A union representing Mexican immigrant workers has decided to take on American Apparel who recently terminated 200 workers.
American Apparel, who boasts “sweatshop-free” products, pays workers an average of $12 per hour or $25,000 a year to sew in their Los Angeles location.
However the company reported a loss of $28 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, forcing changes to an expensive business model.
Economics does not seem to matter to Hermandad Mexicana, a union that is now driving complaints to the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of laid off workers.
Hermandad Mexicana’s main complaint appears to be that of the six percent of workers who were laid off, most of those had attended organizing meetings to complain about their employer.
It is unclear if all of the 200 now jobless workers were legal residents of the United States as their union’s mission is to seek “full integration into civilian life and institutions of this country regardless of immigration status.”
American Apparel’s stock has dropped to $.66 a share since February.
