Be part of the National DKNY Girlcott!
Join us now in the fight to hold
Donna Karan accountable and to end the sweatshop
abuses here in the U.S.
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National DKNY Boycott
Dear Friends,
On June 7, 2000, NMASS announced a groundbreaking class action
lawsuit exposing human rights abuses of women workers who
sewed garments for Donna Karan Company right here in the United
States. These workers were forced to work seven days a week,
12 hours a day sewing Donna Karan's high-priced designs in
a unionized factory in New York's fashion district. Filed
by the workers themselves, the lawsuit holds Donna Karan directly
accountable to all of its garment workers for minimum wage
and overtime pay violations, regardless of who Donna Karan's
contractors were. The class action suit is the third of three
lawsuits that groups of Asian and Latina workers have filed
against Donna Karan for wage violations, discrimination, and
retaliation.
This is a tremendous step forward in our effort to end sweatshop
conditions. For years, when garment workers came forward to
complain about the illegal conditions, manufacturers & retailers
would pull their work out of those factories and force workers
into unemployment. To throw blame off of themselves, they
hide behind their contractors, claim ignorance, and move their
illegal operations into the next factory, where they can exploit
the next group of workers. They call this taking "responsibility."
 While
much of the attention focuses on sweatshops overseas, we can
no longer ignore the devastating impact of sweatshop conditions
on our communities here in the U.S., especially on women and
youth. This fight is paving the way for other women workers
to demand recognition of our work and to seize control of
our time and our lives, whether we are immigrant women, mothers
doing the valuable work of raising our children, students,
office workers, injured workers, or youth who are already
working.
We urge you and organizations from around the country to join
the National DKNY Boycott and support our demands that Donna
Karan:
Apologize to the workers and end the intimidation, harassment,
and retaliation against women workers; Pay the backwages and
overtime pay owed, and re-open the factory and reinstate the
workers; Guarantee 100% of Donna Karan's clothing contracts
be made in law-abiding factories and that at least 75% be
made in our local communities in order to stop the threats
of moving work elsewhere when workers speak out.
Sincerely,
Raquel Granda,
Ain't I a Woman?! Campaign
Be a part of the NATIONAL DKNY GIRLCOTT!
Start by writing Donna Karan a letter to let her know that
we, women and girls from around the country, won't put up
with Donna's abuse of women workers here in the U.S.
Donna is setting an example for just how cruelly and inhumanely
women and young workers can be treated, not only in the factory
but in offices, in schools, and even in our homes where the
valuable work of raising our children is unrecognized and
unpaid. Join us today to hold DKNY accountable!
SAMPLE LETTER – you can copy this and paste into
your favorite text editor:
[today's date!]
Donna Karan
Donna Karan International
550 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10018
Dear Donna Karan:
I support the fight of all the women workers whose human rights
were violated in unionized New York City factories sewing
your Donna Karan label clothing. It is your name and your
image that is profiteering off of the sweatshop abuse of women
workers, reaping millions and millions of dollars at the expense
of our health, our livelihood, and our families. You must
immediately take responsibility for the inhuman and illegal
working conditions that take place in the production of your
garments.
I am outraged that you are punishing working people and destroying
local communities by simply withdrawing your garments from
your sub-contractors when workers expose your sweatshop conditions
and your racist treatment-from padlocked bathrooms to surveillance
cameras to prohibiting workers from taking or making phone
calls. You must stop threatening workers and retaliating against
those who speak out by shutting down factories and moving
elsewhere.
I urge you to
1) publicly apologize to the workers,
2) pay all backwages owed and overtime,
3) re-open the factory, re-instate all the workers, and end
the retaliation against and intimidation of her workers,
4) and guarantee that all DKNY and Donna Karan clothing is
produced in law-abiding factories, at least 75% in our local
communities.
As long as the above demands are not met, I will continue
to "GIRL"COTT DKNY and Donna Karan clothing and tell all my
friends, family, and colleagues to do the same.
Sincerely,
[your name]
cc: Ain't I a Woman?! Campaign, c/o NMASS, P.O. Box 130293
New York, NY 10013-0995 nmass@yahoo.com
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