Meet The Women Workers Who Sew GWU Apparel!
Monday, March 5, 6 – 8, Philips Hall 414A
The GWU Women’s Studies Program invites you!
Come hear first-hand from two courageous union leaders at the Alta Gracia factory, Maritza Vargas and Ana Marinez, about how their community is being transformed by living wages.
Thanks to more than a decade of cross-border collaborations between the Fedotrazonas union and students, Alta Gracia brings living-wage college-logo t-shirts and hoodies to over 400 university bookstores nation-wide. Join us for a discussion of how to bring living-wage and union-made apparel to George Washington University!
Set at more than three and a half times the Dominican minimum wage and based on a cost of living study conducted by independent labor rights watchdog Workers Rights Consortium, workers receive a “salario digno”, which enables them to support their families with dignity, covering food, housing, transportation, health care and education costs for their children. The ripple effect in the community is impressive: new businesses have opened across from the factory, construction has picked up as workers invest in more livable homes, and not just children, but Alta Gracia workers themselves are going back to school to continue where poverty had forced them to abandon studies. At Alta Gracia, workers enjoy top health and safety standards at work and a union – a voice on the job.
For a bit of background on Alta Gracia, this recent article in The Nation is helpful. This video on the impact of living wages at Alta Gracia in union leader Martiza Vargas’ family and this quick video about the project’s history, made by students in United Students Against Sweatshops might also be useful overviews.
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