Chi Fung worker’s home
Some of the fancy replica jerseys bearing the names of NFL stars like Peyton Manning, which fetch upwards of $80 each in U.S. sporting goods stores, were sewn by workers in El Salvador who made about 10 cents for each jersey, according to a new report by the National Labor Committee (NLC).
The report, “NFL and Reebok Fumble: Women Paid 10 Cents to Sew $80 Peyton Manning Jerseys,” says that for the past four years the 550 workers—about 80 percent women—at the Chi Fung factory in San Salvador were forced to work unpaid overtime, cheated of wages and harassed by managers. One worker told the NLC investigators:
We knew the shirts were expensive. But now we realize the real price is $80, it makes us angry, because it isn’t fair that they pay us such a low wage. The people [who buy these jerseys] don’t imagine everything we have to bear in the factory when we sew these shirts.
With just one $80 shirt, they pay our wages for two weeks. It could be said that with the cost of a single shirt, I have to maintain my family for two weeks. The supervisors are right when they say to us that our wage is not enough to pay for a jersey if we make a mistake.
