The Agreement

Representatives of the CGT union and Fruit of the Loom met in Washington, DC in November 2009 to sign a historic agreement that remedied Fruit of the Loom’s violations of workers’ associational rights.

The agreement is legally-binding, and through it, Fruit of the Loom committed to:

• establish a new garment factory known as Jerzees Nuevo Dia (a “New Day at Jerzees”) and provide jobs to the former employees of Jerzees de Honduras. Fruit of the Loom agreed that the CGT-affiliated workers union would be the representatives of the workers at the factory;
• establish a welfare fund to provide monetary assistance to the workers who were affected by the closure of Jerzees de Honduras;
• ensure respect for freedom of association at all factories owned by Fruit of the Loom in Honduras and to offer a joint union-Company training program as well as access for the union to all of its Honduran facilities;
• create, with the union, an Oversight Committee and assign an ombudsman to monitor the day-to-day issues arising in Honduras and mediation when needed;
• phase out Collective Pacts (an anti-union tactic used by employers in the Honduran garment industry) that were in place at its other Honduras facilities.

The Jerzees Nuevo Dia factory continues to operate today, and its workers have negotiated benefits above those provided by law through Collective Bargaining Agreements. See here to read more about the lasting impact of the agreement on Honduran garment workers.