Garment Industry Wages And Salaries

The latest federal report tracking garment industry violations lists California as the country's worst offender for the quarter ended Sept. 30, followed closely by New York state. Federal investigators recovered $353,686 in back wages owed to 1,013 workers at California apparel companies, according to the Labor Department report. The 98 federal investigations conducted in California between July 1 and Sept. 30 resulted in 67 violations and $98,100 in civil penalties.

Authorities want to shut down a garment factory that investigators say has not paid almost 200 immigrant workers for more than three months and operates without a license. Wins of California Inc., San Francisco's largest clothing factory, owes its employees at least $850,000, according to state and federal investigators. The factory makes clothes for the Army and Air Force, Kmart, Sears and Wal-Mart, investigators said.

Seven garment workers who cooperated with a recent federal crackdown on Orange County sweatshops now say they have been blacklisted, intimidated or forced to give kickbacks to their bosses, prompting a second round of investigations by the U.S. Department of Labor.

As garment manufacturers fend off lawsuits over offshore sweatshops, state lawmakers reached an agreement Thursday to help guarantee that garment workers in California are paid when their employers go out of business. Manufacturers who design clothing and hire contractors to produce their lines must ensure that workers get paid if the contractors go belly up, under a bill passed by the Senate on Thursday and headed for approval in the Assembly.

They push for their great causes: saving the forests, rescuing the wildlife, begging help for people beset by the cruel pinch of want. And it is tough for them to get attention. Amid so many competing miseries, America is tired of adversity and resists any disturbance to the public slumbering. But every so often there is a breakthrough. And, in a nation obsessed with celebrity, there is no finer way to achieve it than to catch a falling star.

Garment Industry Labor Violations Uncovered: Federal officials announced that a sweep earlier this month of 56 sewing contractors revealed that nearly 75% of them failed to pay minimum wage or overtime pay. The sewing shops, located in Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, owed $745,749 to 1,230 garment workers, officials said. The shops singled out for investigation were those not registered with the state or which had a history of prior violations.

Seven garment workers who cooperated with a recent federal labor crackdown on Orange County sweatshops now complain that they have been blacklisted, intimidated or forced to give kickbacks to their bosses, prompting a second round of investigations by the U.S. Department of Labor.

When Rolene Otero, enforcement director for the U.S. Department of Labor, began a massive crackdown on garment industry sweatshops in Orange County this year, she knew it would be risky. Helping women and children who sew for wages as low as $1.45 an hour has not always been a high priority at the home office in Washington, she said. But, Otero said: "You've got to do what you have to do and let the chips fall.

A White House task force engaged in a pioneer effort to eliminate sweatshops plans to recommend pay and overtime standards for foreign apparel factories that fall far short of minimum U.S. requirements. Sources close to the talks say the task force plans to recommend that foreign apparel manufacturers who supply American companies pay overtime wages that are at least equal to regular hourly rates. The group proposes that the regular work week be limited to 60 hours, sources said.

Labor activists and union officials say they are planning a major campaign, beginning in January, to pressure state government for a systematic crackdown on sweatshops. The campaign will have two goals, said Jeff Stansbury, education and political director for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union in Los Angeles. First, it will lobby for better enforcement of the minimum wage laws, which are routinely violated in the fiercely competitive California garment industry.

The bad memories swirled through Juan Canto's head as he marched Saturday through the gritty core of Los Angeles' garment district, past rows of once-elegant office buildings now converted to sewing lofts and supply outlets for the region's largest manufacturing industry. "I remembered working in shops around here and being paid $10-$12 a day for up to 10 hours' work," recalled Canto, who arrived from Mexico six years ago and, like many new immigrants, found his first job in a clothing factory.

A White House task force engaged in a pioneer effort to eliminate sweatshops plans to recommend pay and overtime standards for foreign apparel factories that fall far short of minimum U.S. requirements. Sources close to the talks say the task force plans to recommend that foreign apparel manufacturers who supply American companies pay overtime wages that are at least equal to regular hourly rates. The group proposes that the regular work week be limited to 60 hours, sources said.

The latest federal report tracking garment industry violations lists California as the country's worst offender for the quarter ended Sept. 30, followed closely by New York state. Federal investigators recovered $353,686 in back wages owed to 1,013 workers at California apparel companies, according to the Labor Department report. The 98 federal investigations conducted in California between July 1 and Sept. 30 resulted in 67 violations and $98,100 in civil penalties.

In the first sweep of the Southland's garment industry since the federal minimum wage hike, an overwhelming majority of contractors were found to be paying their workers at the new rate. Investigators had feared the new minimum wage, which went up last month to $4.75 from $4.25, would result in more labor abuses.

Charge Filed to Reinstate Fired Activist: Ricardo Zelada, a community activist promoting the Proposition 210 initiative to raise California's minimum wage, filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board claiming that he and his stepbrother were fired illegally from their garment factory jobs because of Zelada's advocacy work. Zelada lost his job as a sewing machine operator at Lito Children's Wear in East Los Angeles on Oct.

They push for their great causes: saving the forests, rescuing the wildlife, begging help for people beset by the cruel pinch of want. And it is tough for them to get attention. Amid so many competing miseries, America is tired of adversity and resists any disturbance to the public slumbering. But every so often there is a breakthrough. And, in a nation obsessed with celebrity, there is no finer way to achieve it than to catch a falling star.

Calling it one of the most serious and unusual labor violations in the garment industry, state officials have found that a big Santa Ana apparel maker required many of its minimum-wage workers to essentially pay to work there. Jose Millan, the state's deputy labor commissioner, said California and federal investigators are preparing to fine Clothes Connection "several hundred thousand dollars" for overtime wage violations and for charging workers more than $100 every month for tools.

Offering its workers by far the largest incentive program ever, jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. on Wednesday proposed to reward each of its 37,500 employees worldwide with a one-time bonus equal to about a year's pay if the company meets its performance goals over the next six years. The plan, which Levi valued at $750 million, was unveiled to 2,000 cheering employees at a morning rally outside the venerable company's San Francisco headquarters.

Thirty-nine former employees of two downtown Los Angeles garment factories run by the same family that operated an infamous Thai sweatshop in El Monte filed a legal claim with state labor officials Thursday seeking $1.8 million in back wages. The workers, all legal Latino immigrants, claim they were paid as little as $1.63 an hour, toiling up to 13 hours a day. "It is clear that they also faced substandard and sweatshop conditions," said Paul S.