USA: Garment workers protest at Ross headquarters after investigation highlights insufficient contract prices offered to LA factories and unpaid wages
"Garment Workers Protest Low Wages At Ross Headquarters In Dublin", 11 December 2018
About 65 garment workers...and their allies came to the Ross Stores Inc. headquarters...to protest what they allege are sweatshop conditions in local factories that produce clothing for [Ross]...Marissa Nuncio of the Garment Worker Center...said it launched a campaign against Ross after the U.S. Department of Labor found that clothing was produced for Ross at Los Angeles factories that paid workers only $5 to $6 an hour.
Nuncio said the...investigation showed that Ross failed to pay sufficient contract prices for its garment orders, which made it impossible for factory owners to comply with the local minimum wage. She said four Garment Worker Center members received judgments for a total of $849,104 in owed wages earned while producing clothing for Ross and other companies...
...But Nuncio said the workers haven't been able to collect the wages that are owed to them because the factories shut down to avoid paying...
...Ross said...that it "... does not own or operate manufacturing operations in Los Angeles or elsewhere. The claims made by the Garment Worker Center are between the manufacturers' subcontractors and their workers...we have no control over what our vendors and manufacturers pay their workers."...