8/16/2023 0 Comments Stayed afloat selling now he faces![]() Up until now.Īside from the pandemic, Alta Gracia’s almost exclusive reliance on a student client base has undoubtedly made things worse. The 60 workers left at the company were paid a living wage throughout most of 2020. In the meantime the company CEO, John Allen, who took over in 2019, leveraged his background in e-commerce to sell Alta Gracia T-shirts online through platforms such as University Tees, Shelley Cove or Ivory Ella. Unlike many competitors in the Dominican Republic and abroad the Alta Gracia factory was able to keep running by switching to making masks when the pandemic hit, while maintaining social distancing and ensuring workers were provided with facial coverings. The Clean Clothes Campaign estimates that during the months of March, April and May 2020 garment workers around the world had already lost between $3.19bn and $5.79bn in wages. Mark Anner, a professor of labor and employment relations at Penn State University says the pandemic has triggered the garment industry’s worst crisis in contemporary history, with conservative estimates suggesting at least 3.5 million (10% of) global garment workers have lost their job in 2020. Orders for clothing have dropped precipitously and revenue has plummeted in an industry regarded as non-essential. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the global apparel industry has taken a brutal hit. As Valentina puts it: “The pay is better, we don’t have to commute and we all get along.” They also get paid vacation and union representation. Most of the furloughed workers want to go back to work at Alta Gracia, where workers are paid almost 2.5 times the minimum wage. And job opportunities during the pandemic are scarce. But taking on a new job during a furlough means risking losing the severance pay workers are entitled to if the company folds. ![]() Some workers have signed up at employment agencies. ![]() In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the global apparel industry has taken a brutal hit “There is a lot of anger and frustration and it is completely understandable,” he says. Nobody disputes his claim that Alta Gracia is the only garment factory in the developing world that pays a living wage in an industry known for exploitation and abysmal working conditions.īut this time Nova recognizes that the living wage is not being met. Scott Nova, executive director at the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), has been ensuring that labor rights are respected at the factory since the company’s inception. “The bank takes it directly out of my pay,” said several workers, all of them women. Those with debts never get to see the government subsidy at all. But it represents only 30% of the monthly living wage of 27,027 pesos ($475) that Alta Gracia workers like Patricia and Valentina have consistently earned over the years. The Dominican government gives furloughed factory workers a monthly subsidy of 8,500 pesos ($150) or 75% of the minimum wage. Everyone is just thinking ‘give me my severance pay and let me go.’” “We are all worried the company will go bankrupt and leave us with nothing. Workers like Patricia Sandoval, who remembers her first day at the factory over a decade ago, feared the worst. Temporarily suspending activity or definite closure.” In December, work at the small factory nestled in the Caribbean was suspended for three months and in March, the furlough was extended for another 90 days, putting the union leader, Eduardo Cabrera, in a panic. ![]() “I have zero in the bank and have two children to support,” she added. “I am two months late on my rent,” said Valentina García, who has been at the factory for seven years.
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