Pinoy garment workers in Saipan get share of $1.6M in settlement deal

PUERTO RICO, Saipan – Former and current Filipino garment workers in Saipan are getting their share of the final $1.6 million in settlement agreement funds in connection with a class action against the garment industry over mistreatment of Asian workers.

The $1.6 million involves 12,384 checks amounting to $145 each, according to Garment Oversight Board (GOB) chair Timothy Bellas.

GOB is an independent monitoring body born out of the historic $20 million settlement agreement aimed at protecting Saipan garment workers and compensating former and current workers who are part of the lawsuit.

Saipan’s once mighty garment industry employed thousands of workers from the Philippines, China, Thailand, Bangladesh and other countries.

In 1999, separate lawsuits were filed against Saipan garment manufacturers and high-profile US clothing manufacturers and retailers such as The Gap, Liz Claiborne, Calvin Klein, Sears, Tom Hilfiger, J.C. Penney, The Limited, May Company and Abercrombie & Fitch.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf or more than 50,000 foreign workers, alleged that these laborers – predominantly young Asian women — lived in indentured servitude while producing “Made in the USA" clothing on Saipan, the capital of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

The CNMI, a US territory in the Western Pacific, is about three hours away from Manila.

Garment manufacturers and retailers settled with the workers and human rights activists, resulting in a historic Saipan garment settlement agreement approved by the US District Court for NMI in 2001.

GOB started issuing 11,353 new checks in mid-June and will be sending out 1,031 more to the workers who were party to the settlement deal.

A majority of the class suit members are now back in the Philippines, China and other Asian countries, but GOB has been sending their checks to their home country addresses. Those who are still on Saipan have started receiving their checks. - GMANews.TV

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