Campaign Against Sweatshops Planned

Labor activists and union officials say they are planning a major campaign, beginning in January, to pressure state government for a systematic crackdown on sweatshops.

The campaign will have two goals, said Jeff Stansbury, education and political director for the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union in Los Angeles. First, it will lobby for better enforcement of the minimum wage laws, which are routinely violated in the fiercely competitive California garment industry. Second, it will seek passage of stricter laws aimed at holding manufacturers--and, for the first time, retailers--responsible for the conditions under which their products are made.

“We have to put enough pressure on the governor and the Legislature to make them understand that these (sweatshop) conditions are widespread, that the violations are endemic, that these conditions are unhealthy for those who work in them (and) unhealthy for the California economy,” Stansbury said.

Max Mont, a longtime labor activist who helped write the last package of state legislation to reform the garment industry, in 1980, said he is organizing a citizens’ group to lobby for more enforcement money. After a crackdown on sweatshops in 1979 and 1980 under former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., Mont said, the Division of Labor Standards office responsible for policing the garment industry has seen its budget shrink under the Deukmejian Administration.

Mont also called for an expanded “joint liability law.” Under current law, manufacturers can be held liable for labor violations by their contractors if they know of the abuses, and their goods can be confiscated after a third offense.

In practice, however, it is nearly impossible to prove that a manufacturer knew of abuses or to catch an offender three times, officials have said.

Mont proposes a state law mirroring the federal “hot goods” statute, which would allow labor inspectors to seize goods made in violation of the minimum wage, whether or not the manufacturer knew of the violation. And he advocates stiffer penalties for repeat offenders.

But an attorney who represents garment manufacturers said broader liability laws will be impossible to enforce, and further regulation will only drive sewing operations underground, out of state or offshore.

“You can’t turn everybody in society into a policeman,” said Gary Freedman, a Beverly Hills attorney with several apparel clients. Freedman argued that manufacturers and retailers simply cannot police the labor practices of their suppliers. “It doesn’t happen anywhere in society, and for good reason. It goes against the free market.”

Even one advocate for garment workers questioned whether such legal reforms could succeed now, when they have mostly failed for decades.

“It’s so hard to believe in radical change in the garment industry, just because it hasn’t changed since the turn of the century,” said Alice Callaghan, director of Las Familias del Pueblo, a drop-in center to aid workers in the Los Angeles garment district. “Bright minds have tried so hard for so long.

“It would be wonderful for the first time in the history of the garment industry if we were able to provoke some systematic changes,” she added. “The only change so far . . . has been who sits at the chair in front of the machine.”