Hammering Sweatshops News' series spurs get-tough effort http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-07-15/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-118399.asp By BOB PORT Daily News Staff Writer
If state lawmakers have their way, New York sweatshops - and the companies whose clothes they make - will find their names publicized on the Internet.
That's part of a flurry of reaction from last week's Daily News investigation describing how hundreds of city garment factories routinely violate labor laws and exploit Chinese and Hispanic immigrants. The highlights:
U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said she was "very troubled" by the Daily News report.
New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer offered to step up sweatshop prosecutions and said lawmakers should close loopholes that shelter retailers from sweatshop claims.
Assembly Labor Committee Chairwoman Catherine Nolan (D-Queens) introduced a bill to give new powers to state labor cops, and Senate Labor Chairman Nicholas Spano (R-Yonkers) said he will back it.
Labor Commissioner Linda Angello said her staff will step up enforcement with 10 freshly trained inspectors.
Readers phoned The News after seeing its stories, which told how thousands of immigrant workers toil for less than minimum wage, sometimes seven days a week. One reader, Paula Ryszik of Port Chester, wanted to send "a small check" to a disabled Chinese woman whose picture appeared in the paper.
"It's so sad," Ryszik said. "Here we are in 2001, and we have these people being treated like slaves. It brought tears to my eyes.
"I just think that the powers that be in New York should take notice and do something about this."
On Monday, Nolan introduced the Garment Workers Protection Act, a proposal to have the state publish monthly reports listing clothing makers on the Internet when wage and hour violations are found. That would answer complaints from retailers who say they have no way to know about sweatshops in New York.
Quick Action Expected on Nolan Bill
The bill also would empower labor inspectors to evacuate and shut down a garment shop on the spot for blocked exits and other fire violations.
"We're going to do this right away," Nolan said. "I'm very upset that this problem continues to worsen in New York. Clearly, we're going to have to be more aggressive."
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said he will get Nolan's bill to the floor this week, and he predicted swift passage.
Spano, Nolan's counterpart in the Republican-run Senate, said he would strengthen Nolan's bill. As drafted, the bill "authorizes" labor officials to publish violator names.
"I would require it," Spano said. "This is something that I feel strongly about. It's clear that we have come a long way since the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, but we have a way to go."
Both representatives said the state needs more labor cops. Angello said Gov. Pataki supports tough enforcement, prompting him in March to order the hiring of 10 inspectors.
Reinforcements To Be Added Soon
Those new inspectors - four Spanish-, three Chinese-, two Korean- and one English-speaking - will hit the streets soon. "Let's see how it works with 10 more," Angello said. "We will keep going until we think we can get a handle on the problem."
Spitzer, who prosecutes labor violators, called the state's labor policing "inadequate" and said he would welcome more cases being referred by Angello's agency.
"There is a lack of humanity in the way that much of the labor force in the Garment District is abused," Spitzer said. "This is an area that is of concern to me.
"We have to be increasingly aggressive and determined," the attorney general said. "Retailers have to be brought into the enforcement picture."
In its last big revision of sweatshop law in 1997, the Legislature made clothing manufacturers liable for unpaid wages in factories they use. But in 1998, retailers quietly slipped an exemption into law that allows them to escape being sued when they manufacture private-label clothes themselves.
Ted Potrikus, who represents retailers in Albany, said clothing sellers are still weighing their positions in this latest debate.
In Washington, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-Westchester) wrote to Chao, citing The News' series, and implored her to reconsider cuts in funding for safety inspectors. Lowey invited Chao to come to New York and "see firsthand the problem of sweatshop labor" and the garment industry's "terrible working conditions."
Chao, who as a child came to the United States with her parents from Taiwan, visited Ellis Island with President Bush last week, but she declined to immediately respond to Lowey's invitation.
"I am very troubled when I hear that U.S. companies may be violating labor laws and underpaying workers - particularly when those workers are immigrants who may not understand what their rights are," Chao said.
"The Department of Labor is committed to investigating those who are breaking our country's labor laws and prosecuting them if they are found to be in violation."
Original Publication Date: 7/15/01 http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-07-15/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-118399.asp
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