These workers already had difficulty scraping by on wages as low as 20 cents per hour. Now that they have no paycheck, they are wondering how to feed their families. The possibility of prison sentences makes the situation even more frightening for many of them. Local organizations in many communities already have contacted us with news that they either definitely will be leafleting during the May 8-21 period or that they have tentative plans to do so. Please let us know if your group is planning a leafleting action.
Several cases involve union struggles among clothing workers.
They say that they are not being paid at the rate that they were promised. The workers, who are mainly women, have also complained about physical mistreatment by women supervisors who deny them permission to go to the bathroom and even strip search them when they leave the factory. The workers are mainly from Managua and Tipitapa and travel daily to Sebaco to work in the Taiwanese-owned factory, which has been open for only four months. Workers are demanding a salary increase. The owners responded that there will be no salary increase and that they are going to close one line of production.