18 Little Saigon Firms Cited on Wage Policies

A U.S. Labor Department investigation into the use of cheap immigrant labor in the Little Saigon area of Garden Grove and Westminster has led to citations against 18, mostly Vietnamese-owned businesses, officials said Wednesday.

Van Bui, a spokesman for the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division in Santa Ana, said the businesses specialized in garment making and were cited for failing to observe minimum-wage laws as well as an assortment of other federal labor laws.

Bui said the owners of the shops had been ordered to pay about $150,000 in back pay to 330 workers who were found to have been paid below the minimum wage. Bui said each shop employed between 10 and 200 seamstresses and most were located in the Garden Grove, Westminster and Santa Ana areas.

“There is a prevalent pattern of violations of labor laws by the sweatshops,” said Bui. “And their bookkeeping is a nightmare.”

Labor Department officials said seamstresses routinely receive cash payments for piecework rather than hourly wages. As a result, a fast worker could make the minimum wage of $4.25 an hour, or even higher, but apprentices often earn only half of that.

“Still, many of them are glad to make as little as $1 an hour, and they are even grateful for that,” Bui said.

Officials said most of the seamstresses found working in the shops were refugees from Vietnam, where there is a long tradition of apprentices willing to work without pay in order to get the necessary training.

“There is definitely a case of cultural difference,” Bui said. “But here it is called exploitation, and we have to put an end to it.”

Roline Otero, Labor’s assistant district director and head of the task force that looked into the problem, was scheduled to appear on a Vietnamese-run weekly television program to explain the situation to the community.

“I feel we need to spread the word to the folks in Little Saigon,” said Robert Kelley, area district director for the Labor Department in San Diego. “Information will ensure compliance.”

Investigators said there were probably hundreds of small shops employing seamstresses scattered all over Orange County, relying on a labor force made up mostly of thousands of Vietnamese refugees willing to work long hours for little pay.

Bui said the Vietnamese moved into the business in Orange County about four years ago, driving out Korean-Americans “by cutting labor costs to the bone.

“As a result,” he said, “while exploiting their compatriots, they are not making much money themselves.”

Of the 18 businesses cited, Bui said some had arranged installment plans to repay the workers and all had agreed to come into compliance with the minimum wage law. If a business refuses to comply, the investigators can forward their allegations to a federal attorney for possible legal action.