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  1. #1
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    A welcome return to enforcing labor laws

    www.latimes.com

    A welcome return to enforcing labor laws
    Robert Scheer

    August 2, 2005

    Ten years ago this week, I was awakened by a phone tip that California labor department inspectors were about to free scores of Thai slave workers from a garment factory in El Monte.

    "Did you say slaves?" I asked my informant in disbelief, as I hurriedly dressed to go to the site. The Smithsonian Institution in 1998 made this case a part of its exhibit on U.S. sweatshops, calling it a low point in the sad history of U.S. exploitation of undocumented laborers.

    Some of the workers had been held prisoner for years in a housing complex crudely remade into a prison sweatshop. The more than 70 slaves were paid less than $2 per hour and never allowed to leave the compound, which was guarded around the clock and encircled by razor wire. They could only shop at a "company store" that sold them basic goods at grossly inflated prices. Montgomery Ward and Federated were among the chains that sold merchandise suspected of originating in the sweatshop.

    But for all the horror of the El Monte bust, there also was something terribly mundane about it. After all, the look of the sweatshop, in which cowed workers produced brand-name clothing under abysmal conditions for less than the minimum wage, was not all that much of a departure from the appalling conditions I had witnessed on dozens of other federal and state agency raids of California garment factories. These sweatshops invariably employed Asian and Latin American immigrants whose status as fugitive workers meant that, de facto, they did not enjoy the standard protections provided by labor, occupational safety and health laws.

    Although not slaves like the El Monte workers, these workers were desperate enough to be at the mercy of their employers, laboring for little pay in cramped, unhealthy workplaces. And as in El Monte, these workers usually arrived here in global human smuggling operations charging exorbitant fees that took years to pay off.

    Indeed, this week, the two California officials who led the El Monte raid a decade ago, Victoria Bradshaw and Jose Millan, will be marking the occasion by conducting raids throughout the state to enforce labor laws all too often ignored to increase profits. Depressingly, these raids are almost certain to unearth abysmal cases of degrading work sites, owed back wages, child labor and sub-minimum wages.

    A decade ago, before the El Monte raid, the state had launched a groundbreaking effort to hold employers accountable for working conditions in industries reliant on undocumented labor.

    At the time, Bradshaw, a former department store executive, held the appointed position of state labor commissioner under Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, and her top aide was a civil service lawyer, Millan, who had been raised in the barrios of East Los Angeles.

    Together, they fashioned a win-win program that stressed that workers, no matter their immigration status, were entitled to the protection of laws governing the workplace. Needing the workers as witnesses against lawbreaking bosses, they deliberately excluded Immigration and Naturalization Service agents from their raids, encouraging the workers to file complaints and serve as witnesses in hearings.

    This wildly successful approach, dubbed the Targeted Industries Partnership Program, sent a shock wave throughout California's garment and agricultural industries. One positive result was to help level the playing field for those employers who obeyed the law but saw their profit margins slashed by those competitors that did not.

    Despite the obvious benefits of this approach, it was not welcomed by other officials dealing with immigration on the federal level; the Department of Labor under President Clinton offered tepid support, at best. Worst of all, when Democrat Gray Davis replaced Wilson as governor, he basically whacked the program in a misguided attempt to please the business community. Workplace inspections fell to less than 100 a year for the entire state.

    Luckily, in one of his few sensible acts since being elected, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has resuscitated efforts to enforce California labor laws by bringing back Bradshaw and Millan â€â€
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  2. #2
    Senior Member greyparrot's Avatar
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    I am a little conflicted on this one. While I agree that employers hiring illegal aliens MUST be exposed (and harshly punished!), working only one side of this coin is NOT going to staunch the flow of invaders. The former employees, still here illegally, will simply seek & steal jobs elsewhere.

    How is this for a plan? Use the laws already on the books and take down the employers AND deport their illegal alien employees! This is the ONLY way to send a clear message to the guilty parties on either side of the border. Why does there always have to be a compromise when, in fact, both employer and employee are blatant theives.

    It is high time to start giving a hoot about the true VICTIMS of this despicable practice - law abiding U.S. citizens!

  3. #3
    Senior Member JohnB2012's Avatar
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    The illegal immigrant problem is too big to take care of it all in one big swoop. It is going to have to be done is steps. ICE appears to be attempting to focus on illegals that are violent criminals, gang members, drug dealers, etc. That's a good first step. Now it appears the labor enforcement in California is going to take some action against the employers of illegals. That's another good step. If the illegals can't find work, they will be discouraged from coming and some that are already hear may leave. I also don't have a problem with a handful of illegals getting some kind of amnesty for ratting out gang members or employers. But we don't need to give amnesty to the whole bunch.

    We still need to secure the borders more and remove some of the other incentives like the anchor baby policy and free education. Cities and counties that have the don't ask policy towards illegals need to do away with that immediately and start documenting illegal contacts. Once those numbers get public it will give more light onto the problem and more ammo to organizations like ALIPAC to use.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    NO AMNESTY!!

    Deport the illegal workers and Jail the Lawbreakers.

    Where are the FIRE MARSHALLS may I ask?

    Fire Marshalls are supposed to inspect every business establishment once a year without announcement. They are allowed free access with multiple persons to walk anywhere through your plant; investigate any fire hazard for unsafe condition and write it in a report. If they see an unsafe or illegal activity while on their tour, they are allowed to stop the operation, lock the doors and call in other branches of government to investigate what they have uncovered.

    BTW: Fire Marshalls DON'T NEED A WARRANT.

    FIRE MARSHALLS need to play a bigger role in plant inspections where illegals are involved. It would be easy to tell if the Fire Marshalls have been to El Monte recently.
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

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