McClintock, garment workers reach accord on fair labor

Tuesday, April 2, 1996

By Rachanee Srisavasdi

Daily Bruin Staff

A community group representing Chinese garment workers reached
an agreement with Jessica McClintock Inc., ending a
three-and-a-half year national boycott holding the clothing
manufacturer responsible for $15,000 in back pay owed to the
workers.

The McClintock corporation called for a meeting with Asian
Immigrant Women Advocates last month. The resulting agreement
elicits plans to insure worker’s rights and promote awareness of
fair labor practices.

Cooperative efforts include scholarships for students and
garment workers and the establishment of toll-free numbers in which
garment workers can report work violations. Additionally,
McClintock will donate money to the workers and establish a garment
workers’ education fund.

Though part of the agreement stated that neither side could
comment specifically on the campaign or the settlement, a women
advocates representative said workers and the organization were
pleased with the agreement.

"We really hope other manufacturers will follow in Jessica
McClintock’s leadership," said Stacy Kono, Asian Immigrant Women
Advocates national McClintock campaign coordinator. "The industry
needs a lot of changes. There are hundreds of contractors in the
United States that are still violating worker’s rights."

The campaign began in 1992, when the advocacy group took up the
case of 12 seamstresses who had been employed by Lucky Sewing Co.,
a main sewing contractor for McClintock in Oakland for about six
years.

Working conditions were extremely poor, according to the former
workers. They worked between 10 to 12 hour days, six or seven days
a week. They were paid below minimum wage, and were not compensated
for overtime ­ practices that are illegal according to federal
labor laws.

Lucky Sewing Co. went bankrupt in 1992, some argue because
McClintock had abruptly terminated business with the company. The
seamstresses asked for back wages from McClintock, but the company
refused.

The seamstresses’ case was taken up by the immigrant advocacy
group, which brought the case national attention by organizing mass
protests at McClintock’s retail stores.

During most of the campaign, the manufacturer ignored the
repeated protests, maintaining they were not legally responsible
for back pay to the Chinese garment workers. Yet the advocates
group and other community groups disagreed, maintaining the
manufacturers’ desire to hire the cheapest contractors contributed
to poor work conditions in ‘sweatshops.’

"It’s important that Jessica McClintock took responsibility for
workers who made her clothes," said Julie Su, attorney for Asian
Pacific American Legal Center. "But it was long overdue. I don’t
think the battle should be that difficult before a manufacturer
takes responsibility."

UCLA groups involved with the campaign’s local protests included
student advocacy groups and Asian fraternities and sororities.

"The success of the campaign was dependent on community
organizing," said Levin Sy, director of the Asian Pacific
Coalition. "The students energized the campaign, brought in new
blood, and more people with them."

Other groups included the Concerned Asian Pacific Students for
Action and the Korean American United Students for Education and
Service.

"The first issue for (the workers) is survival ­ they need
to get paid, need to support their family," said Tracy Kann, a
fourth-year political science student who worked on the campaign.
"They’re very afraid of upsetting anything. They don’t want to
question the system."

Garment worker violations still exist in sewing companies,
according to studies conducted by the state Labor Department. In a
1994 survey of 69 sewing shops in Los Angeles, the department found
extreme labor and safety violations, including cases of employers
locking fire exits and children as young as 13 working nine hours a
day.

In one recently publicized case, 72 Thai garment workers in El
Monte, Calif. were imprisoned in an apartment-converted factory.
Workers were not allowed to leave the compound and were subjected
to 16-18-hour work days, seven days a week.

The Thai contractors who imprisoned the workers have been found
guilty of imprisonment, and will also be named in a civil suit
about wages owed to the workers.

Manufacturers and retailers need to be held accountable for such
violations, argued Paul Lee, a spokesman for Korean Immigrant
Workers Advocate, which works with garment workers to ensure better
working conditions.

"Each level of the garment industry needs a lot of changes," Lee
said. "Jessica McClintock is only one of the thousands of
manufacturers out there … hopefully her decision will set a
precedent for other manufacturers."

Daily Bruin file photo

A protester pickets work conditions.