Dive Brief:

• An American Apparel factory worker Wednesday filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, asserting that a security guard “accosted and interrogated” her at a Feb. 16 meeting of the newly formed Coalition of American Apparel Factory Workers United to Save American Apparel.

• Workers formed the coalition in support of ousted founder-CEO Dov Charney, who has a reputation as a staunch advocate for workers, including his own.

• Charney Feb. 28 also personally led a group of former and current workers and urged them to organize and fight the company on certain issues. The coalition meets again Saturday.

Dive Insight:

The unrest at American Apparel’s Los Angeles factories is another challenge to new management under CEO Paula Schneider, who took over in January. While Charney had a reputation for sometimes dubious behavior toward some employees, including at his factories, he enjoyed strong support from factory workers because of his strong advocacy for good wages, benefits, and working conditions on the floor. 

Now it seems he’s rallying those workers to ensure they maintain those better conditions and Los Angeles-based jobs — including possibly his own. There continue to be rumors that Charney is working on his return.

“It’s about where we’re going to go,” Charney said last week, according to Buzzfeed. “It’s about sticking together.”