Levi Strauss is a major customer of Lajat Manufacturing, a consistent labor rights abuser in Mexico. In an unprecedented ruling on January 17, a Mexican Federal Labor Tribunal ordered the local Labor Board...to recognize the independent and democratic Union of Workers of Lajat Manufacturing...The...decision was in direct conflict with the actions of the Durango state and local authorities and of Lajat Manufacturing, which has waged a year-long battle to stop its workers from organizing. Lajat has gone so far as to close a plant in order to prevent workers from realizing their human rights...[E]arly this year, workers reported that Levi Strauss gave Lajat new orders for jeans...despite the fact that Lajat refuses to comply with Levi's Corrective Action Plan, refuses either to reinstate workers or to pay the workers $400,000 in back wages, unpaid overtime, and severance pay, and it fails to make legally required contributions to federal social security and housing funds [scroll down to bottom of page]