Russell Athletic finally signed a  collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with workers at a Honduran factory it closed and then reopened in 2009 after being lambasted for union busting by U.S. college students and labor advocates.

The company signed the CBA May 24 with the SITRAJerzeesND Union, which represents workers at the  Jerzees Nuevo Dia (JND) factory in Honduras. Under the CBA, JND workers will receive an immediate 19.5 percent wage increase, followed by an additional 7 percent increase in January 2012, the newsletter reported.

The CBA also provides for other benefits including free transportation and lunches for factory workers, an investment in new machinery, which the union thinks is essential for the factory's long-term success, and the rehiring of an additional 250 workers who lost their jobs when Russell closed its Jerzees de Honduras (JDH) factory in January 2009, according to various reports.

With these additional hirings Russell will have offered jobs to all the approximately 1,200 ex-JDH workers that lost their jobs when the company closed the plant. Labor groups had claimed Russell closed the factory due to unionizing
efforts while Russell said it was closed because of the global downturn.

“We congratulate the SitrajerzeesND union; its parent federation, the CGT; and Russell/Fruit of the Loom on achieving a contract that sets a new standard for labor-management relations in Honduras�€� apparel industry,” wrote Scott Nova of the Workers Rights Commission in an open letter May 20.

Russell agreed to negotiate a CBA in late 2009 under intense pressure from United Students Against Sweatshops and various labor groups and NGOs, which accused the company of shutting down the plant and laying off all its 1,200 employees to head of unionization efforts. The company subsequently agreed to a comprehensive agreement that allowed unions to organize all Fruit of the Loom plants in Honduras and, union organizers say, profoundly changed the labor environment in Honduras.