January 24, 2005

Montreal T-shirt manufacturer, Gildan Activewear, agreed to a corrective action plan to repair the damage caused by its decisions to fire approximately 80 union supporters in 2002 and 2003 and to close its El Progeso factory in Honduras during a third party complaint process.

Gildan initially agreed to do the following:

• provide first-hire preference to former Gildan El Progeso workers at a new sewing factory and at its current sewing facilities in Honduras;
• not discriminate against union supporters in hirings;
• provide transportation between El Progeso and the new factory;
• provide transportation or cover transportation costs to a second factory closer to El Progeso;
• cover relocation expenses for workers and their families that choose to be relocated; and
• provide training for former El Progreso workers who don't have skills required at the current and new sewing factories.

Commitments on Freedom of Association

In addition to these commitments made to the Worker Rights Consortium, Gildan also took a number of steps to comply with conditions set by the Fair Labor Association (FLA) in order to remain an FLA Participating Company. These included:

• Acknowledging there were restrictions in its El Progreso factory on workers' right to freedom of association;
• Communicating to its Honduran employees Gildan's commitment to their associational rights;
• Disbursing funds providing full back pay and severance pay for 39 union supporters fired in November 2003;
• Completing initial training by Verite on freedom of association for workers and managers in Honduras;
• Promising to apply its corrective action plan concerning other worker rights violations to all its other factories in Honduras, and
• Constructively engaging in discussions with the Maquila Solidarity Network on issues related to Gildan's implementation of FLA Standards.

Read More:

• Second and final update on compliance with corrective action plan (September 27, 2006)
• First update on complaince with corrective action plan (May 10,2006)
• January 2005 agreement
• Chronology of the Gildan Campaign