Teamsters Leaflet Foot Locker to Protest New Era Cap's Discrimination

Teamsters Leaflet Foot Locker to Protest New Era Cap's Discrimination

Contact: Galen Munroe, (202) 624-6904

December 13, 2007

(Washington, D.C.) – Members of the Teamsters Human Rights Commission and Students Against Sweatshops leafleted a Foot Locker in Buffalo, New York yesterday to kick off an international campaign for solidarity to demand that New Era Cap end discrimination and worker intimidation at its Mobile, Alabama facility. New Era, a Buffalo-headquartered baseball and hip-hop fashion cap manufacturer, is a key Foot Locker supplier.

As the pre-Christmas shopping rush intensifies, the Teamsters say they will be joined by civil rights, student, and religious groups as they continue leafleting this weekend at Foot Lockers in 36 cities nationwide including New York, Detroit, and Los Angeles. Leafleting at stores that carry New Era brands will also take place in Hong Kong, England, Toronto, and Vancouver.

The Buffalo hand-billing alerted holiday shoppers that Foot Locker and New Era both have a troubling record on discrimination. New Era is being investigated by the EEOC and civil rights groups on racial discrimination charges brought by workers, while several recent lawsuits have charged Foot Locker with race or gender discrimination. The Teamsters represent workers at New Era’s Mobile, Alabama plant, where black workers with years of service earn poverty-level wages and have repeatedly been passed over for promotion in favor of white workers.

"There is a growing worldwide protest against New Era Cap’s racism towards workers and its violations of their human rights," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. "New Era prides itself on producing American-made caps, but New Era’s dirty secret is that right here in America, its Mobile workers face poverty-level wages and ingrained discrimination. Sports fans and the hip-hop community don’t want their caps tainted with racism and worker abuse."

This weekend’s worldwide leafleting reflects a growing chorus of protest against workplace conditions at New Era by students, unions, and civil rights, religious, and community groups.

The Teamsters say they are calling on New Era to end racist practices at the plant—where all but one manager is white—and stop its systematic intimidation of pro-union workers. More than 20 workers have been fired by the company since the union campaign began.

"Our members at New Era are touched by the support we’ve received from New Era customers and human rights groups worldwide," said Felicia Walker, a former New Era employee and a union leader terminated during the New Era organizing drive. (Teamsters Local 991 represents workers at the Mobile facility.) "A lot of the workers are wondering how they’ll afford not just holiday extras but the basics for their families in the coming year, given the subsistence wages and job insecurity we face at New Era. It matters a great deal at the holidays to see that people of good will are joining with us to demand justice at New Era."

The union is also investigating reports of sweatshop-like conditions at New Era’s Jackson, Alabama facility.

New Era Cap is the manufacturer of Major League Baseball official caps as well as a number of NBA, NHL, and collegiate teams. The company also makes popular caps for Hip Hop fans.

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States and Canada.