Please join in a National Week of Action against Forever 21, a popular retailer of young women's fashion. Twenty-nine Los Angeles garment workers are escalating their public campaign and boycott against Forever 21 with this week of action.

The workers worked in 17 different Los Angeles sweatshops, all producing clothing with the Forever 21 label without payment of minimum wage or overtime pay and without breaks. Some of the workers were fired for speaking up and asking for a penny increase on the piece rates paid for each piece of clothing they sewed.

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Maria Maura Colorado is one of the garment workers and was in Baltimore on November 9, 2002, as part of a national speaking tour about the boycott against Forever 21.

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Members of CASA de Maryland in Baltimore and the Student-Worker Alliance of Towson joined in the protest outside the Gallery at Harborplace where a Forever 21 store is located.

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The campaign against Forever 21 began in September 2001, after workers had unsuccessfully met with company representatives for three months. The initial group of 19 workers sewed the Forever 21 label in six different sweatshops in downtown Los Angeles for subminimum wages and under deplorable, unsafe conditions. The workers joined together to ask Forever 21 to pay their owed wages and to ensure that all the factories it uses abide by labor laws and respect the workers. The company has so far refused. The workers have also filed a lawsuit against Forever 21 and the factories with the help of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

The campaign heated up after Forever 21 filed a defamation lawsuit against the 19 workers and their supporters. After much pressure, Forever 21 withdrew the lawsuit against the workers but continues against the supporters.

Forever 21 is projected to earn $500 million in sales this year alone with an estimated 95% of its production in the U.S. and a majority of that in Los Angeles. With over 125 stores in the U.S., Canada, and Japan, Forever 21 reported sales over $300 million last year. Do Won Chang is the L.A.-based company's president and co-founder with his wife Jin Sook Chang.

To plan a protest during this week of action, you can download materials from the website www.garmentworkercenter.org or call 1-888-449-6115 for more information.