INS Cool to Pleas to Import Help for Garment Industry

After hearing contradictory testimony about an alleged labor shortage in the garment industry created by the new immigration law, federal officials indicated Wednesday that it is unlikely that they will approve requests from employers to import foreign workers.

Jane Arrellano, INS deputy district director for examinations, said she anticipates that the agency will approve “few to none” of the 24 requests filed so far by garment industry employers to import more than 300 workers.

Industry representatives testifying at a state Assembly labor subcommittee hearing in Los Angeles contended that the new law’s employer sanctions, which penalize employers for hiring illegal immigrants, have cut into the number of available workers.

Union representatives, however, charged that the claims are a ruse to circumvent the law and import cheap laborers at the expense of U.S. workers. They said that several of the companies that filed requests for foreign workers refused to hire local workers referred to them by the unions.

Representatives of the International Ladies Garment Workers and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers unions, who visited several of the garment shops, said they found them operating at full capacity and usually paying the minimum wage. With few exceptions, the shops, which manufacture clothing for such labels as Calvin Klein and Lanz, offered no medical or other employee benefits, or overtime pay, they said.

Referring to the unions’ statements, Bill Carroll, INS deputy district director in Los Angeles, agreed that “some exploitation exists” and that some employers are trying to avoid paying the prevailing wage. “Most of the companies the unions looked into are trying to circumvent the law” by petitioning to bring in foreign workers, he said.

“It’s a scam to get cheaper labor and lay off current employes,” he said after the hearing, adding: “We don’t want to help to create a modern state of slavery.”

“Even if there is a labor shortage,” Arrellano said, “we don’t see the need to be a temporary one.” Arrellano pointed out that to gain INS permission to import temporary foreign workers, employers must demonstrate that the jobs they want filled are, indeed, temporary in nature.

Garment industry representatives testified that while they do not view labor importation as the best solution, they know of no other alternative.

“We would prefer other reasonable alternatives,” said Adolfo Mendez of the American Apparel Manufacturers Assn., which has 600 members representing about two-thirds of industry production in the United States. “But under the law, this is the only speedy vehicle . . . that some companies see for keeping a legalized work force.”

Mendez warned the legislative panel that, although the garment industry is the first to file requests for foreign workers, they will not be the last. “Other industries are being affected” by the immigration law, “and you will hear from more of them as INS turns up its enforcement.”

Despite their claims of labor shortages, which first surfaced months ago, industry representatives at the hearing offered no numbers on the severity of the problem. Representatives of the state Department of Employment, which checks requests for foreign workers before referring them to federal officials, said they have not yet determined whether a labor shortage exists in the industry. But the officials added that a preliminary spot survey indicates that there is none.

Advice From Unions

Union representatives insisted that if industry employers improved pay and working conditions, they would have no problem attracting American workers.

“The industry has to wake up and help itself,” said Steve Nutter of the ILGWU. He said that the prevailing wage six years ago in the industry was $3.35 per hour and that it has not changed. Employer representatives’ contentions that the prevailing wage is about $5.50 an hour were labeled “lies” by union representatives.

During a brief morning tour of the downtown garment district, committee members visited several garment shops unannounced. Several members later expressed concern, even outrage, at some of the conditions they encountered at “sweatshops”--workers who said they earned piecework wages at six cents per piece, and children as young as 12 working in violation of child labor laws.

At the conclusion of the hearing, subcommittee chairwoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles) said the hearing had “raised more questions than it answered” and that the panel “will continue to look into the issue.”