28 June 2005
Dear Friends,

This summer labor rights activists around the world are joining together to take action against the international sportswear brand Fila -- including today at the Wimbledon tennis championships. The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), together with its allies, has planned a series of protests targetting US-based Fila because of their failure to act on their responsibilities toward the Indonesian workers who made their sport shoes. In the UK, activists will stage a naked tennis match at Wimbledon to draw attention to Fila's failure to play fair on workers' rights.

To our knowledge Fila has done nothing to assist the workers of PT Tae Hwa, an Indonesian factory that produced Fila sports shoes for a decade. These workers lost their jobs in February and still have not received money that is owed to them. How can Fila turn its back on these workers?

When thousands of workers, mainly women, showed up for work on February 11th, they found PT Tae Hwa in Tangerang, Indonesia, shut down. Suddenly they were unemployed, and now months later they have not yet received the back wages or the compensation they are entitled to. Their right to compensation was reaffirmed by the Indonesian courts on May 2, 2005. In the past these workers had also endured numerous violations of their rights: sexual harassment, verbal abuse, inadequate wages, compulsory overtime, unreasonable production targets, and denial of trade union rights.

July 2007 Update, No Response from FILA
For more than two years the CCC has publicly called upon the US-sportswear brand FILA to ensure proper compensation for the women and men who lost their jobs when FILA supplier PT Tae Hwa shut down in 2005.To date FILA has failed to respond to our requests for action in relation to the closure of their Indonesian sports shoe supplier.

Parkati made Fila sportshoes in the Tae Hwa factory in Indonesia for 7 years.

Since February the Clean Clothes Campaign and representatives of other labor rights organizations have tried repeatedly to contact Robert Erb, Fila's chief marketing officer, to get clarification on why the factory closed and to demand that Fila take action to ensure that the workers are paid their back wages and compensation. To date, Fila has not responded or taken any action to meet these demands.

This summer protests exposing Fila's poor labor rights record are scheduled to take place in several countries, including the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, and Sweden. Join these activists and give your support to the Tae Hwa workers by pressuring Fila to take positive action on this case. Specifically, urge Fila to:

• clarify its role in the closure of the PT Tae Hwa factory;
• ensure that the PT Tae Hwa workers are paid the back pay that they are owed;
• ensure that the PT Tae Hwa workers are paid the compensation owed to them and granted by the Indonesian courts on May 2, 2005 without further appeal by the employer, and
• play an active role in getting the PT Tae Hwa workers new jobs.

SAMPLE LETTER

Please adapt and send a letter to Fila today!
See the sample letter below:
Remember to send copies of your letters and any responses to the Clean Clothes Campaign

Use this form to send the following letter directly to:

Robert Erb
Chief Marketing Officer
Sport Brands International/Fila
8 West 40th Street, 14th floor
New York, NY 10018, United States
e-mail: rerb@sportbrandsinternational.com

• CC: Clean Clothes Campaign

Dear Mr. Erb,

I am writing you to express my concern regarding the situation of workers from the PT Tae Hwa factory in Tangerang, Indonesia, that was making sportswear articles for Fila. I have been informed by the Clean Clothes Campaign that these workers arrived at the factory on February 11, 2005, and found the factory closed and the owners nowhere to be found. Thousands of now unemployed Tae Hwa workers were informed that the company had sold all its equipment, but no other reliable information was given.

Obviously, the workers are distressed by their difficult situation and now face great hardship due to this unexpected termination of their employment. Although the cause of the factory's closure remains unclear, it is clear that Fila has a responsibility to these thousands of workers who were producing goods for Fila right up to the last day before the factory closed. Non-governmental labor rights organizations and trade unions from around the world have tried repeatedly to contact Fila to resolve this issue and to date there has not been any response. Why?

I find Fila's lack of positive action on this case unacceptable. Please do not delay any longer, Fila must take the following steps immediately:

• clarify its role in the closure of the PT Tae Hwa factory;
• ensure that the PT Tae Hwa workers are paid the back pay that they are owed;
• ensure that the PT Tae Hwa workers are paid the compensation owed to them and granted by the Indonesian courts on 2nd May 2005 without further appeal by the employer, and
• play an active role in getting the PT Tae Hwa workers new jobs.

Please let me know what steps Fila will take to ensure that the demands listed above are met.

Sincerely,
[insert name here]