Workers voted on the contract in plants in a number of U.S. cities. It includes a raise of 25 cents per hour starting in September 2004; a bonus, in lieu of a raise, of $500 payable in October of 2005; and a raise of 20 cents an hour effective October 2006. Workers who are paid by the piece instead of by the hour are supposed to see an increase in the rates they are paid. Often though, the companies find ways to change the rates, adjusting the way the operation is performed in order to cut the price paid and undercut any increase in the rates.

The health-care provisions, which vary from company to company and are negotiated locally, all share the feature of shifting a greater cost onto the workers. At the Hart Schaffner Marx (Hartmarx) production plant in Chicago, workers and their families previously have had doctor visits at the union-run clinic available at no cost. Under the new contract, workers will pay $6 a week for health insurance for individual coverage, $10 a week for a couple, and $35 a week for a family.

At the Hugo Boss plant in Cleveland, the terms of the insurance plan require workers to pay out-of-pocket expenses amounting to 20 percent of the costs. Under the new contract, they will also be paying about $6 a week for an individual and $20 to $30 for family coverage.

“I disagree with the changes done to our health insurance,” said José Peña, 34, a sewing machine operator at that plant. “It is too much money. I don’t agree with the contract.”

At the Riverside Manufacturing plant in New Bedford, Massachusetts, workers were paying 25 percent of the cost of health-care insurance, amounting to about $26 a week to cover a family. Now the company claims that the overall cost of health insurance has risen, and so is demanding that workers pay more for coverage. In all these cases the new deductions will begin in October, when the wage raises will go into effect.

A modest increase in the amount paid for pension benefits was also negotiated. Union representatives in several cities reported that the companies wanted to include a provision for forced overtime in the new contract. Instead, the union pledged it would work with the companies to meet “production needs.”

The press statement released by UNITE quoted the president of the Clothing Manufacturers Association, Homi Patel, who is also the president and CEO of Hartmarx Corporation, saying, “We are very pleased that we have been able to negotiate a reasonable and fair agreement which allows the industry to stay competitive while providing our employees with a good wage and benefit package.”

Most workers voted in favor of the contract with little discussion at the brief meetings that were organized to vote on the proposal. “I voted yes because I felt that the proposed contract is the best we can do right now,” said Richard, a worker at the Hartmarx plant in Chicago who asked that his last name not be used.

The contract was approved at the Hartmarx plant in Chicago by a margin of 3 to 1. Wages at the plant vary widely, with the most skilled workers making in the range of $12 to $14 an hour, and many others making $7 to $8 an hour.

Laura Garza is a member of UNITE Local 377 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Lisa Potash, a UNITE member at Hart Schaffner Marx in Chicago, and Carole Lesnick, and Romina Green, UNITE members at Hugo Boss in Cleveland, also contributed to this article.  
 
 
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