“FILIPINO PIGS…with your faces in the trough.”
This was how former American Apparel CEO and founder Dov Charney allegedly called some Filipino workers who were employed by American Apparel. This was revealed by court documents filed by the company against Charney as evidence of why he was fired last year.
Charney reportedly even told his Filipino staff that “he would be their Ferdinand Marcos and he will tell them what to do”.
As The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast Balitang America reported last week, the internal investigation of American Apparel found that Charney not only violated the company’s anti-discrimination policies, he was also sued for sexually harassing his employees.
Consequently, a Fil-Am group is crying foul over these derogatory statements against Filipinos, allegedly made by Charney.
The San Francisco-based Westbay Pilipino Multi-Service Center is now considering a class action suit not only against Charney, but will include American Apparel in the lawsuit as well. According to the Fil-Am group, these derogatory statements were allegedly made by Charney while he was working for the company.
While some kababayans may argue that this can be another case of Filipinos being “balat-sibuyas,” or overly sensitive when verbal insults are spewed against Pinoys, Westbay’s lawyer explains why Filipinos in America should respond immediately and not just let this attack pass without doing something to prevent this from ever happening again.
“If Filipinos allow attacks like this, racial profiling attacks, to go unanswered, then it’s open season on other Filipino workers,” Rodel Rodis, legal counsel for West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center, said on Balitang America. “So if we set the stage here and say there will be consequences to what you said about Filipinos, then that’s a shout across the board to other employers”
Community leaders of Westbay are also calling on all kababayans to boycott American Apparel products and requesting that the heads of the company meet with them to discuss ethical practices.
West Bay Executive Director Vivian Zalvidea Araullo said on Balitang America that if American Apparel does not meet with them, the group says it is prepared to file a lawsuit on behalf of all former and current Filipino employees of American Apparel who were subjected to this discrimination.
“You cannot continue now without consulting our community on how to do your best practices,” Araullo said emphatically. “We need input. This is one of the ways that you can make amends. So, come here to San Francisco. We’ll meet you.”
WILL YOU SUPPORT THE BOYCOTT AGAINST AMERICAN APPAREL? Should the Fil-Am group push through with its plan of filing a class action lawsuit against Charney and the company?
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
