image: Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs, Coach, and Michael Kors are coming under fire since as many as 100 laborers in one of their Chinese suppliers’ factories have gone on a “major strike.” As reported by WWD, laborers employed by Panyu Shimen Handbag Ltd. Co., a garment factory located in Guangdong, the capital of the southern Guangdong province, “have gone on strike to protest alleged sub-standard and illegal working conditions.”
The factory, which is tasked with making handbags, footwear, and other leather products, is on the hook for allegedly “failing to pay its workers a salary in line with local laws – and its workers have gone on strike over back pay owed and are campaigning to receive a monthly base salary of 3,500 renminbi ($553 at current exchange) during production-low seasons.”
Additionally, laborers have taken to protesting other reported violations, including the factory operators failure to “provide pensions, housing funds, hazard pay for workers in high-temperature environments, sick pay, or compensated paternity leave.”
Since the protest broke out on February 1, Keegan Elmer, a researcher for China Labour Bulletin, has confirmed that a Chinese labor union has gotten involved and Panyu Shimen Handbag Ltd. Co. has “promised not to retaliate against worker representatives after weeks of worker actions.”
The matter at hand comes on the heels of a 2012 strike, which prompted Burberry to sever ties with the company, according to China Labor Watch. WWD notes that a Michael Kors spokesman “had no comment, while the other brands did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”
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