Subject: NEWS:Gay,Lesbian Levis Workers Win Rights
From: Blythe Systems <[email-masked]>

Via The NY Transfer News Service 718-448-2358, 718-448-2683

LESBIAN AND GAY LEVI STRAUSS WORKERS WIN RIGHTS

By Kristanna Thomas

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if
source is cited.)

Lesbian and gay workers have won a major victory at Levi Strauss &
Co., the world's biggest clothing manufacturing company. The jeans
maker announced Feb. 24 it will offer health benefits to gay and
straight workers' unmarried partners.

Because same-sex marriage is still barred in this country, lesbian
and gay workers have had to fight to win medical coverage for
their lovers and families. Levi Strauss has now become the biggest
company in the country to recognize "domestic partner" rights.
Levi's employs 23,000 workers in the U.S.

But the firm didn't willingly stop withholding equal benefits from
lesbian and gay workers. It took a struggle.

A group of lesbian and gay employees has been organizing for some
time at the company's San Francisco headquarters, pushing demands
to end discrimination.  Lesbian members of the Clothing and
Textile workers have also been active at unionized Levi's plants
in several states.

In the last contract negotiations, the union won some rights for
lesbian and gay workers in terms of leave provisions. But Levi
Strauss had refused to budge on health benefits.

Now that the company bowed to workers' pressure, it apparently did
so by unilaterally implementing the new policy rather than include
it in union contracts. Lesbian and gay labor activists interpreted
this as a Levi's attempt to appear magnanimous toward its gay
employees while still refusing to deal with the union on the
issue.

In fact, to hear Levi Strauss tell it, the boss just woke up one
day and realized this was the right thing to do.

"We want a non-discriminatory workplace," said Reese Smith, Levi's
director of employee benefits. "And when we looked at our policies
prohibiting discrimination for race, sex, origin, or marital
status, we realized our own practices were not in compliance with
our policy."

In reality, Levi Strauss is a notoriously anti-union company. It
has successfully fought off organizing drives at several plants.
In Texas, Chicana/Mexicana women are currently fighting to make
Levi's pay them back somehow after the company shut down non-union
plants with no notice.

At its many plants abroad, Levi's workers get extremely low wages
and no benefits. Smith certainly wasn't referring to the Levi
Strauss maquiladora plants in Mexico when he gushed about equal
rights. But lesbian, gay and straight workers have been fighting
for union rights there, too; Levi's and other U.S. corporations may
find themselves forced to make further concessions.

                           ***

This article originally appeared in Workers World newspaper. A
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