Garment Industry Abuses Live On : Allegations in new case point up need for constant vigilance

Garment manufacturers who violate labor laws typically do so by paying less than the minimum wage and not paying overtime. But last week’s raid on a firm in Irvine turned up what federal and state agents said was a more serious, indeed potentially life-threatening, situation. The case demonstrates the need for continued vigilance against abuses in the garment industry.

Hi-Tech Expression allegedly locked its employees inside a windowless room from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Members of the family that owns the company contended that in case of fire, workers could force open a rear door, enter an enclosed warehouse area, lift a roll-up door and escape to the outside.

But in a fire, every second counts. Locking doors should not be tolerated. Owners said workers were kept inside as a precaution against theft, but that’s a flimsy excuse. Hiring a security guard or having a supervisor keep tabs on workers is a method of preventing theft.

The raid also resulted in allegations that the company lacked workers’ compensation insurance and failed to register as a garment manufacturer. Numerous cases in recent years have found safety violations by firms that cut corners to keep costs down in a hotly competitive business. The most appalling example of local garment industry abuse was disclosed last summer, when 74 Thais were found to be performing virtual slave labor at an apartment complex in El Monte, confined behind barbed wire and forced to sew garments. Although Santa Ana and Anaheim garment manufacturing sites have been raided in recent years, last week’s operation was a first for Irvine. A federal investigator said the presence of the business “shows us the garment industry is more hidden and widespread than we think.”

The garment manufacturers cited for violations of safety and labor laws usually have employed immigrants, men and women sometimes unfamiliar with U.S. law or desperate to earn even meager wages. For all our praise of America as a land of immigrants, exploitation of newcomers has been a too-frequent phenomenon. The terrible conditions of the garment sweatshops on New York City’s Lower East Side at the start of this century should be matter for the history books. They should not be replicated at the end of the century.