Jewish Group Urges Sweatshop Reform

Tougher laws and better enforcement combined with consumer pressure on manufacturers and retailers are needed to reduce sweatshop labor in the Southern California garment industry, a major Jewish group says in a report to be released this week.

“Under the current system of apparel production, it is virtually impossible for a manufacturer to avoid using sweatshops at some time,” concluded the study, undertaken by the Pacific Southwest region of the American Jewish Congress.

Organizers created the Los Angeles Jewish Commission to conduct the study. They say it is the first time a religious group has investigated a major local industry.

Southern California is the nation’s leading apparel manufacturing center, employing 160,000 workers, most of them immigrants from Mexico and Central America. But the proliferation of sweatshops has marred the industry’s reputation. A U.S. Department of Labor survey of Southern California sewing shops last year found that fewer than four in 10 firms comply with minimum-wage and overtime laws.

The commission’s proposals are controversial but not completely novel. Many of the basic ideas have been around for years, generally supported by organized labor but resisted by industry groups.

Some hope that support from the Jewish group will provide impetus for reform, especially since Democratic Gov. Gray Davis has signaled that he is open to new laws protecting garment workers.

“It’s important that a faith-based group is saying: ‘We’ve got to take a look at this industry,’ ” said Carol Levy, executive director in Los Angeles for the American Jewish Congress.

The involvement of a Jewish organization in such an investigation is a sensitive matter because a majority of the largest garment manufacturers in Southern California are Jewish-owned, according to the report. A century ago, many Jews arriving from Eastern Europe found their first jobs in the garment industry in New York. Jews’ long history in the industry, along with a religious sense of social conscience, helped prompt the group to undertake the study, organizers said.

During its nine-month inquiry, the commission held public hearings and met with garment workers, manufacturers, union members and government officials.

The commission is calling for new laws that increase the legal liability of manufacturers and retailers who employ so-called contract shops, small sewing factories where most garments are produced. Current law generally insulates manufacturers and retailers from liability for wage abuses committed by the subcontractors.

Former Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed a law that would have increased the legal exposure of garment manufacturers that use sweatshop labor. The garment industry also opposes the idea, contending that it will drive work overseas.

“It would cost the jobs of thousands of American workers,” said Stan Levy (no relation to Carol), a lawyer and rabbi who heads the Labor and Public Affairs Committee for the California Fashion Assn., the leading industry trade group in Southern California. “For 100 years, the garment industry has been a ladder in the United States for waves of immigrants. To remove that ladder now would be tragic.”

But authors of the study said they believe conditions could be improved for workers without triggering an exodus of garment firms. They say labor costs account for only about 6% of a garment’s retail price.

Industry representatives have yet to see the report. But Ilse Metchek, executive director of the California Fashion Assn., said the findings reflect the pro-labor bias of the American Jewish Congress.

The garment industry is largely nonunion. The study calls for steps to ensure that workers have the right to organize. Study participants deny any pro-labor bias.

The Jewish group also called for consumers to demand that garments be made in more “socially responsible ways.” One suggestion in the report is to create a line of clothing “under the workplace equivalent of kosher conditions--that is, in factories where workers receive a living wage and standard benefits package.”

Many in the industry say they are skeptical about whether clothing buyers care about the issue.

“The consumer doesn’t care about where it’s made,” said Metchek of the California Fashion Assn. “Price is the driving factor.”

The study also seeks legislation requiring that state and local government agencies purchase garments only from vendors who pay a so-called living wage.

Study organizers and industry representatives did agree on one point: a need for greater enforcement of existing laws. The limited numbers of state and federal inspectors cannot adequately monitor the thousands of small garment shops in the region, many tucked away in lofts, storefronts and on side streets, the study said.