In the spirit of our National Independence Day on July 4th, we brought the focus of our July Community Call back home. With a pre-screening of our Made in America film, we took a look into the current state of the apparel industry for the 45,000 garment workers here in Los Angeles.
We spoke with Marissa Nuncio, Director of the Garment Worker Center and Yeni Dewi, Garment Worker Center Organizer, to discuss the reality of domestic apparel manufacturing and the importance of a new piece of legislation — SB1399, that the GWC is organizing to pass in California.
SB1399 is landmark legislation that will eliminate the pervasive piece rate system of compensation for garment workers and provide upstream multilateral accountability in the supply chain so that brands and retailers can be held accountable for wage theft.
88% of low-wage workers in Los Angeles experience wage theft, losing an estimated total of $26.2 million per week. Of the 26 low-wage industries studied, the garment industry was found to have the highest level of wage theft violations.
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