternative methods for worker wage
protections and the viability of an independent industry monitoring
program.
AIWA will end its boycotts, pickets, and other campaigns or
tactics against JMI concerning the dispute between the parties. Both parties
additionally agreed to discontinue adversarial media and other criticism of
each other.
Maria Echaveste, Administrator of the department's Wage
and Hour Division who met with the parties to achieve this agreement said, "I
applaud both parties for agreeing to focus their efforts on the best garment
industry employment practices in order to uphold worker protections."
In December 1995, JMI was named to the Department of
Labor's Fair Labor Fashions Trendsetter List. The list acknowledges 36
standouts in the garment industry based upon their monitoring practices.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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