Like the old Latino abuelita proverb we heard as kids goes, “Salir de guatamala para entrar en guatapeor”. Cuban model/actess (actress is a stretch) turned clothier Daisy Fuentes recently received a heart-wrenching letter from the workers of her Guatemalan production facility telling her about the deplorable working conditions in the factory that produces her Kohls clothing line.

In a nutshell, the complaints included:

• Forced overtime.
• Cheated on overtime pay.
• Trapped in poverty.
• Workers cheated of healthcare and pensions; women denied paid maternity leave and care for their children; injured and sick workers denied healthcare and fired without legal severance.
• Constant pressure and abuse.
• Paid 25 cents for each Daisy Fuentes blouse.
• Exit doors locked.
• Hot, noisy and dusty.
• Filthy drinking water.
• Dirty bathrooms lacking toilet paper.
• Workers physically searched four times a day.
• Talking prohibited.
• Eating lunch sitting on the factory floor.
• Fined six hours’ wages for arriving five minutes late.
• Corporate monitoring is a joke.
• Workers are terrified, with nowhere to turn.
• Headaches, sore throats and back pain.

To check out more about this little incident and even see sketches developed by “the abused”, check out the posting on Guanabee.

Daisy…hurry up and do damage control before you go back to waiting tables in Miami or worse…America’s Funniest Home Videos may call and want you back.

-Miamiadguy