In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law banning piece-rate work and guaranteeing hourly wages for California’s garment workers. The Garment Worker Protection Act, Senate Bill 62, is a victory for the state’s garment workers and the advocates who led a two-year campaign to pass the bill. SB 62 addresses the wage theft that has long plagued Los Angeles’ garment industry, employer to some 45,000 workers who have long suffered labor violations in what is the country’s largest fashion manufacturing center. According to Marissa Nuncio, the director of the Garment Worker Center, the average garment worker earns $5.85 an hour, a rate far below the California minimum wage of $14 or $15 an hour (depending on a firm’s number of employees).
The Garment Worker Protection Act, which went into effect January 1, will hold fashion brands accountable for wage theft and underpayment as well as the supplier factories they typically contract with. “We were able to pass the core provisions of the bill, which includes the elimination of the piece rate system, and we created upstream liability for unpaid wages, from the factory boss to fashion brands. This is the first legislation of its kind in the nation for the garment industry,” said Nuncio.
“[Fashion brands] have been left off the hook for unpaid wages, but they’re going to now be incentivized to monitor their supply chain to ensure there is enough cash flow. When a factory can’t comply, brands are going to be named and they...
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