The New York Times's Jim Dwyer has a great (and tragicomic) story today about clothing giant Tommy Hilfiger cutting its janitors' wages from $19 an hour to $8 an hour - and firing its unionized cleaning contractor to replace it with a non-union one. All the while, Mr. Hilfiger himself is pulling down more than $14.5 million a year.
For workers in their 40s and 50s, a job that pays $8 an hour was a nightmare. "Rent in Jackson Heights is unbelievable now," Ms. Coreas said. "It’s more than a thousand dollars."
"We’re not asking for raises," Mr. Santiago said. "We’re not asking for anything, except to let us work."
As they spoke, Andy Hilfiger, the brother of Tommy, stepped outside. "I think they came with the building," he said of the laid-off cleaning people. No, he was told, the cleaners had moved with Hilfiger to 26th Street from offices a few blocks away. "Oh, they did?" he said. "I’ll try to find out something." He got on a cellphone, then drifted away.
Yesterday, Marybeth Schmitt, speaking for the people who own the Hilfiger name, called.
"I have a statement," she said.
Hold on.
Had her space been cleaned satisfactorily, the bathroom tidy, and so on?
"I would have to get back to you on that," she said.
Couldn’t she say whether her trash can had been properly emptied? Without conferring with other executives?
"I don’t think this is personal," she said. "This is a corporate matter."
Sigh.
Dwyer notes that this treatment might not be considered "fair" under the company's own (incredibly weak) code of conduct for its manufacturers (the code generally only requires contractors to act within the law, though it does include the following paragraph.
Tommy Hilfiger requires its suppliers to extend principles of fair and honest dealing to all others with whom they do business, including employees, subcontractors and other third parties. We also require our suppliers to ensure and to certify to us that no abusive, exploitative or illegal conditions exist at the workplaces of their suppliers and subcontractors.
This seems like a super-dumb move from Hilfiger, which has just recently recovered from the apparently false rumor that CEO Tommy once told Oprah Winfrey that he didn't want minorities wearing his clothes.
It also casts doubt on how beneficial to workers (and the environment) acquisition of companies by private equity funds can be. Hilfiger was recently acquired by $20 billion global titan Apax. This news makes me worried for the thousands of Chrysler workers about to be affected by Chrysler's private equity take-over.