P. Diddy clothing line accused of using Honduran sweatshop labor

NEW YORK – A $40 sweatshirt bearing the fashion label of rap music mogul Sean “P. Diddy” Combs is made by workers in Honduras who labor under sweatshop conditions, a workers rights group charged Tuesday.
But the factory’s owner rebutted that Combs’ representatives were regular visitors to the Southeast Textiles plant in Choloma, Honduras, and conditions were above-average for that country.
“P. Diddy’s people come down every few months, and they’re extremely strict,” said factory owner Steve Hawkins. “I hate this, because it’s totally unfair to him.”
The allegations of sweatshop conditions were made at a news conference on Fifth Avenue, outside a store bearing the rapper’s label, Sean John, set to open next spring.
A fired factory worker _ Lydda Eli Gonzalez _ was introduced by the director of the anti-sweatshop National Labor Committee, Charles Kernaghan.
“We should be paid what we’re owed. We make so little that it’s not enough to have a dignified life,” said the 19-year-old woman, who alleged she was fired in August for trying to organize a union.
Gonzalez, who worked at the factory for about two years, said employees were allowed only two timed toilet breaks a day.
Kernaghan also cited daily body searches, contaminated drinking water and 11- to 12-hour shifts for workers earning 15 cents for each completed Sean John shirt. He also charged that women workers were given mandatory pregnancy tests and those who tested positive were fired.
Kernaghan said his organization has repeatedly tried to contact Sean John officials, as well as Combs, but has had no response.
Jeff Tweedy, executive vice president of the apparel company run by Combs, said in a statement to The Associated Press from his New York office:
“We are shocked at this information, particularly because we had no knowledge of any wrongdoing and because we conduct extensive compliance checks with all facilities supplying our company to ensure they are clean and safe.”
Tweedy said that a compliance officer conducted five inspections of the Honduran factory in the past year and a subcontractor inspects the facility every two weeks.
Nonetheless, Tweedy said Sean John will launch a probe, “and if there is any proof of wrongdoing, we will terminate our relationship with this factory immediately.”
The plant employs almost 400 workers who make a variety of shirts inscribed with “SJ” or “Sean John,” many of them sold at major department stores.
According to Kernaghan, as much as 80 percent of the Southeast Textiles factory production is for the Sean John clothing line.
=But Sean John officials said no more than 25 percent of their line is manufactured there. Another 20 percent is for Rocawear, co-founded by rapper and producer Jay-Z and rap music producer Damon Dash.
A call Tuesday to the New York offices of Rocawear was not immediately returned.
In a telephone interview from his Honduran factory, Hawkins, the factory owner, flatly denied each charge lodged by the National Labor Committee.