This is more than the annual earnings for 50,000 workers in Nicaragua sewing jeans for Kohl s. The Chentex factory, along with 4 other factories in the Las Mercedes Free Trade Zone in Nicaragua is owned by a Taiwanese consortium called Nien Hsing. It produces 40 million pairs of jeans a year. The majority of Nien Hsing s production worldwide is for the U.S. market, sold by major U.S. retailers including Kohl s, Wal-Mart, Kmart and JC Penny. We want to protect and support jobs in the developing world, but jobs with dignity and justice.
Workers deserve a living wage and respect for their rights.
This is an appeal to the companies to do the right thing. We are all in this global economy together. There are no islands of prosperity amidst the race to the bottom. We must redirect Wal-Mart and the other companies away from the low road chasing starvation wages around the world, abusing the rights of women and exploiting child labor. We need to help pave the high road and establish real, basic human and worker right and wage standards, below which no corporation can go.