Textile and Garment

Low-wage workers in the garment industry, janitors without legal papers, temporary labor in the high-tech industry: the protagonists of a new wave of labor movement in California were long time considered as unorganizable. Now they lead a new generation of workers struggles which takes precariousness rather as a starting point than an obstacle for multiple ways of organizing -- no matter inside or outside of the unions.

GWC is a non-profit membership-based organization of garment workers. Our mission is to help garment workers to organize to end sweatshops created by the $30-billion California retail industry’s subcontracting system.

Los Angeles is on of the major immigrant metropolises in the US. Greater Los Angeles has about eight Million inhabitants. Two Million of them are undocumented immigrants. Two hours takes it to the border to Mexico and Spanish is almost the dominant language in the city. But you can find also huge communities of Chinese and Korean immigrants. For the police it is still not allowed to exchange data’s with the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service). The industry has a stake on cheap labor. Last but not least because of Hollywood and it’s fashions Los Angeles is still the apparel manufacturing center and a sweatshop-metropolis in the United States. Three years ago the garment worker center - based in down-town LA - was founded. Kimi Lee is on of the founders of the garment worker center talks about their work.