Asian American Studies 197A
Winter Quarter 2002

Political Tour of Communities

Political Tour of the Garment District
By Gillian Claycomb

I chose to conduct a tour of the Los Angeles garment district because my group in this class is focusing on the Garment Worker Center, and so we thought it was important to have a good idea of the area. During the Democratic National Convention one of the protests started nearby, so my experience with the area was a very political one. The first time I saw the sweatshops in Los Angeles, the workers were leaning out of the windows, waving strips of fabric and cheering. But I haven’t learned much about the specific community in my classes, just information about garment production in general.

In order to prepare for the tour, my group members and I split up the information that we would need to find. I was responsible for describing the structure of the industry and how globalization and immigration have shaped this community. I looked at Sweatshop Watch’s website, and also used some information that I had from previous research. Sweatshop Watch’s "pyramid of power" demonstrates that the retailers hold the most power. They determine the prices of clothing, and reap the highest profits. Usually they buy products from brand-name manufacturers, but with increasing frequency, they have been producing their own labels. Either way, the next step is the contractors, who hire workers to sew the fabric, attach buttons, and do all the work meager wages. The contractors bid against each other for contracts with manufacturers, so they must produce the clothing at the lowest possible cost. The workers, therefore, must receive low wages and remain in a powerless position in order for the profits to flow back to the top of the pyramid. In Los Angeles, these workers are usually immigrants, who are in a disadvantaged position since they don’t speak the language and are not educated on their rights as workers in this country. In addition, many of them have come to the US searching for employment, and they cannot afford to lose their jobs by protesting the terrible treatment they receive. Most of the garment workers here are from Central and Latin America, but there are also large numbers of Asian immigrants who work in this industry. Globalization affects the production of apparel, because transnational corporations and trade agreements reduce the power of populations around the world. As big businesses swallow up the land and cash crops replace food staples, former farming communities are impoverished, forcing people to move to the cities looking for income. The urban centers of developing countries cannot support such massive growth, and many recent migrants find they must move elsewhere for employment. The US has more employment opportunities then most developing countries, so many people come here, often without documentation. Los Angeles has incorporated immigrant labor into its economy, exploiting the recent arrivals to produce large amounts of garments for very low prices.

The other areas that our group focused on tried to take into account some of the theres that we’ve been discussing in class. For example, we talked about why Los Angeles is a center of garment production, and addressed the ethnic and class relations within the industry and the area. We also talked about some of the challenges that union and community organizers face, and some of the current efforts to empower the workers. I’m not sure if these issues receive adequate attention in Asian American and Ethnic Studies classes, because I haven’t taken many of these classes. But it seems that often classes fail to discuss organizing efforts, especially alternatives to unions.
I learned some very interesting things on the tour. We went into California Mart, which is am enormous building dedicated to the showcasing of LA’s finest fashions. It was so well-polished and filled with very stylish clothes, actually things that I would like to own. From the windows we looked out and saw the buildings that house the very factories that produced these items. It was fascinating to experience how retailers can come into the area to do business and get such a closed view of the industry. Also, I learned that it takes very little capital in order to set up shop in LA. All you need is a space and some sewing machines, which is why so many of the contractors are actually immimgrants themselves, who are just looking to make an income. This does not excuse their despicable treatment of the workers, but it puts it in perspective, espcially when you consider the pressure of the manufacturers and retailers about them. Our class discussions also tied in, as we learned that one of the reasons that Koreans are so often the owners of the factories is that they have such tight community ties. Through their church groups, it is not uncommon to pool money to enable the purchase of the necessary resources to open a garment factory. I have always wondered why it is that Korean immigrants often own the factories, and it was exciting to tie this new information into what I already knew about the industry. I will share my newly expanded understanding of the LA garment industry and the garment district with the United Students Against Sweatshops chapter at UCLA and also nationally. I think it’s important for people in the rest of the country to have an understanding of what’s going on here, as this is the center of apparel production in the US.
I will continue to learn more about this community as I continue to volunteer at the Garment Worker Center and visit the area. Also, by going to support the protests at Forever 21 and Bebe stores, I hope to become more familiar with the workers, and learn about the community from their perspective. I have not had a chance to read the book Behind the Label, but I plan to, as soon as I can squeeze it in between my other class readings, and I think this book will teach me a lot as well.

I felt comfortable leading the tour, along with my other group members, but if I lead another one in the future I think I’d like to do a little more research. We only briefly addressed the living situations of the workers, and I’d like to have some specific examples and descriptions. Because something I’ve learned about sweatshops in other countries is that the factories themselves might not be so obviously bad, but the workers’ living conditions are what really make the situation terrible.
I think that the first part of expanding students’ role in our communities would be to really get them into the communities to see what’s going on. I think very few UCLA students have actually walked around the garment district, much less visited a factory. Meeting and discussing with workers is absolutely necessary for students to understand the impact that their consumption habits have. If students could distribute information about California labor laws, I think that would make a big difference. At the Garment Worker Center general meeting on Saturday, a representative from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of LA (CHIRLA) passed out cards explaining overtime wages, listing the number of hours worked with the amount of pay due to the workers. Also, on my tour I learned that there are laws, like AB633, in place to ensure that employers do not exploit the workers. But workers just don’t know about these laws, and the state rarely enforces them sue to the political influence of the retailers. If workers could have more access to information like this, they might feel more able to demand better treatment. Once the workers have made demands, the students can support them by publicizing these demands and educating consumers on the labor abuses of the companies.