SEDEPAC (Service, Development and Peace), Coahuila, Mexico

SEDEPAC Monclova is a small women-led worker rights organization that provides support, training and advice to the young women and men who work in Coahuila State’s garment export industry.

In 2007, SEDEPAC had to shift much of its focus from supporting worker organizing to defending the rights of workers left behind as foreign investors shifted production from Coahuila to countries offering even cheaper labour in Central America and Asia.

In December 2006, Hanesbrands closed its second factory in the area, leaving 1,700 workers unemployed. With assistance from MSN and others, they were able to successfully stop Hanesbrands from forcing workers to sign releases asserting they had not suffered work-related accidents or illness as a condition of receiving severance pay. However, Hanesbrands refused to discuss other SEDEPAC demands.

When Canadian T-shirt manufacturer Gildan Activewear announced in early April that it was closing its two plants in the area, eliminating another 1,300 jobs, SEDEPAC and MSN proposed steps the company should take, beyond minimum legal requirements, to help the workers survive and move on to new jobs after the closure.

In stark contract to Hanesbrands, Gildan entered into dialogue with SEDEPAC and MSN. The company agreed to allow SEDEPAC to monitor whether severance pay met legal requirements, and to provide an additional two months salary and one-year health insurance coverage for unemployed workers. Gildan also contributed Can $232,000 to a government retraining program and allowed SEDEPAC to monitor its progress.

In a country where dismissed workers seldom receive even their basic legal entitlements, SEDEPAC’s innovative and relentless efforts in the face of the Hanesbrands and Gildan closures has resulted in concrete benefits for hundreds of laid-off workers and has set important precedents for the future.

• Read more about closures in Coahuila, Mexico