Dominican Republic factory worker Yenny Perez and Memorial Union cook Jeremy Belangie spoke about workers' rights globally and locally at an event held by the Student Labor Action Coalition Thursday.
Perez, who worked in a sweatshop in the town of Alta Gracia, Dominican Republic for 18 years, said the working environment was extremely unfair.
""There was one occasion where a worker was actually beaten by one of the bosses,"" Perez said. ""Perhaps the worst experience was when the managers thought that we weren't doing our work well, and they would just take all of our work and throw it to the floor.""
Perez and other factory workers formed a union, but many workers lost their jobs once the factory owners found out. Perez helped to get these jobs back, but the factory closed due to a recession.
With the support of the United Students Against Sweatshops and the Worker Rights Consortium, Perez reopened the factory
""The Alta Gracia factory was re-opened with much consideration to what it actually meant to receive enough pay to actually live a good life,"" Perez said. ""I personally believe that this is going to serve as a positive example to all other companies so that fair working conditions can be attained globally.""
Belangie said it is imperative that students get involved locally because there is a lack of unionization among food service workers at the new Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.
""SLAC understands that a worker being denied a living wage in an apparel factory in the Dominican Republic is no different than a worker being denied to earn not only a living wage, but a career and a future as a blue-collar service worker right here on campus,"" Belangie said.
SLAC is pressuring the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and the Morgridge family, who provided much of the funding for the WID, to allow unionization of workers.
""Privatizing food service workers on a public university campus shows the desires of a profit motive over the values of its workers and the community they serve,"" Belangie said.
