Dispute Over Worker Draws Attention to Proposition 210

It was a shining moment for Ricardo Zelada, a community activist and garment factory worker, when he testified before a state Senate committee last week on why he believes California should raise its minimum wage.

But the next day, his life hit a low point: Zelada was fired from the job he had held for the past 2 1/2 years as a sewing machine operator at a children’s clothing manufacturer.

Whether Zelada was laid off in retaliation for his testimony and activism or for a bad work record is in dispute, and some details remain murky.

All the same, the flap has transformed Zelada, 61, into a “poster child” for Proposition 210, an initiative on next month’s ballot to raise California’s minimum wage.

Backers of Proposition 210, which would lift California’s minimum above the new federal level of $4.75 an hour and eventually raise the state standard to $5.75, plan to feature Zelada’s plight in a radio advertising campaign.

They also have called for a protest rally today outside the East Los Angeles company where Zelada worked, Lito Children’s Wear. The protesters will demand the reinstatement of Zelada and his stepbrother, Jose Manuel Hernandez, who also was recently fired by Lito.

The company said Zelada was fired for being unreliable, and claimed that the expense of having to pay higher wages could cost other workers their jobs.

But a spokesman for the Proposition 210 supporters group known as the Liveable Wage Coalition, said Zelada’s story is an example of why workers in garment manufacturing and other low-paying industries need a higher minimum wage.

“Minimum wage workers are one paycheck away from homelessness,” said the group’s spokesman, Stephen K. Hopcraft. Proposition 210, he added, would “provide more of a cushion when a disaster like this strikes.”

While Zelada is being portrayed as an example of how “defenseless and vulnerable minimum wage workers are,” he hardly is a political innocent.

An experienced activist, Zelada and his wife were among the four named plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit brought against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on behalf of poor and minority bus riders. The plaintiffs won a tentative settlement two weeks ago.

Zelada also has been active in Unite, the main apparel industry union and an ardent backer of Proposition 210.

Much newer to public controversy is Lito, a family-owned business founded 23 years ago by Taiwanese immigrants.

Its headaches began Oct. 1, the same day that Zelada testified for Proposition 210. The company was hit with a surprise inspection by state and federal labor officials as part of a weeklong sweep of local garment manufacturers and contractors.

Authorities cited Lito for allegedly allowing many of its employees to work at home illegally, in addition to a variety of lesser infractions. Investigators also are looking into whether the company violated minimum wage or overtime pay requirements. The company, still studying the citations, plans to appeal.

The day after the raid, Zelada said one of the owners called him into the office and fired him, saying “You and your [stepbrother] called the labor commissioner. I don’t want you here any more.” Zelada denies reporting the company to the authorities.

Zelada’s account was disputed by Allen Li, the 26-year-old son of the company’s owners and the firm’s spokesman. Li said Zelada was fired because he was frequently late to work and unwilling to put in a full 40-hour week.

Lito is an unlikely company to find itself a player in the Proposition 210 debate. It is a low-profile firm with 40 employees operating in a small niche of the clothing industry, making formal clothing such as tuxedos and fancy dresses for children.

Li said he wasn’t even aware of Proposition 210 until he was asked about it by a reporter.

Yet Li said the company has been very concerned lately about the federal minimum wage, which currently sets the floor on wages in California. The rise in the federal minimum last week from $4.25 to $4.75 an hour, he said, already is raising Lito’s costs and is one of the factors that prompted the firing of Zelada and several other workers.

Upon being told that passage of Proposition 210 would push up the minimum wage in California, in two steps, to $5.75 by March 1998, Li echoed the most extreme concerns of the employers campaigning against the measure. “We’ll have to consider closing down if it goes to $5.75,” he said.