I really liked American Apparel for a hot minute. I really did. Sweatshop-free, made in downtown LA, with an organic cotton, “Sustainable Edition” line. I cut up my Express credit card and was ready to buy out the store, down to the Baby Rib Dog T for Lucy.
Then I got some curious emails from the USFT listserv about AA CEO Charney’s union-busting, sexually-harassing tactics. True? It appears so. Three women have filed sexual harassment suits, one of them claiming Charney asked her to hire young women he could fuck, Asians preferred.
Charney denies those charges, but not these: Jane’s reporter Claudine Ko wrote that Charney, in front of Ko, masturbated and had oral sex with a female employee. Charney’s response: “I’ve never done anything sexual that wasn’t consensual.”
Don’t get me wrong — I’m all for consensual sex. I just wonder what Charney terms “consensual” — consensual, as in I’ll consent to blowing you if you give me a promotion? According to Business Week, senior managers at AA rewarded their favorites with promotions, company cars, and apartments.
Charney: “Out of a thousand sexual harassment claims, how many do you think are exploitative?” He attributes ideas like sexual harassment to a “victim culture” among women, adding that “women initiate most domestic violence.” (**Update, 10/21/05: This quote was taken out of context by Ari Paul, from whose article I got this quote. Many apologies for not having researched more thoroughly on my part. See comments for details.)
Interesting theory, Charney. Add to that his “union-busting blitzkrieg” efforts (Ari Paul’s words) and I kinda don’t wanna shop at AA anymore, sweatshop free or not.
It’s more than a little hard for me to understand why seemingly great companies, like Whole Foods and American Apparel, do such gross things. To Treehugger’s enthusiastic endorsement of AA – yes, fair wages matter, but so do women.
Filed in: americanapparel shopping clothes
Lucy got a mention!
Comment by Jen — August 22, 2005 @ 3:03 pm
How is Lucy? Has she been wearing the sweater I knit her?
Comment by Siel — August 23, 2005 @ 1:04 am
I too have done my fair share of craaaazy shopping at American Apparel. When I first heard of all the various allegations about their president etc. I did what I usually do and that was do some research. Let me tell you it was hard slogging through everything - apparently Dov Charney is either the devil incarnate or some kind of holy savior.
As is usually the case, the truth seems to be somewhere in the middle.
Is AA involved in union busting or did the unionization drive fizzle as a result of employee resistance? It is interesting to note that there isn’t a single sewing operation in LA that is unionized. Why is that? Most of those employed in those operations are mexican immigrants. Turns out that in the 60s Unions were behind anti-immigrant worker laws. I guess Mexican workers just don’t trust unions. But otherwise we have the union alleging union busting and we have management alleging unethical practices. The Union won an initial victory in that AA was required to post a notice stating that no one would be penalized for wanting to join the union, AA offered to hold an election and the union… they pulled up stakes and left.
Some would say because management had polluted the workers, others because the union knew it was going to lose. I would like to think that workers kinda have brains enough to know whats good for them.
And what of the sexual harassment? On the one hand we have the defendant who has always been straightforward to a fault. As far as the plaintiffs go, we don’t really know much other than what was alleged in their lawsuits. However the buzz is (and it’s all buzz at this point) is that American Apparel is not settling and that one of the plaintiffs offered to settle for no less than $2 million - and none of them has alleged stuff like unwanted advances or anything. I’m not going to comment on some of the unsavory things said about one of the plaintiffs - although I’ve noted that others have no similiar compunction when it comes to Charney.
As far as Ari Paul goes, if his reporting is as good as his fact checking, well… See one of the things he did was parrot that line about Charney, you know “women initiate most domestic violence.” Patently offensive right? But not if you go to the source of that quote - namely the McGill Daily, a student publication of McGill University:
http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=3253
The really badly butchered quote is presented in the context of a discussion related to the difficulties faced by male victims of domestic violence - ie the ridicule and embarassment they face when claiming that their wife/girlfriend assaulted them.
When Charney is quoted as saying “Women initiate most domestic violence” clearly what was meant was that women initiate most domestic violence CLAIMS. Men don’t because they are too embarassed. I mean the statement is ludicrous otherwise, but given the context it’s even more ludicrous to think that Charney is saying that women are RESPONSIBLE for most domestic violence. By the way, that original interview took me all of 2 minutes to dig up on Google.
What is really embarassing is that even the reporter clearly misunderstood what Charney was saying. However, I’d like to hear an interpretation that is different from mine from an intelligent person. I’m open to it. Who knows, maybe I’m missing something here.
Anyhow, sorry to go on and on. I love AA’s stuff and I wasn’t about to give up on shopping there without at least satisfying myself that the anti-American Apparel crusade had some merit. The merit is however questionable. American Apparel thus remains on my list of places to shop!
Comment by Alisa — August 23, 2005 @ 1:08 am
I have to second Alisa’s sentiment. The unionization effort was clearly a botched job; but at the very least, it seems to have been badly botched on the side of the union and this much they seem to admit (in particular, their neglect to mention that a union needs to be paid for with dues was a glaring ‘miscommunication’.) Were there anti union techniques on the side of management? Perhaps but notice that (a) there has been no significant call for a union since (and it’s been about 2 years since the UNITE fiasco) and (b) its not clear that the workers would even benefit, under current conditions, from having a union.
As far as Charney’s quotes go, there is something very simple we can do. If Charney believes nasty things about women and domestic violence, let’s ask him. It’s remarkable that amongst many interviews and a great deal of scrutiny, the evidence that he is a raving lunatic (as the standard report of what he said seems to indicate) is rather scant.
Comment by Nadezhda Alliluyeva — August 23, 2005 @ 2:06 am
my own personal jury is still out on charney. but here’s what i’m fairly confident of: The world is not perfect an neither is any company. I would rather be buying clothes from a company that has a sexualized office environment but pays its factory workers living wages with benefits than a company that is straight shooting in its sexual politics but exploits 12 year old thailandi children to make my clothes for $25/week and no bathroom breaks. But that’s just my own moral code.
Comment by Judith — August 23, 2005 @ 1:20 pm
I think its pretty speculative to assume that the whole “it’s consensual if they get a raise from it” angle. Some people get off by fucking the boss. Myself included. I knew what I was getting into, and it was all about fun, not promotions.
Sometimes consensual really is consensual.
Comment by Anonymous — August 23, 2005 @ 1:41 pm
Thanks for the comments, AA lovers (and Jen) — My response is here.
Comment by Siel — August 23, 2005 @ 4:04 pm
Sexual harrassment is all about unwanted advances. The employee’s take on the situation is key to whether or not it is sexual harrassment. That’s the laws take. Personally I think employer-employee relations are unprofessional and lude.
Comment by Sexual Harrassment — January 13, 2007 @ 6:03 pm
“consensual, as in I’ll consent to blowing you if you give me a promotion?”
Actually, the girl in question was a long-time girlfriend of Charney’s. Check your facts.
Comment by Babylonian — May 30, 2007 @ 11:43 pm