Clothing manufacturers concerned with California bill that threatens the relocation of work abroad

In summary

Pandemia brought some manufacturing work of clothing to the USA.UU., In particular to Los Angeles.But the preparation industry says that a bill aimed at protecting the salary of clothing workers could move the work abroad again.

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A bill that would have fundamentally changed the way they are paid to the workers of the preparation had enough votes to approve during the legislative session last year, their supporters say, but they ended their time during the frantic final hours of the session.

This year, the Protection of the Confection Worker has returned as the SB 62 law, and Senator María Elena Durazo, Democrat of Los Angeles and her sponsor, are on a tour of the entire south of California to obtain support beforethis year's session.

"I'm proud to be Californiana," he told an audience at Venice."One thing that I am not proud is the exploitation and theft of wages that is taking place in Los Angeles day after day".

But clothing manufacturers say the pandemic provided an unexpected blessing to their business in the USA.UU., An incipient success story in the midst of an economic calamity that is threatened by the bill, which creates new responsibilities throughout the California clothing supply chain, from factory subcontractors to retailers to retailers.

Supply chain interruption by a pandemic

"This pandemic has created an increase in businesses in the United States," said Scott Wilson, president of the manufacturer of organic garments in Los Angeles, Ustrive Manufacturing."The interruption of the global supply chain causes my phone to not stop sounding".

“We do not need anything at this time to hinder that, at all.This is a golden window.And I worry that this bill cuts the knees to the clothing industry here in southern California ".

The bill is not aimed at manufacturers such as USTRIVE.Instead, it is aimed at the clandestine clothing industry by forcing them to pay for hours.Workers of these stores and academics who study the clothing industry have told Calmatters that clandestine operations can move between buildings apparently overnight to avoid being detected.

While carrying clandestine operations, they can pay a rate as low as 12 cents per piece, which the defenders of the preparation workers say that it qualifies as the robbery of salary.

Manufacture of clothing in Los Angeles

Los Angeles is the center of clothing manufacturing;In fact, this year, an Vietnamese manufacturer of denim opened his store there.The SB 62 Law would eliminate the payment of the workers of the preparation per piece, unless they collectively bargain a rate per piece.It would also introduce the concept of brand responsibility in the clothing industry, its most controversial aspect.

The disposal of the brand guarantor would extend the responsibility for theft of wages of the factories themselves to the brands and retailers who sell the clothes, as well as the intermediate subcontractors.

Wilson pays most of their employees per hour, but three of the workers are paid per piece for the highest qualification work, and Wilson said they are their three best paid employees.

Opponents of the bill, headed by the Chamber of Commerce of California, have strongly opposed their element of responsibility.The lobby of the Chamber of Commerce, Jennifer Barrera, said that the existing law is strong enough to force clandestine manufacturers to correct their practices or close them, if the laws are fulfilled.

"If you are trying to reach the root of the problem, which are the clothing manufacturers themselves that are already violating the California law, that should simply be enforced from our perspective," said Barrera.

"But if you basically say, hey, anyone in the chain will now be responsible for violations, what incentive does that provide, or what effect does that have on clothing manufacturers to do the right thing?"

Durazo, the Los Angeles Democrat sponsored by the bill, said in an interview that manufacturers who do not violate the law still benefit from those who do it.

"At this time they are obtaining the total benefit of contractors who do not pay the minimum wage because they pay low prices for their clothes and do not want to lose that advantage," Durazo said.“If all this were legitimate, they could easily solve the problem.But at this time, they can control it, but they don't have to assume responsibility ".

RECOVERY WORK RECOGNITION

The concept of returning manufacturing to the United States is called relocation, an investment of the trend in the 1980s that sent the work of foreigner.

In general terms, the concept of returning manufacturing to the USA.UU.It is still a long bet.The relocation index of the leading firm in AT Kearney’s management consulting.His analysis found that more jobs were relocated in the second quarter of last year.That changed in the third quarter, sending more jobs to the United States.

But the net result remained negative.American manufacturing had a lower relocation index than at the beginning of 2020.That could be changing.A Kearney survey to 120 US manufacturers.UU.He found that more than 40% had brought the production from abroad to the USA.UU., And more than a fifth had plans to do so in the next three years.

In fact, after great retailers like JC Penny, Brooks Brothers, Pier 1 and Neiman Marcus declared bankruptcollapse of world supply chains.

Not all clothing manufacturers agree with the camera.A group of sustainable manufacturers wrote to the camera at the end of July, demanding that SB 62 be removed from their list of employment murderers.

"His designation of SB 62 as a 'job killer' is offensive since clothing manufacturers in Los Angeles lost their lives during COVID-19 precisely because the theft of endemic salary stole their savings and the security network necessary forstay at home and not work, ”he says in the letter.

The legislation for the protection of preparation workers also creates new responsibilities.

Producing garments in the United States is more expensive, although companies are generally not like American Apparel, which caught some criticisms of the US manufacturing industry.UU.for combining its ‘Made in America’ line with the same cheapest garments abroad.

Wilson said that the intensification of the application of the law by the office of the labor commissioner can counteract the worst actors, without responsible for the main retailers, or put them nervous.He said that the reason why retailers do business with clothing manufacturers in southern California is the speed and experience of their company's workers, everything but the price.

"When pressure is exerted on the existing price and no value is added, they simply continue to do so wherever they do it, as in Mexico, China or India or wherever Wilson said."So, ultimately, you will do more damage to my 200 employees".

This article is part of California Divide, a collaboration between writings that examines income inequality and economic survival in California.

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