30/08/2020
SB 1399 makes retailers accountable for garment worker pay - Los Angeles Times
But someone has to pay the real cost of those cheap clothes even if it’s not the American consumer, say labor
advocates — who point to the thousands of immigrant workers who can sometimes toil for far less than the minimum
wage in small Los Angeles apparel factories.
Now, those advocates are proposing the industry’s biggest reforms in a generation, legislation that would turn the
traditional pay structure on its head while holding online shops such as Fashion Nova and other retailers including
Nordstrom responsible for any wage theft that occurs in the making of their apparel.
“If your clothes are being produced in an unlawful condition, you are going to share responsibility, period,” said
Dana Hadl, a directing attorney at Bet Tzedek, a Los Angeles nonprofit that provides free legal counsel to workers
and drafted the legislation.
The bill, SB 1399, is so far-reaching that it’s being labeled by critics as an existential threat to what remains of the
region’s once-booming apparel industry, which has shrunk to roughly 45,000 workers after decades of competition
from cheap foreign labor. More than a dozen business groups have lined up against it, including the industry’s trade
association, the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Retailers Assn.
Opposition, though, is not uniform as some high-profile L.A.-area companies are backing the bill, including
Reformation, which markets eco-friendly women’s wear and has a celebrity clientele, and Fashion Nova, the popular
fast-fashion retailer, which has been accused of turning a blind eye to wage theft but recently announced changes to
its contracting practices.
Critics say SB 1399 is an existential threat to what remains of the region’s once booming apparel industry, which has shrunk to roughly 45,000 workers from a peak
of about 150,000. (Claire Hannah Collins / Los Angeles Times)
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-08-17/fashion-brands-garment-workers-sb1399-joint-liability-piece-rate
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