The workers who make our army’s gear need security too
I got this email about Eagle Industries from Unite Here! today.
Eagle Industries makes tactical gear that American troops use to defend the country. But Eagle’s own workforce lacks economic security and does not enjoy many of the basic workplace rights to which all Americans are entitled. Many of the workers at Eagle’s New Bedford, Massachusetts facility earn within $1 of the state minimum wage. They receive zero paid sick days. On a 40-hour schedule, the family premiums for the company’s health insurance plan would cost up to 79% of many full-time workers’ pay.
Workers at the factory continued to answer to many of the same supervisors who were running the facility in March, 2007, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials raided the plant (owned at the time by Michael Bianco, Inc.) and found what a U.S. Attorney described as a “sweatshop.”
The workers tried to organize a union as well. They faced what has been the typical response by a corporation regarding union organizing, that is, union busting activities.
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