Monday through Saturday, garment workers in Los Angeles show up to rundown factories or old warehouses to produce clothes for some of the world's biggest fashion brands. They work in cramped and crowded rooms filled with roaches, rats or rat feces. Emergency exits are sometimes blocked, with some workers reporting being locked in the factory rooms when inspectors visit, especially during COVID-19 lockdown orders.
Sofia Garcia Palomares, 53, works in similar conditions for a boutique that sells handmade clothing. "They do not give us toilet paper or water, and we have to eat in a dirty dining room," Palomares said.
Despite working 10-hour days, many garment workers like Palomares made less than minimum wage, until now. Palomares explained that some days she would make $20 a day, and others $40.
But a new California state law, Senate Bill 62, the Garment Worker Protection Act, should bring wage consistency to Palomares and other workers, many of whom are Catholic.
The law moves to end piece-rate compensation, a practice that pays workers by piece produced rather than hourly wage. Piece-rate compensation can result in workers making as little as $5 an hour.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law — the first of its kind in the nation — earlier this fall.
"SB 62 was aimed to address one of the primary problems workers are facing everyday: wage theft. When workers are not paid correctly, their family suffers, they suffer," Marissa Nuncio, director of the Los Angeles-based...
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