Garment Industry Bill Advances

Legislation earmarking $2.5 million for intensified enforcement of state labor laws in the garment industry was approved Thursday in the state Senate by a bipartisan 34-2 vote.

Inspired by the raid last month on an illegal clothing factory in El Monte, where 72 Thai women worked in alleged slave labor conditions, the bill went to the Assembly, where it is expected to be considered in January.

The bill by state Sen. Hilda Solis (D-El Monte) would appropriate $2.5 million specifically for enforcement of wage, hour, safety and other labor laws in the garment industry. Pat Henning, an aide to Solis, said it would finance about 20 field investigators, 10 auditors and support staff members.

Solis described working conditions at the El Monte plant as “those of a slave shop” that she said may be common elsewhere in Southern California. “We have to stop this atrocity,” she said.

A companion bill, which would hold manufacturers liable for the labor law violations of their garment contractors, is pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee. It probably will be acted upon in 1996.