General Brotherhood Of Workers And Hermandad Mexicana Defends 200 Terminated American Apparel Workers

LOS ANGELES, April 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- "It's an embarrassing day for American Apparel, under new ownership and management since the ouster of iconic founder and former CEO Dov Charney, with the firing of 200 production workers," declared Nativo Lopez, senior adviser to Hermandad Mexicana.

The American Apparel management, under the corporate control of New York-based hedge fund Standard General, terminated close to 200 production workers beginning on April 1, 2015 (commonly known as April Fools' Day) only one day after paying four executive officers hundreds of thousands of dollars in shares and stock options. 

Four months of significant hour's reduction in their work-week and furlongs of one to two weeks each month finally led to a permanent six percent chopping of the 3,000 production jobs.  Many of the terminated workers had attended organizing meetings to complain about changes in the company and had signed union authorization cards prior to the firings. "I was the first one to meet the fired workers at the company gate on April Fools' Day as they streamed out and told their stories of how they were let go," reported Lopez. "It was heartbreaking as one worker after another approached me with the bad news.  I was familiar with most of them from the many organizing meetings they had attended over the past couple of months," he observed.

Gilded Rivas, a 12-year employee and supervisor, reported indignantly, "there are few positions that I can't fill in this company for which I have given a decade of my life." She had attended most of the organizing meetings and was very vocal with her complaints.

Lopez expressed, "I strongly suspect that the terminations were retaliatory towards those workers who were actively involved in the organizing efforts."

Hermandad Mexicana will gather information from the terminated workers to determine if retaliation charges can be filed with the National Labor Relations Board against American Apparel management for the layoff of workers who were actively involved in organizing themselves at the company.

Lopez reported that a day after the terminations he shared the U.S. Security Exchange Commission report with the workers documenting the distribution of shares and stock options to American Apparel's management.

Paula Schneider, CEO, was issued 300,000 shares valued at $210,000 and 350,000 stock options valued at $140,000 for a total of $350,000; Hassan N. Natha, CFO, was issued 200,000 shares and 150,000 stock options, for a total equal to $200,000; Chelsea A. Grayson, General Counsel, was issued 200,000 shares and 150,000 stock options for a total of $200,000; and Martin E. Bailey, Chief Manufacturing Officer, was issued 82,750 shares and 82,750 stock options for a total of $91,025.

"It is the height of hypocrisy that Standard General's management complains of financial challenges confronting the company, lays the blame on the former CEO, takes it out on the workers, and then pay themselves hefty annual bonuses," concluded Lopez.

The recent terminations come on the heels of a fourth quarter report revealing a sales decline of nearly 10 percent.  According to sources inside the company, the first quarter report for 2015 will account for a similar decline. That report will not be available until May 2015.

SOURCE Hermandad Mexicana