U.S. Cites Labor Law Violators in Garment Industry

In its latest campaign against sweatshops, the U.S. Labor Department on Friday released for the first time a national list of clothing contractors that were cited for labor-law violations, as well as the manufacturers that enlisted their work.

The Labor Department said the 27-page report, called No Sweat, was prepared at the request of apparel retailers, who have been pressured by federal investigators to bear responsibility for abuses in the garment industry, especially in the wake of the infamous El Monte case where workers toiled in near-slavery conditions.

The report covered inspections conducted between October and March, during which the Labor Department collected $1.3 million in back wages for more than 3,400 workers. The wages were paid by about 100 contractors as well as by some of the 230 manufacturers on the list. Most of these garment businesses are in New York City and Southern California and include such well-known Los Angeles-area manufacturers as Rampage, Top Ten and Quiksilver.

A Santa Ana firm, Fantasy Manufacturing, topped the list, paying more than $78,000 in unpaid overtime and fines. As a result, 61 workers received back wages ranging from $26 to $2,859, labor officials said. The firm’s owner, Gajani Anwar, declined to comment, except to say that he had paid the money.

Maria Echaveste, head of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division in Washington, said the report isn’t intended to be definitive or to say that apparel makers on the list are bad manufacturers.

Nevertheless, she said such inspection reports, to be released quarterly from now on, could serve as a “tool” for retailers.

“The key is how many of these names consistently appear on the list. That should be a warning light to retailers as well as manufacturers,” Echaveste said Friday.

Friday’s report comes five months after the Labor Department released a list of “good guy” apparel retailers and manufacturers. That list was intended to help consumers by spotlighting companies seen as taking extra steps to ensure their garments are made in law-abiding shops. But the roster drew fire for containing just 31 businesses, and then was criticized because some on the list were later found to be using questionable contractors.

Steve Pfister of the National Federation of Retailers, which was among those critical of the list, said Friday that he has not yet read the new report carefully.

But Pfister, who is vice president of legislative and political affairs, said the report isn’t what his group asked for. Rather than a mere list of manufacturers, Pfister said, the association had requested more detailed information--for example, size, colors and lot numbers of shipments--so retailers could trace clothes made by sweatshops.

Without such information, he said, retailers often have no way of knowing who made what and when, because they buy countless pieces made by manufacturers who in turn farm out work to a vast network of contractors.

Still, Pfister said Friday’s report was “at least a start. It provides some kind of road map.”

The report shows that a number of manufacturers on the list, including Costa Mesa-based Quiksilver, have agreed to monitor their contractors for future compliance, which has been a major focus of the federal government’s strategy to combat garment abuses.

Quiksilver, a popular sportswear maker, was listed because it contracted with Calway Inc. in Westminster, which was cited by federal and state investigators last summer. The Department of Labor said it collected $9,180 in back wages from Calway.

Federal officials said the latest report also confirms that contractors and manufacturers are routinely violating minimum wage and overtime laws.

The report indicates that from October to March, the department conducted 476 garment investigations that resulted in 222 violations--a rate of almost 50%. New York logged the highest violation rate, 60%, and also accounted for $593,327 in total back wages collected.

In the Los Angeles area, about half of the 161 investigations during the six-month period turned up violations, with investigators collecting $447,532 in back wages for 1,353 workers.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Payback Time

U.S. Labor Department officials collected more than $130,000 in wages that were owed employees of one apparel manufacturer and six sewing contractors in Orange County. Officials also identified apparel makers doing business with contractors who committed the violations. Orange County businesses involved in the October to March investigation:

*--*

Sewing Wages Firms doing contractor recovered business with contractor Precision Sewing $15,161 None in Orange County Garden Grove BT&T; Fashion $13,078 Counter Culture, Huntington Beach Santa Ana Yaga Inc., Irvine Don Fashion $11,368 None in Orange County Santa Ana Calway Inc. $9,180 Quiksilver, Costa Mesa Westminster Rise Knitting $1,720 J&M; Varon, Aliso Viejo Santa Ana Best Fashion $1,709 None in Orange County Garden Grove Fantasy MFG* $78,350 Santa Ana

*--*

* The apparel firm was found to owe its own employees the wages

These Orange County apparel firms were doing business with contractors from outside the county that were found to owe wages:

* Grind, Huntington Beach

* J&M; Varon, Aliso Viejo

* Body Waves, Garden Grove

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Researched by JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times