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news
Sweatshop speaker
raises issues
By Jamie Rogers
On-line Forty-Niner
Dirty buildings, low pay and no overtime are problems that
thousands of workers in the Los Angeles garment district are
faced with every day. When the workers complain, which they
rarely do because many of them are not working in the United
States legally, they are often fired.
Edilberto Rodriguez Montes experienced that first hand when
he complained to the owners of a factory producing clothes
for the junior chain store Forever 21 and subsequently lost
his job.
"I have worked in the garment industry for 20 years.
We are asked to work a lot and we don't get overtime and we
never get minimum wage," Rodriguez said through an interpreter
Monday at the Cal State Long Beach Speaker's Platform during
the forum, "Sweatshops: A Global Problem."
"A lot of us are scared to do anything because they threaten
our jobs and many of us don't have papers to work in the U.S.,"
he said.
Rodriguez and 19 other garment factory workers recently filed
a lawsuit against Forever 21. That factory is one of the many
in Los Angeles that exploits the cheap immigrant labor force
in the area, said Marissa Nuncio, member of Sweatshop Watch
and the Garment Worker Center.
The garment workers are paid by the item, rather than by salary
or hourly wages Nuncio said. The factory pays workers 2 to
18 cents per item in cash or personal checks, which eliminates
any record keeping.
According to Nuncio, the burden of proving that factories
are treating labor unfairly falls on the laborers themselves.
This proves to be daunting when the workers, many who do not
speak English, attempt to file a lawsuit.
"The manufacturers hire factory owners, who hire contractors,
who sometimes hire subcontractors, who hire workers,"
Nuncio said. "This allows people to point fingers. Workers
have to complain to the factory owners and the factories will
often just close down. They will reopen under their brother's
name or their baby's name. It is ridiculous."
Nuncio encouraged the audience of about 50 CSULB students
to take part in pickets every Saturday at 3 p.m. until Christmas
in front of Forever 21 on North Figueroa Street and Highland
Park in downtown Los Angeles.
The event, organized by the Student Progressives, was an attempt
to explain the reality of labor conditions in the United States
and abroad. Jim Araby, student progressive member, was key
in bringing the problem of poor labor conditions to the attention
of CSULB's administration.
After students began to pressure the administration, CSULB
President Robert Maxson announced the campus will join two
labor watchdog groups, the Worker's Rights Consortium and
the Fair Labor Association.
"This is only the beginning of the fight," Araby
said. "It is not going to happen overnight and it is
not going to be initiated by people at the top, but it will
be initiated by you and me."
The goal of the WRC, Araby explained, is to help the university
discover if any of the clothing sold on campus was produced
under sweatshop conditions. If poor labor conditions are uncovered,
the group will work with the factories and the workers to
create a positive working environment.
"The college apparel industry only makes up a small percentage
[of the garment industry]," Araby said. "This battle
must be waged on many fronts."
Miriam Chang Yoon Louie, author of the book "Sweatshop
Warriors," reminded the audience of a new front to fight
for low-wage labor - the effect of Sept. 11.
"A lot of people who lost their lives were janitors,
were working in restaurants, in hotels, shining shoes and
delivering food," Louie said. "And there are people
[who lost their jobs] who have not been eligible for relief
or unemployment."
Louis said the legislation that has passed since Sept. 11
is designed to help large corporations and middle and upper
classes.
"Practically nothing is [being done] to help the low
wage economy," she said.
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