Illinois Public Media - University of Illinois, WILL-AM - January 25, 2011
The Illini Union Bookstore in Champaign recently unveiled a new apparel line from a company pushing to end poverty in Central America.
South Carolina-based Knights Apparel Inc. runs Alta Gracia, a manufacturing plant in the Dominican Republic. The company employs about 120 people at the factory, and pays each of them $2.83/hour, which exceeds the country’s prevailing wage of $0.84/hour. In addition to this salary increase, the company has allowed the workers to form a union.
The non-profit group Workers Rights Consortium (WRC) said the company’s salary boost is just enough to adequately feed and shelter a family. In a statement, the WRC said it regularly monitors the facility to make sure the building is up to code and workers are treated well.
“Formal monitoring activities – worker interviews, meetings with management, meetings with union leaders, factory inspections, and review of factory records – all take place at least monthly and in most cases weekly,” WRC spokeswoman Theresa Haas said. “Less formal communications with workers and managers occur on a daily basis.” Full Story Here
