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00-06-26, Canada: Homeworkers' Class Action Lawsuit
Dear Friends,
Please find below an article sent to us by the Maquila Solidarity
Network on a class action lawsuit against five clothing retailers
in Canada, filed by homeworkers seeking back wages, overtime, and
vacation pay.
$1.5 Million Class Action Claim Launched Against Clothing Companies
UNITE Seeks to Have all Companies in Production Process Held Liable
for Wages
(Toronto) A $1.5 million class action claim was launched Monday
against five clothing retailers, manufacturers and a contractor, on
behalf of garment workers who did piece work for one of the companies.
The claim alleges that the companies owe the workers wages, overtime premiums,
and vacation pay, and seeks to hold them jointly and severally liable. "Yesterday, in the Superior Court of Ontario, a class action
claim was launched against five companies," said, Veena Verma, the
plaintiff's lawyer, who is with the law firm Cavalluzzo Hayes Shilton McIntyre
and Cornish. "The claim is for $500,000 in back wages for homeworker
Fan Jin Lian and all the other Class Members who sewed and assembled
garments for Eliz World. The plaintiff is also asking the court to declare
that the five defendants have breached the Ontario Employment Standards Act."
The five defendants, who include retailers, manufacturers and contractors,
are:
¨ J. Crew Group (J. Crew) New York, clothing manufacturer
and retailer¨ Venator Group Canada Inc. (owns the group of stores in
the “Northern Group”, such as Northern Traditions, Northern Reflections
and Northern Elements) Weston, Ont., retailer¨ Clothing for Modern Times Ltd. (the Costa Blanca stores)
Toronto, retailer¨ E. Knitted Garment Inc., Scarborough, manufacturer¨ Eliz World Inc. (Eliz World) Toronto, contractor; Eliz
World has closed its offices and factories and disconnected its phone. "We regret that we have to resort to legal action,"
said Alexandra Dagg, the Co-Director of the UNITE Ontario Council (the Union of Needletrades,
Industrial and Textile employees), which is sponsoring the legal
action. The workers are members of the Homeworkers’ Association,
a project of the UNITE Ontario Council. "But the fact is this industry has
had nearly a decade to clean up its act and start treating workers fairly.
But it seems that for many firms in the industry, the only way to persuade
them is to hit them is where it counts -- in the courts and in their pocketbooks." Homeworkers are mainly female immigrants, who sew clothing at
home on their own equipment and are paid by the piece rather than by the hour. …/2 "I worked very hard to do the work I was hired to do --
I sewed as much as seven days a week and up to 15 hours a day to meet their deadlines,"
said Fan Jin Lian, theproposed representative plaintiff. Fan worked for Eliz World
between September 23,1999 and November 24, 1999 and alleges that while she was paid
$675, she is stillowed approximately $5,000. "Now that the work is done,
no one wants to acceptresponsibility for paying me or the other workers the money
we are owed -- not the contractor, manufacturers or retailers." "The homeworkers are at the bottom of an apparel pyramid
in which the lower down you are, the less money you get," explained Dagg.
"The structure of the garment industry is evolving so that retailers are at the
top of the pyramid, contracting work to a contractor to assemble the garments.
The contractor subcontracts to a small factory where the cutting
and some sewing is done. The small factory will in turn subcontract sewing
to homeworkers. Contractors and subcontractors recruit, hire, and
pay the workers whose piece rates often fall below minimum wage. "Over the years retailers have gained enormous power to
determine the price of clothing, the price of production and the turnaround times.
In this case, we are alleging that J. Crew, Venator Group and Costa
Blanca were the controlling mind in the entire chain of production of their
clothes. "They determined the price paid to contractors and subcontractors,
and the speed by which production had to be completed. We're alleging that
their prices are so low and production deadlines so tight, that the plaintiff,
who was paid by the piece rate, sometimes did not earn minimum wage
as required under the Employment Standards Act." As far back as 1992, UNITE published a homework study showing
industry violations of the Act. More recently, a 1999 study by the University
of Toronto's Dr. Roxanna Ng,, under the auspices of UNITE, discovered
that many homeworkers in Ontario are paid extremely low wages and
their employers regularly violate provincial laws regarding minimum
wage, overtime pay and vacation pay.
"When we talk about homeworkers, we're talking about some
of the hardest working, most poorly paid women in our society,"
said Dagg. "Many of them are immigrants who feel powerless
in a new country. I'm hoping this claim will help not only the women
involved, but all homeworkers across Canada."
Maquila Solidarity Network/Ethical Trading Action Group
606 Shaw StreetToronto
Ontario M6G 3L6
CANADA
416-532-8584 (phone)
416-532-7688 (fax)
info@maquilasolidarity.org
http://www.maquilasolidarity.org/
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