Sweeping Out the Sweatshops

Sweatshops may seem inevitable in a region where many immigrants need work and a huge garment industry needs cheap labor. But places that rob workers of their right to decent wages and working conditions should not be allowed to exist without at least some effort being made to control the abuses that occur.

While there are many legitimate garment manufacturers and contractors, there is an underside to the industry that preys on workers who are either ignorant of their rights or afraid to speak up. If caught, some unscrupulous contractors consider fines merely the cost of doing business. Others simply close up shop and disappear, leaving workers with meaningless IOU’s for back wages. And even though commercial home sewing is prohibited by state and federal law, there also are home sewers who work for a pittance.

Even under the best of circumstances, it would be difficult to police the industry. A lack of money, which slows many labor investigations, won’t be cured with a new law. Still, added tools of enforcement may be needed. In the wake of a series of raids on sweatshops in Los Angeles and Orange counties, Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) has proposed legislation that would make manufacturers liable for sweatshop abuses. Not surprisingly, the manufacturers say that would be unfair. They claim they’re being dragged in only as “deep pockets” to pay for a bad situation they can’t control, taking the rap for a few bad-apple contractors.

Maybe. But there is a lot of winking and nodding going on in the garment industry. It is not uncommon for manufacturers to bid one contractor against another, for example, ending up with a price that everyone knows can’t cover basic wages. Joint liability would at least put them on notice that they must build into their own costs a fair wage for sewers.

If manufacturers and contractors think they have better solutions than Hayden’s, let them come to the table to present them. The proposed legislation at least started the discussion about new ways to address an old problem that will only grow worse with neglect.