Guess? Pact to Curb Sweatshop Abuses Praised : Workplace: But some manufacturers question whether the apparel maker will diligently police its contractors.
Garment manufacturers and contractors on Wednesday praised the intent of an unprecedented pact between the U.S. Labor Department and industry giant Guess? Inc., but many predicted it will do little to crack down on sweatshop abuses in Southern California.
The new agreement calls for Guess?, the biggest apparel manufacturer in Southern California, to police its estimated 100 sewing contractors to make sure they pay proper overtime and minimum wages and stop using illegal child labor. It marks the first time that a major manufacturer will be held directly responsible for the wages and working conditions under which its products are made--even when the garments are actually sewn by independent contractors.
But some apparel manufacturers and contractors questioned whether Guess? will diligently police its contractors and whether the Labor Department will have the resources to enforce the agreement.
Guess? “can do one of two things. They can make it a circus or they can set a progressive example for the entire industry,” said Bernard Lax, president of the Coalition of Apparel Industries of California, a group representing more than 100 firms.
As part of the agreement, Guess? has pledged to make extensive management changes and to pay the back wages of any of its contractors’ employees who are illegally denied overtime pay or the minimum wage of $4.25 an hour.
Yet some industry sources portrayed Guess?, whose owners once waged a vicious 6 1/2-year legal battle for control of the company against rival jeans maker Jordache, as a litigious firm that will resist fiercely if it feels unduly pressured by the government.
“The only way we can clean up this industry is to make sure manufacturers are responsible,” said Robert M. Walter, plant manager for Frank Walter Sportswear Contractors in Los Angeles. But, Walter added, “I’m only hoping that Guess? decides it’s time to act responsibly.”
Even if Guess? enthusiastically lives up to the pact, garment firm executives said the agreement’s impact will be limited, at least in the short run. For one thing, the 100 Guess? contractors make up only a small portion of the more than 5,000 sewing contractors in Southern California.
Also, some industry executives said such agreements, if adopted by other companies, would impose extra business costs that could drive jobs to Mexico or other countries. At the same time, industry sources generally dismissed the possibility that prices paid by consumers would rise.
Government officials, hoping to use the Guess? pact as an industry standard, already are negotiating similar agreements with four other manufacturers in the Los Angeles area. The industry’s workplace conditions are of critical importance in Southern California, which rivals New York as the nation’s leading apparel manufacturing center with more than 100,000 employees.
Despite industry skepticism, apparel worker advocates remain enthusiastic about the Guess? agreement. “There’s never any one thing that’s going to solve the problem,” said Steve Nutter, Western regional director of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.
“This kind of agreement encourages voluntary compliance. If Guess? makes known its desire to have its work done legally, they have the power to do it,” Nutter added.
“Time will tell whether they (Guess? executives) are serious or just want to get the government off their back.”
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