ALBANY, N.Y. — Legislation intended to strengthen the authority of New York State labor officials to crack down on illegal sweatshops has passed both houses of the legislature.
The bill’s co-sponsor, state Sen. Serphin Maltese (R.-C., Queens), said there has been an “explosion” in the number of sweatshops in New York City.
Each “is a threat to the health and safety of the workers through its continuing violations of the child labor laws, minimum wage laws, OSHA regulations, and fire and building codes,” Maltese said. “This legislation would further empower the Department of Labor’s Apparel Industry Task Force to fulfill its obligation of enforcing compliance with New York State labor laws.”
The bill, also sponsored by Assemblyman William Colton (D., Brooklyn), would empower the labor commissioner to require manufacturers or businesses to pay a surety bond based on their record of labor law violations, guaranteeing that a worker’s back wages or a fine would be paid in an amount up to $2,500. It also would impose administrative penalties of as much as $250 for the first violation and $500 for each subsequent violation, with the penalties to be applied to the enforcement and administrative costs of the task force.
In addition, it would clarify that production employees are not manufacturers or contractors and that the term “contractor” includes a subcontractor, jobber and wholesaler.
The legislation now goes to Gov. George Pataki. The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Representatives of apparel industry workers and employers reacted to the legislation with caution. Mark Levinson, director of policy for UNITE HERE, a union that represents more than 450,000 workers, said the bill was “an important step in the right direction toward a more aggressive state role in monitoring and policing the apparel industry.”
“We’re frustrated in that the workers historically have not gotten very much from this kind of thing,” Levinson said. “We’re supportive of anything that is going to help workers get back wages and alleviate sweatshop conditions.”
Charles Wang, a consultant for the Greater Blouse, Skirt & Undergarment Association, a Manhattan-based contractor group, expressed concern over the bill’s possible repercussions on the apparel industry.
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“Ever since 9/11, our shops have faced a tremendous impact, negatively,” Wang said. “And so, a lot of work went overseas and we end up with whole factories of workers, of people who start moving to other industries. We’re having a very tough time.”
He estimated that 50,000 workers have left the apparel industry for higher-paying jobs, many in the home health care field, in the past two years.
“Our shops are getting more orders,” he said. “And now we need the employees, but we can’t find them.”
Wang said the extension of a quota on imports from China has increased demand for domestic-made garments.
“On the culpability of the retailers, the factory owners and the workers agree,” UNITE HERE’s Levinson said. “We blame the major retailers who are not paying a sufficient price for the garment.”