Hermosa Factory
El Salvador

NBA, Nike (Ohio State, Duke, North Carolina, Michigan, Arizona and Georgetown Universities) Adidas, Puma

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NBA, Nike, Universities--Exploitation and Below-Subsistence Wages Workers are paid just 29 cents for each $140 Nike NBA shirt they sew--which means their wages amount to only 2/10ths of one percent of the garment’s retail price! These same workers are paid 30 cents for each $100 pair of NBA Nike shorts they sew. Here their wages amount to just 3/10ths of one percent of the retail price of the NBA shorts. For each $55 Nike Ohio State basketball shirt they sew, the Hermosa workers are paid just 22 cents, or 4/10ths of one percent if the retail price.

 

• Mandatory pregnancy tests.

• Obligatory overtime: 7-day work weeks during peak season, at the factory over 70 hours a week, some 19 1/2 hour shifts (6:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.), with workers forced to sleep on the factory floor.

• Seriously contaminated drinking water – bacteria levels 429 times greater than internationally permitted norms.

• Excessively high production quotas: women must attach 2000 sleeves to Nike T- each shift, sewing one sleeve every 15.3 seconds nonstop for 8.5 hours – paid two-tenths of a cent for every sleeve they sew.

• Limited access to health care.

• Codes of conduct meaningless.

• Surveillance cameras monitor workers at all times.

• No freedom of association – union organizers will be immediately fired: the workers explain "The company will never allow a union."

 

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Hermosa Manufacturing S.A. de C.V.
Contiguo al Centro Comercial Peri-Centro
Calle a la Estacion
Apopa, El Salvador tel: (503) 216-6406

Approximately 600 workers. Believed to be North American owned.

 

The Anatomy of Exploitation

• Workers paid just 29 cents for each $140 NBA Nike shirt they sew: In January 2001, Lines #1 and #6 at the Hermosa factory produced NBA Nike team basketball shirts, for example "Lakers / #34 / O’Neal." The jerseys retail at the NBA store for $140. There are 50 workers on each of these production lines. For the 10 ½ hour shift, from 6:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., management assigned each line the mandatory daily production quota of 1,250. With three quarters of an hour off each day--one 15-minute break and 30 minutes for lunch--the workers were putting in a 9 ¾ hour shift. If they are paid their Seventh Day attendance/good behavior bonus, they will earn 75 cents an hour, and $7.36 for the 9 ¾ hours. The total daily payroll for all 50 workers on the line comes to $367.76. These same workers must complete 1,250 NBA Nike shirts each shift, meaning they produce $175,000 worth of garments. This allows us to calculate the direct labor cost to sew each $140 shirt, which comes to just 29 cents. So the workers’ wages amount to a shocking 2/10ths of one percent of the retail price of the NBA basketball shirt.

 

• Thirty cents of wages in each $100 pair of Nike NBA basketball shorts: In the same month, January 2001, Lines #4 and #5 at the Hermosa factory were sewing NBA Nike team basketball shorts. There are 55 workers in each of these production lines, and in January they were working 11½-shifts, from 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Here too, they received one 15-minute morning break and 30 minutes for lunch, so they were working 10 ¾ hours a day. At the 75-cent-an-hour wage, they were earning $8.11 a day. For all 55 workers the daily payroll amounted to $446.03. Management assigned each line a mandatory daily production quota of 1,500 NBA shorts, which at $100 each came to $150,000-worth of shorts each shift. Here the workers' wages amounted to just 30 cents for every $100 pair of NBA Nike team shorts they sewed, or just 3/10ths of one percent of the retail price!

• Workers paid just 27 cents for every $140 Puma New York Knicks basketball shirt they sew. Wages amount to just 2/10ths of one percent of the retail price: In December 2000, Lines #2 and #3 at the Hermosa factory were sewing Puma New York Knicks basketball shirts, for example shirts printed: "New York, Johnson, #2". There were 50 workers on each of these lines. In December they were working from 6:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with 45 minutes off, a morning break and 30 minutes for lunch. In the 9¾-hour work shift, factory management assigned each line a mandatory daily production quota of 1,350 Puma Knicks shirts. At the 75 cent-an-hour wage for the 9 3/4 hours actually worked, the sewers wages came to $7.36 a day. For all, 50 workers on the line, the total daily payroll came to $367.76. The line produced 1,350 $140 Puma shirts each day, a total retail value of $189,000 in garments. Here the workers were paid just 27 cents for each $140 Puma New York Knicks basketball jersey they sewed, meaning their wages amounted to less than 2/10^th of one percent of the retail price of the shirt.

 

• Twenty-cent of wages in a $60 Nike New York Knicks Sprewell Jersey: In January 2001, Lines #2 and #3 at the Hermosa Factory shifted to producing Nike New York Knicks basketball shirts, including "New York #8, Sprewell." These shirts retail at the Niketown for $60.00. Fifty workers on each line worked the same 6:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. shift, with the same mandatory production goal of 1,350 Nike shirts per day. For the 9 3/4 hours of actual working time, the sewers earned 75 cents an hour, and $7.36 per day. The payroll for the 50- person assembly line totaled $367.76. Each day the workers had to produce $81,000 worth of Nike basketball shirts. Here, the workers' wages amounted to just 27 cents for each $60 Nike New York Knicks shirt they sewed, or only one half of one percent of the retail price of the jersey.

Nike's hang-tag on the NBA jersey states that: "A portion of your purchase supports youth community programs around the world."

The below-subsistence wages of the Salvadoran workers--most of them young women and many of them single mothers mired in abject poverty--who are also systematically denied their basic worker rights, helps fund Nike's "Youth Community Programs," the NBA Players Association, as well as Nike’s and the NBA's massive profits.

• Workers paid just 22 cents for each $55 Nike/Ohio State shirt they sew: The company sets the mandatory production goal for each line composed of 50 workers. Lines #3 and #4 must complete 1,500 Nike/University T-shirts each during the standard 8½hour shift. Since the workers earn 75 cents an hour, they earn $6.41 in an 8 ½ hour shift. Daily payroll for all 50 workers on the line would be $320.50. The Nike university T-shirts they sew retail for $55 in the U.S., which means that each shift they sew $82,500-worth of clothing. Based on these figures, it becomes apparent that the women are paid just 22 cents for each $55 Nike/ university shirt they sew. The workers wages amount to just 4/10ths of one percent of the retail price of the Nike shirt.

 

Hours--Obligatory overtime during peak season (April to December)–7 days a week.

• Monday through Friday: 6:30 or 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

• Saturday and Sunday: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Monday through Friday: * 7:30 a.m. – 12 noon Work.

(One 15-minute break, 9 - 9:15 a.m.)

* 12 noon – 12:45 p.m. Lunch (45 minutes)

* 12:45 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Work

Saturday and Sunday: * Same schedule, except work ends at 4:30 p.m.

Under this schedule, at the extreme, the workers could be at the factory seven days a week, working 73 to 78 hours a week while being paid for 67 ¾ to 72 ¾ hours.

However, when rush orders come in there are occasional forced 19½-hour shifts from 6:30 a.m. straight through to 2:00 a.m. the next morning. Aside from lunch there is just one other 45 minute break for supper. After the late night shift the workers sleep on the factory floor curled up under their sewing machines laying on pieces of cardboard. The following morning they must start work again at 6:30 or 7:30 am. In February 2000 when the national Labor Committee first made contact with the workers at Hermosa, such obligatory 19½ hour shifts were worked Tuesday and Thursday, February 15 and 17.

 

Wages:

The workers are paid according to the minimum wage in El Salvador, which does not come even close to meeting the most basic survival needs of the average sized family.

• 42 colones per day, equal to $4.80

• 60 cents an hour

With the 7^th day attendance bonus, the workers earn 1,260 Colones per month, which breaks down to:

• 75 cents an hour

• $ 6.03 a day (8 hour shift)

• $ 33.19 a week (44 hour week)

• $143.84 a month

• $ 1,726.03 a year

(As in other factories, in Hermosa there is a lot of confusion among the workers regarding how their wages are actually calculated, since they are paid through direct bank deposit and do not get to keep a record of their pay stubs. They are only allowed to review their pay stub briefly on pay day while inside the factory and the stub must be returned the same day. Failure to return a pay stub leads to a fine of $5.71 – more than a day’s base wages.)

 

Abusive working conditions:

• Mandatory Pregnancy Tests: Women seeking employment at the Hermosa factory must first undergo a urine analysis/pregnancy test at a medical laboratory and present the results. Women who test positive will not be hired.

• Seriously Contaminated Drinking Water: The factory does not provide purified bottled water to the workers, leaving them to drink the tap water from a faucet. The National Labor Committee had this water tested at a laboratory and found that the bacteria levels exceeded by 429 times the advised international standards. Water this contaminated should not even be bathed in let alone drank. (Lab testing results attached).

• Locked in for the Shift: Workers are not free to leave the factory grounds during their lunch break. On Tuesday, February 13, when the earthquake struck at 8:30 a.m., there was panic in the factory as the women raced for the emergency exit doors, which were locked. Some workers were injured in the crush of bodies.

• Excessive production goals: 2,000 operations per day. Paid 2/10ths of a cent per operation. At Hermosa there are 7 production lines with 50 workers in each line. Lines #1 and #2 each have a required daily production quota to sew 1000 pairs of Adidas sport shorts per 8.5 hour shift. These production goals are set by factory management according to time motion guidelines provided by the North American companies. Lines #3 and #4 must each complete 1,500 Nike T-shirts per day.

Workers are paid according to how many pieces they sew. Each woman is a specialist racing

through the same monotonous operation, hour after hour, to reach her assigned daily production quota. An example: women who specialize in attaching the sleeves to Nike T-shirts must sew 2,000 sleeves in the 8.5 hour shift in order to meet their quota and earn the minimum wage of $4.80 a day. This means she must sew 235 sleeves an hour, or one every 15.3 seconds, non-stop all day. She is paid 11.5 cents for every bundle of 48 sleeves she sews, or .0023958 cents for each operation.

As a production incentive, if the daily 2,000 sleeve quota is achieved, the women are paid an additional incentive of 11 and four-tenths cents for every bundle of 48 sleeves they sew beyond the regular 2000-piece goal.

• Limited access to health care: Hermosa does have a factory medical clinic, but according to the workers "there are really no medicines available at the factory clinic." The workers feel that the poorly equipped factory clinic was set up as a means to deny workers the time off that would be necessary for them to access the much more comprehensive health care available at the state Social Security clinics and hospitals. The workers pay for the government’s Social Security health system through deductions in their salaries. Inadequate factory-run clinics are a common complaint in many maquilas.

• Codes of conduct meaningless: Nike and the other companies’ Codes of Conduct are posted outside the manager’s office and on a wall near the bathrooms. However, absolutely no explanation is provided to the workers and there has never been a serious attempt to enforce these codes. They remain just a piece of paper on the wall.

• Video cameras monitor the workers at all times: Until September 2000, as a way of pressuring the workers, the general manager of Hermosa drove around the factory in a golf cart monitoring the production lines. After that, video surveillance cameras were installed, pointed directly at the production lines. Line supervisors were outfitted with radios, so that the general manager, now watching the closed circuit screens from his office, could direct a supervisor to chastise a women, order her to work faster, or to stop workers from talking during working hours. The workers complain of the constant pressure and humiliation of being watched constantly.

• No Unions Allowed, Denial of the Right to Organize: Management has told the workers repeatedly that a "trade union in the factory is not necessary" because the company "gives you incentives and all the social benefits according to the law." The workers were very clear that "The management is very strict and will never allow a union."

 

Nike’s Dirty Water The drinking water provided to the workers at the Hermosa factory is filthy and unsafe. Bacteria levels in the water exceed international standards by 429 times! The drinking water contains human and animal fecal matter. Drinking this water can lead to serious respiratory, urinary tract, eye, ear and stomach infections. It is not safe to wash with, let alone drink.

  Hermosa Worker Sewing $140 NBA Nike Shirts, Describes Her Family’s Poverty

 

Name: [Omitted so she will not be fired]
Age: 28 years
Home: Colonia Tepeyat
San Marcos, San Salvador

Single mother with 3 children; in addition she lives with her mother, a sister and an uncle.

Immediate family: 7 people
3 children and 4 adults
Children’s ages: 10, 8 and 7 years

Name of factory: Hermosa Manufacturing
Calle a la Estacion, continguo Pericentro
Apopa

"The time I get up is 4:30 a.m. I get up to prepare food for my children and to bring water, because I don’t have potable water. I bring it in a jug from a public tap a block away. Sometimes there is a line because everyone uses this same tap. We use the water to drink, to bathe and to do the washing. I fill a barrel every two days.

"I go to work at 6:00 a.m. taking two buses to get to my job. From San Marcos, I travel to the Center of San Salvador in micro-bus R-11 and it takes 20 minutes and from the center to Apopa to the factory, I take the R-38E and it takes 30 minutes. In total, 50 minutes, since starting time is 7:30 a.m., but I try to arrive at 7:00 a.m.

"I spend 10 colones [$1.14] round trip.

"I eat breakfast outside the factory. It is not clean, because it is a woman who comes to sell food and we eat standing up or on the sidewalk. I spend 8 colones [$.91] (coffee, plantain, beans, 2 rolls, sour cream). They sell food inside the factory too, but it’s more expensive.

"For lunch we have to eat at the factory cafeteria because they don’t allow us to go out, and the food is badly cooked and it costs me between 12 colones [$1,37] (eating stuffed peppers, rice, tortillas and lemonade) and 15 colones [$1.71] (eating meat or chicken, tortillas and a drink).

"Leaving time at the factory is 5:00 p.m. and I get home at 6:15. It takes me an hour and 15 minutes due to traffic in the streets. When I do two hours overtime, I get home later, at 8:15 p.m.

"When I get home I give the children dinner, since my mother makes the dinner (beans, eggs, tortillas, cheese), which costs about 30 colones [$3.42] for the whole family. Later I help two of my children with their homework, then I put them to bed, and when they are asleep I iron their school uniforms for the next day. I go to bed at 10 p.m.

"How much milk can you buy?

I buy a 5 pound container of powdered milk for 98 colones [$11.19] every two weeks, which you prepare with boiling water and you put in 8 tablespoons for each liter of water.

"I can’t buy vitamins because they are very expensive and my wage is not enough.

"I buy meat, 18 colones [$2.05] for a pound, or a chicken for 25 colones [$2.85] twice every two weeks, since they are the more expensive than grains (beans, rice, sugar, macaroni) or vegetables (potatoes, carrots, corn, squash, fruits, watermelon, melon, bananas)."

Other costs:
Rent payment:	c450 a month [$51.37]
Electricity:	c130 a month [$14.84]
Gas:	c38 each month [$4.29]
Total expenses:	c618 a month [$70.55]
Food:	c450 every 2 weeks [$51.37] buying:	5 pounds beans, c3.50/pound [$.40]
		5 pounds rice, c2.50/pound [$.29]
		5 pounds sugar, c2.50/pound [$.29]
		5-pound box powdered milk, c98 [$11.19]
		vegetables

School costs:

"I have three children in school, paying a fee of c50 [$5.71] a month for each of them, plus c15 [$1.71] for school supplies. So school costs c65 [$7.42] for each child.

"I don’t pay for daycare because my mother cares for them and helps with the housework, since she can’t work because she is very old and has no experience working for a company, only in domestic work.

"I can buy clothing every 3 or 4 months on the street, spending c200 [$22.83] for used clothing. I buy two pairs of shoes a year, which cost c150 [$17.12] a pair for the children, c100 [$11.42] for the adults.

"To go to the doctor, I pay Social Security medical insurance at the factory and when I get sick I spend nothing, since they deduct [SS] at work. But I make almost no use of it because permissions are limited, it’s only when you are very sick.

"When the children get sick, I bring them to the San Marcos public health unit because it is cheaper, c30 [$3.42] each per visit. I can’t pay for a private clinic where it costs c100 [$11.42] to c200 [22.84] per visit.

"Under Social Security children can receive medical attention up to the age of six.

"There are three of us in the family that work (myself, sister, uncle) earning the minimum wage of $1,260 [$143.84] each. Since there are many expenses, the money we earn is not enough for the family and sometimes we have to borrow money for transport or to pay for electricity or rent. We pay the loan off when we get paid, paying 15% interest."

Do you have savings?

"We have no savings, but we do have debts because sometimes we are behind a month in the rent or can’t pay the bills on the date they are due.

"During the earthquake, two of our walls fell in and a part of the roof caved in on us. Neither the factory, nor the owners of the labels gave us help. The municipality gave us plywood and planks to construct a shelter."

 

Some Daily Expenses for a single mother with three children. Her base wage: $4.80 a day Round trip bus $ 1.14 Breakfast $ 0.91 Lunch $ 1.37 Supper for her family $ 1.95 Rent $ 1.68 Gas & electric $ 0.63 School $ 0.72 Milk $ 0.80 The base wage meets just half of even these very limited daily expenses.