My name is Mateo Mares. Until early January of this year, my coworker Amilcar Cardona and I hauled Skechers shoes from the Port of Los Angeles to their national distribution center. We were fired for trying to improve our working conditions and for standing up for our rights.

Drivers like us are standing up for our rights by filing legal claims with the government for wage theft, wage violations, retaliation for union and protected concerted activities, and illegal harassment. We were fired by our Skechers' trucking contractor, Green Fleet Systems, after we exercised our rights to engage in union activities at our workplace and after we refused to withdraw our claims for wage theft when we were pressured to do so by our boss.

Now our families are struggling to survive. We worked hard for many years hauling Skechers shoes and other foreign-made products from the docks to warehouses, but now we don't have any work and don't have any money to buy food or pay rent – much less help our kids get through college to make a better life for themselves.

Our struggle is like the men and women who manufacture Skechers shoes in places like China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Like workers in Skechers' overseas factory, we are mistreated, deal with safety hazards, and don't get paid what we deserve. When we learned that Skechers has a record for bad treatment of its workers overseas*, we realized that Skechers is spreading sweatshop conditions to America. Our job is like a sweatshop-on-wheels, where drivers suffer from low-wages, long hours, abusive treatment, and unsafe conditions.

Our children and wives are frightened about our future. It's time for Skechers to do the right thing, get us back to work, and end the sweatshop-on-wheels conditions for workers like us.

Add your name and tell Skechers to end the spread of sweatshops in America. Skechers has the power to demand that its vendor stop violating workers’ rights and U.S. labor laws. By signing, you are making a real difference in the lives of workers like me.