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Workers Protest Men's Wearhouse Announcement That It Will Close Its Canadian Factory

March 17, 2008

<UNITE HERE launches North American Campaign Against Retail Giant to Save Hundreds of Apparel Jobs
UNITE HERE announced last week that it will campaign across North America to save nearly 600 Canadian manufacturing jobs at a Montreal plant that Men’s Wearhouse announced it would close in July. Hundreds of workers, represented by Quebec Council of UNITE HERE, rallied at a press conference outside the Golden Brand Factory and vowed to fight the closure. Workers and activists reached out to customers in a dozen cities including New York, Toronto, LA, and Philadelphia. Learn more and take action at www.ourjobsmatter.org.

“Men’s Wearhouse and (its Canadian subsidiary) Moores are turning their backs on hundreds of workers and the factory in Montreal that built this retail empire in Canada,” said Alex Dagg, Co-Director of UNITE HERE Canada. “It is also turning its back on its many customers who have relied on Moores as a place to purchase quality, Made-in-Canada suits. By shutting down Golden Brand and throwing hundreds more Canadians out of work, Moores and its owner, Men’s Wearhouse, are sending a strong signal to North American consumers about how little they respect them, as loyal workers or as loyal customers.”

Golden Brand has operated in Montreal for more than 40 years and was the foundation of the company that operated the Moores retail stores in Canada. In 1999, Moores was purchased by Men’s Wearhouse.

“The most outrageous thing is that this company that owns Moores and Golden Brand is profitable,” said Lina Aristeo, the Director of the Quebec Council of UNITE HERE. “Men’s Wearhouse has been increasing its income year after year and now it is turning its back on the hundreds of workers who made that profit, many of whom have worked for Golden Brand for decades. This is despicable.”

“We’re going directly to Men’s Wearhouse customers,” explained Aristeo, “because we know many customers are sick and tired of seeing good manufacturing jobs, like the ones at Golden Brand, lost so that profitable companies like Men’s Wearhouse can extract even higher profits by shipping work offshore. We are going to be speaking to those customers, here in Montreal and across North America, and we are going to ask them to join us in telling Men’s Wearhouse that enough is enough. Stop shipping our jobs overseas and still expecting us to be your customers and shop in your stores.”

Men’s Wearhouse recorded profits of $148, 575,000 in 2007, an increase of more than 100% in two years, increasing its sales in that same period by more than 20%.

“To be kicked out after giving twenty years to this company – it’s very hard,” said Claudia Martinez, who has worked at Golden Brand for 20 years. “An American company has come in and is doing whatever it wants to make money. Without good jobs like these, how will we take care of our children and give them the opportunities and education that we didn’t have? We will do whatever we can to keep this place open.”

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