Sweatshop warriors : immigrant women workers take on the global factory 0896086380, 0896086399

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Miriam Ching Yoon Louie

SWEATSHOP

JW y*

Immigrant Women Workers Take On The Global Factory

J Advance praise for Sweatshop Warriors Miriam Ching Louie's Sweatshop Warriors introduces us

who

refuse to accept their assigned place at the

to

women

bottom of the sweat-

shop pyramid. The Chinese, Korean and Mexican immigrant women,

whose testimonies

are included in this work,

have courageously chal-

lenged restaurant owners, contractors, corporations, governments and

Here

transnational anti-labor treaties.

the labor

movement and

for

all

of us

is

inspiration

who

and leadership for

seek creative ways of mount-

ing resistance to global capitalism.

—Angela

Y. Davis, author of Women, Race and Class

All the good-hearted liberals

who

trodden sweatshop workers must read fully

women

demonstrates, immigrant

and fighting back on the front

making

political

see themselves as saviors of this

lines

connections that

are just starting to think about.

down-

book. As Miriam Louie power-

themselves have been organizing

of the

class

war

many of today's

We need

against global capital,

traveling demonstrators

women. This is new labor move-

to listen to these

such a beautiful, moving book; the guiding

light for the

ment.

—Robin D. G.

Kelley, author of

Yo'Mamas

Fighting the Culture

There's no one blueprint for organizing

garment industry, but table.

this

book

Wars

DisFunktionalf:

in

Urban America

women workers in today's

puts polyvocal voices and plans

on

the

Organizers and academics interested in the power of labor orga-

nizing across relations of race, class, nation, and generation will find inspiration

and keen

insights in this book.

connects the threads and weaves

—

Pierrette

brilliant

Miriam Ching pathways to

Yoon

Louie

social justice.

Hondagneu-Sotelo, author of Domestical

Immigrant Workers Cleaning And Caring In The Shadows

OfAffluence

According to sion, there

is

popular

a

political saying,

"wherever there

resistance." In today's corporate-driven global

is

oppres-

economy

where sweatshops have become the norm rather than the exception, is

easy to focus only

on

the oppression. Long-time activist Miriam

Ching Louie's important book of resistance

who

in the U.S.

are tenaciously

Through

—

and

the stories of the frontline warriors

women

sweatshop laborers

creatively battling for justice

Korean and Latina immigrants

the lynchpins of the corporate

of union organizing class

tells

the immigrant

and

dignity.

the organizing vehicles of community-based workers' centers,

these Chinese,

dynamics in

ing for

it

—

as well as

their ethnic

community

economy but

are challenging not only

also the traditional

gender relations in

communities. This book

organizers, for labor activists,

model

their families is

and

essential read-

and for others

in-

volved in grassroots campaigns taking on corporate globalization.

— Glenn Omatsu, Associate

Editor, Amerasia Journal

A key weapon of the oppressor is to control the message — cover up the abuses, Luckily

silence the sorrows

and struggles of the oppressed.

we have Miriam Ching Yoon Louie

credible stories of these sweatshop warriors

to listen

—

a

and share the

women'

s

in-

movement

the mainstream media has too long ignored. In the process, Miriam

magnifies the

women's voices and

tion they challenge

shines a bright light

and the lessons they have

—

on

to teach us

the exploitaall.

Ellen Bravo, Co-Director, 9to5,

National Association of Working

Women

Sweatshop Warriors Immigrant

Women Workers

Take On the Global Factory

Miriam Ching Yoon Louie

South End Press Cambridge, Massachusetts

Copyright

Any

© 2001

by Miriam Ching

Yoon

Louie.

may be number of words quoted does

properly footnoted quotation of up to 500 sequential words

used without permission,

as

long as the

total

not exceed 2,000. For longer quotations or for a greater number of total words, please write to South

Cover

art:

End

Press for permission.

"El Lugar de

solidaridad intemacional/A

la

Una

mujer:

Woman's

International Solidarity," detail of mural

United

Electrical,

guerrillera

A

Place:

en

la

lucha para

byjuana

Alicia.

©2000. Created

for

Radio and Machine Workers, Local 506, Erie, PA. Photo by

Ed Bernik. Cover design by Ellen Shapiro. Text design and production by the South

End

Press collective.

Printed in Canada.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Louie, Miriam Ching Yoon.

Sweatshop Warriors immigrant women workers take on the global :

factory / p.

by Miriam Ching Yoon Louie.

cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0896086380

(pbk: alk. paper)

--

0896086399

Women alien labor—United States—Interviews. States.

Foreign trade and employment—United

(cloth: alk.

paper)

Sweatshops— United

States. International division

of labor. Globalization— Economic aspects.

HD6057.5.U5 L68 2001 331.4/086/24

—dc21

00-051577

South

End

la

Warrior in the Struggle for

Press, 7 Brookline Street, #1,

Cambridge,

www.southendpress.org 06 05 04 03 02

3 4 5 6

MA 02139-4146

Contents

Dedication

vi

Acknowledgments

vii

Introduction

Listening to the

Women

The Real Experts

1

Chapter 1

Up Half the Sky Chinese Immigrant Women Workers

Holding

19

Chapter 2 jLa Mujer Luchando, El Mundo Transformando! Mexican Immigrant Women Workers

63

Chapter 3

"Each Day

I

with A New Wound in My Heart" Women Workers 123

Go Home

Korean Immigrant Chapter 4

Extended Families

179

Chapter 5

Movement Roots

195

Chapter 6 "Just-in-Time" Guerrilla Warriors

215

Conclusion Returning to the Source

247

Bibliography

257

Index

295

About

the

Author

307

Dedication Fondly remembering

my immigrant grandmothers Ching Bok

See

and Agnes Oh Yoon

and mother Minnie "Min-Hee" Marguerite Yoon Ching

Cheers

to

my garment worker and organiser aunties Yang Ching and Virginia Ching Tong

Dedicated to feisty women worker warriors everywhere

Acknowledgments This book inspiration

is

from

community-sized

like a

several teams of sewers

quilt

—although

any errors and blemishes that appear in the

Thanks a

million! to the

who paused from

immigrant

whose designs drew

final

women

I

bear blame for

product.

worker organizers

work

to share kernels of their life experi-

ences: Elena Alvarez, Refugio

"Cuca" Arieta, Bo Yee, Viola Casares,

their

Chan Wai Fun, Jenny Chen, Rojana "Na" Cheunchujit, Choi Kee Young, Chu Mi Hee, Maria del Carmen Dominguez, Maria Antonia Flores, Remedios Garcia, Carmen Ibarra Lopez, Celeste Jimenez, Kim Chong Ok, Kim Seung Min, Oi Kwan "Annie" Lai, "Lisa," Lin Cai Fen, Lee Jung Hee, Lee Kyu Hee, Lee Yin Wah, Marta Martinez, Petra Mata, Ernestina V. Mendoza, Irma Montoya Barajas, Paek Young Hee, Kyung Park, Obdulia M. Segura, Lucrecia Tamayo, Helen Wong, Wu Wan Mei, Amy Xie, and Yu Sau Kwan. Special thanks also to "Smita" and "Renuka" from Workers Awazz, a domestic workers organization for South Asian immigrant

women

in

New York City, who also shared their stories, which need to be documented tural

in a future piece, as

Workers Union

does the work of the Border Agricul-

that organizes

farm workers in the

chili

You all are the salt of the earth and the spice of our lives. Please know that so many people hold you in the highest respect and

industry.

trust

your

intuition, analysis, faith, strength, labor,

and laughter

to

lead us forward.

Mil gracias! them, too.

to the

Many

views with the

women's co-organizers who

let

me

question

also did double duty as translators during inter-

women,

or housed and fed

vii

me when I was

far

from

Sweatshop Warriors

viii

home: Geri Almanza, Cindy Arnold, Chuan Chen, Vivian Chang, Pamela Chiang, Guillermo Domfnguez Glenn, Trinh Duong, Yrene Espinoza,

Ken Fong, Roy Hong, Kwong Hui, Helen Kim, Jennifer

Jihye Chun, Stacy Kono, Wing Lam, Paul Lee, JoAnn Lum, Chanchanit "Chancee" Martorell, Brenda Mata, Jungsuk Oh, Gin

Danny Park, K.S. Park, Suyapa Portillo, Cecilia Rodriguez, Suk Hee Ryu, Young Shin, Julia Song, Liz Sunwoo, Robert Thiem, Tommy Yee, and Young Im Yoo. Special thanks to Asian ImmiPang,

grant ting

Women Advocates

me

experience

down

the public.

I

of let-

privilege

workers organizing from the

inside,

moments before we put on our makeup,

including those intimate patted

and Fuerza Unida for the

women

our cowlicks, shed our slippers, and went out to face learned so

much from

all

of my

sisters

and brothers

in

the workers centers.

Doh jie!

to organizers

while hunkered

down

and

activist scholars that

movement

in other

Madeline Janis-Aparicio,

Aliani,

Nikki

shared views

trenches:

Fortunato

Shahbano

Edna

Bas,

Bonacich, Carol de Leon, John Delloro, Bea Tarn and Harvey

Dong, Bob

Fitch,

Lora Jo Foo,

Pam

Galpern, Peter

Kwong, Chavel

Lopez, Alicia and Carlos Marentes, Elizabeth "Betita" Martinez, Jay

Mendoza, Susan Mika, Marta Ojeda, Peter Olney, Edward Park, Maggie Poe, Ai-jen Poo, Cristina Riegos, Saskia Sassen, Ruben Sandra Spector, Cathi Tactaquin, Williams, and

Pam Tau

Bob Wing in the U.S. Thanks

transpacific sister

Lee,

also to the cross-border,

and brother organizers: Elizabeth "Bed" Robles

Ortega, Reyna Montero,

Carmen Valadez,

Beatriz Alfaro, Beatriz

Lujan Uranga, Mathilde Arteaga, Alberta "Bed" Caririo

Omar

Solis,

Mary Tong, Steve

Trujillo,

Esparza Zarate, Martin Barrios Hernandez, Conception

Hernandez Mendez, Father Anastacio "Tacho" Hidalgo Miramon, Jesus Granada, Hortensia Hernandez Mendoza, Artemio

Osuna

Myung Hee, Jin Yoon Hae Ryun, Cho Ailee, Masami Azu, May-an Misun Kim, Rex Varona, Apo Leong, Fely Villasin, and

Osuna, Lai Tong Chi, Linda To, Maria Rhee, Choi

Kyong

Park,

Villalba,

Cenen Bagon. Thanks for all your razor sharp insights and fantastic work. You do the global conspiracy of troublemakers proud. jKamsa hamnidal to the grrrlfriends

who

kept

me

going: to the

Acknowledgments

ix

of the Jamae Son I Sister Sound Korean women's drumming

cast

Chun, Sun —Ann Chun, Mimi Kim, Helen Kim, Lee, and Betty Song, Jung Hee Choi, Ju Hui Han, Hyung and kept beat jammin'. To Juana Hyun Lee—who crew

Jennifer Jihye

Sujin

Lee,

the

fed the spirit

Alicia, milago muralist

saucy strength.

and cover

To my

Linda Burnham of the

Women

Jenkins stationed Jo'Berg

down

your beautiful work and

artist for

World Women's

old Third

Alliance alums,

of Color Resource Center, Myesha

side,

and Letisha Wadsworth holding Brooklyn for your

child-care services in Bed-Stuy in

col-

ored-girls-go-international Triple-Jeopardy-eyed-view of race, class,

and gender and world

as

it

for

interviews with

making me laugh by loud

Thanks Ledsha,

turns.

New York

for housing

talking stuff about the

and feeding me during

Chinatown workers; Myesha, for

inter-

vening during moments of confusion; and especially Linda, for picking up

the slack and fighting those exhausting batdes so

all

take off

dme

I

could

to write.

Allpower! to

my editors, both in the formal and informal sectors jSalud! to the tag team at South End Press who

of the economy. patched

me

Lynn Lu

through:

for getdng the ball rolling, tails,

and

especially Loie

Jill

for your gentle support, Sonia

Shah

Petty for tracking those devilish de-

Hayes

for

jumping in and

skillfully steering

this

process through to completion. Ganbei/ Bottoms Up! to

mal

collective,

my infor-

my dear friends who multi-task as writers, editors, orand information junkies: Luz Guerra, Max

ganizers, translators,

Elbaum, Antonio Diaz, Arnoldo Garcia, Margo Okazawa-Rey, and

Glenn Omatsu, those

for your Buddha-like patience reading

bumpy lumpy

crystal clear

through

all

e-mailed manuscript drafts and returning with

comments on how

and strengthen

to better interpret

our movements. Finally, love you/ sarang hae/ ho sek neidei! to '

Book

Police,

AKA

hubby Lanyuen

Dinh, and son Lung San Louie,

my

family,

Belvin, daughter

as well as

my

sister

AKA

the

Nguyen Thi

Beth Ching and

her honey Antonio Diaz. Thanks for your unconditional love and faith that I

distracted

would get

this

book done

by other campaigns and

Nguyen, and Lung San

—

if I

would

just stop getting

projects. Big bear

hugs to Belvin,

for reading, edidng, giving honest liposuc-

Sweatshop Warriors

x

don

radical surgery feedback, or granting

permission to

chill

when

I

got too weary to proceed. For taking care of technical difficulties

and

logistical

nightmares. For reminding

—

basic beat, the kibon

make

it

tired to

the

women's

through the passing of our dear

walk picket

scans, fix graphics,

lines, fax blast

download web

me

stories.

to always return to the

For helping us Chings

mom. For

media

fact checks,

photo

video demos, brain-

storm and debrief actions, rant and rave about the the folks, and just take care of business.

never being too

releases, e-mail

rich,

hang with

Introduction

Listening to the

Women

The Real Experts Outtake #1: What 60 Minutes Cut In

December

1994, 12 Chinese seamstresses

sit

perched on the

edge of their seats in the workers' center that has become their sec-

ond home: Asian Immigrant Women Advocates'

in Oakland's Chi-

natown. Together with an estimated viewing audience of between 23 and 36 million people, these utes

women are about to watch a 60 Min-

segment on the garment industry's labor practices that

will in-

clude footage of correspondent Morley Safer interviewing them.

For over two

years, the

women have been fighting a bitter battle

with San Francisco garment manufacturer Jessica McClintock to

re-

When

60

coup unpaid wages and demand corporate

responsibility.

Minutes producers approached them for interviews, they had ago-

nized about whether to go on camera without the protection of

masks or blurred images. Being seen means running the and

ting fired

could

tell

their story

spoke directly to the American public. After

garment workers had

much

the camera

discussion, the

zooms in. They see them-

selves beginning to describe in their native tongues

how

shop boss threatened them and posted signs ordering,

the sweat-

"No

loud

"Do not go to the bathroom without permission." Of women understand what they are shown saying, but they

and

course the

of get-

finally agreed.

The seamstresses watch as

talking"

risk

The producers argued that the women most effectively if they showed their faces and

blacklisted.

Sweatshop Warriors

2

realize the

sounds mean nothing to millions of North American

words go untranslated

viewers. Their

drowns out the women's faces

declarations.

Morley

as

Safer's voice-over

60 Minutes has exposed

their

and silenced them.

The show

cuts to the white

charged for his subcontractor's

male sportswear manufacturer

failure to

pay back wages.

viewers that fashion designer Jessica McClintock

——

seamstresses' campaign for corporate responsibility

He

tells

focus of the "is a

hero to

1

The program's "objective reporting" diamong manufacturers, workers, and bargain

every small businessman." vides blame equally

shoppers.

After watching the program, the their sense

overcome

struggle to

of betrayal.

Outtake #2: Fighting

On July company

women

for a

Place at the Table

20, 1998, at corporate headquarters in

San Francisco,

executives from Levi Strauss and Co., comfortably attired

in casual wear,

sit

at a

corporate conference table across from repre-

of labor and human

sentatives

rights organizations.

The advocates

argue that Levi's should set a positive example by pledging to pay living

wages to the workers

who sew

its

products

at

home and on

their

a former Levi's seamstress enters the dialogue. Petra

Mata

abroad. Despite sharp differences, everyone appears to be best behavior.

Then

starts to explain

how

Levi's

employees are paid below

minimum

wage, showing copies of recent pay stubs to make her point.

company man

interrupts Mata, questioning the veracity of the check

stubs and dismissing her

agenda. His mocking sage that her English bly

know what

table, including

company,

she

is

comments

"They to

Casares

is

comments and body language convey the mesnot good enough and that she couldn't possitalking about.

None of the

other groups at the

those with histories of sharp disagreements with the

treat us like

do

as irrelevant to the meeting's

is

are subjected to such

enough

A white

is

to

shoddy treatment.

we're stupid,

sew

like the

-.

only thing we're good

for them," Viola Casares

later

1

declared.J

co-coordinator with Mata of Fuerza Unida, a fightback

Listening to the

Women

3

organization launched by laid-off Levi's workers in 1990

company Rica.

closed

down

its

when

the

San Antonio plant and moved to Costa

2

Path Breakers and Tree Shakers This book

dedicated to the immigrant

is

from board rooms where

are barred

up on cutting room

who

floors;

who

women

whose

deals get cut;

These

women

this nation's industries

work

stories

end

trail

blazers they

warriors have trekked across mountains,

and borders, cutting deep paths through the heart of

rivers, oceans,

ered

who

get punished for telling the truth;

are asked to speak only as victims, not as the

truly are.

workers

and inner

Tucked

cities.

inside their weath-

cooking

jeans, double-knit pants, cleaning uniforms,

aprons, and serving caps are continents and worlds of experience.

These

are the

women who sew

and clean up our messes. ties

our clothes; grow, cook, and serve

when we get sick; For those of us who come from communi-

our food; make our fancy

gadgets; care for us

little

of color and working-class

women with-

families, these are the

out whose labor, love, sweat, and tears

we would not even

exist

on

this planet.

Yet the powerful and the privileged often

these

stifle

women's

voices. Luckily for us, these workers are chiseling through thick

walls of censorship to

make themselves

heard.

themselves in workers' centers, creating their

They

are organizing

own groups when

the

community organizations that already exist fail to meet their needs. Contrary to conventional wisdom that leans heavily on white

labor or

and/or male academics, these

women

are the real experts about the

inner workings of the global eco nomy, labor markets grant communities

— speaking

shop indu^ tnTpyramid.

Th ey

to us

,

and immi-

from the bottom of the sweat-

stand steadfast as the

first line

of

whistle-blowers and flak-catchers against corporate greed, govern-

ment

negligence, and racial wrongs.

who knock down

— —

goodies rights

the

fruit,

They

serve as the tree shakers

the pinata busters

of economic democracy, gender

for

all

of

us.

They

who

break open the

justice,

are neither victims

and human

nor superwomen.

Sweatshop Warriors

4

These sweatshop warriors are simply everyday munities

who have much

Sweatshop Pyramid

to

women in

our com-

teach.

of Exploitation

The term "sweatshop" was revolution in

and

tell

initially

coined during the industrial

the 1880s and 1890s to describe the subcontracting

system of labor. The sweatshops that served larger companies were run by middlemen

who expanded

or contracted their labor forces

depending on the success or

failure

The middlemen's

tied to the

profits

were

"sweat" out of their workers

dren

—through low wages,

tions.

of different clothing fashions.

amount of labor they could

—most

women

often

and

chil-

excessive hours, and unsanitary condi-

This system led to such industrial accidents as the 1911

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that claimed the lives of nearly 150

young women. 3

The US Government Accounting

Office defines poor working

conditions as the hallmark of a sweatshop, specifically "an employer that violates

more than one

federal or state labor, industrial

home-

work, occupational safety and health, workers' compensation, or dustry registration law."

4

According to the

in-

US Department

of

Labor, more than half oi the estimated 22,000 garment shops in the

United States jobs

—

—where many immigrant women

first

US

bottom of a pyramid of labor

ex-

violate multiple wage, hour,

Sweatshop workers ploitation

the

toil at

find their

and safety laws.

5

and proflrgeneration. Workers' immediate bosses are

own

subcontractors, often

men

and

top of the pyramid over the subcontractors

who tors

retailers sit at the

act as buffers,

of

their

shock absorbers, and

compete with each other

are generally not paid until the

to

ethnicity.

shields.

Manufacturers

The subcontrac-

win bids from manufacturers and

work they have been contracted

for

is

completed and accepted. Like the 19th-century sweatshop middle-

men, many of today's subcontractors survive the competition by "sweating" their workers out of wage, hour, benefits, and safety rights. Sitting at the

top of the industry pyramid, large manufactur-

ing corporations design products and services, set find buyers

and

retailers to distribute their

retail prices,

products.

6

and

Retailers, like

Listening to the

Women

5

Wal-Mart, Federated Department Stores, Stores,

Inc.,

May Department

Dayton-Hudson, K-Mart, and Nordstrom buy goods from

manufacturers and other wholesalers and

double or more what they paid.

Many

them

sell

to

customers

have merged into

retailers

at gi-

ant conglomerates that increasingly participate in the industry both

and working

horizontally and vertically, thus determining wages

conditions of workers at the bottom of the pyramid.

The

7

subcontracting system allows manufacturers and retailers

to slash the cost of labor

not manufacturers, are tions in their shops

and

facilities,

and

—

since subcontractors,

legally responsible for

any labor law viola-

—

leave subcontractors with the

burden of en-

suring decent working conditions. Manufacturers and retailers reap

huge benefits from the sweatshop system. Garment workers

in Los]

Angeles, for example, each produce about $100,000 worth of goods\ a year, but are paid less than 2 percent of the total value.

For a dress

that retails for $100, $1.72 goes to the sewer, $15 to the contractorj

and $50 goes

to the manufacturer.

8

Subcontracting Becomes the Standard While

particularly glaring in the

garment industry, sweating

workers through subcontracting has emerged

as standard operating

procedure in industries across the board resulting in massive wage

and benefit cuts on one end and unparalleled accumulation of profits

at the other.

Employers

utilize

these

methods of control not only

in globalized indus tries , like garment, electronics, toy, shoe, plastics,

and auto lik e

parts,

but also in the non-globalized locally-based sectors

the hea]th carp, fond processing, restaurant, hotel, custodial,

construction, landscaping, information processing, clerical, cus-

tomer

service,

and other

merly employed their

many

industries.

own

9

For example,

universities for-

cooks, janitors, and gardeners.

schools subcontract these services.

The workers do

the

Now same

work, or more, but for lower pay and fewer benefits, while the university gets to redirect their spending, in salaries for chief administrators.

icy Studies try

and United

for a Fair

some

cases,

toward higher

According

to the Institute for Pol-

Economy,

CEO pay across indus-

and service sectors jumped 535 percent

in

the

1990s, far

Sweatshop Warriors

6

outstripping growth in the stock market (297 percent), and dwarfing the 32 percent

growth

tion (27.5 percent). In

in

worker pay, which barely outpaced

1960 CEOs made

infla-

41 times their average em-

ployee's wage; in 1990, 85 times; but in 1999, the gap skyrocketed to

475 times.

Not

10

surprisingly, the

exploitation that the tion

and

rise as a

turing of the

US

global

reemergence of the sweatshop pyramid of witnessed during

first

power

US economy

in

its

industrial revolu-

also coincides with a massive restruc-

its

domestic and overseas operations.

The sweatshop pyramid has been exported

internationally

bottom

suscitated domestically, globalizing the

and

re-

of workers,

strata

the buffer level of subcontractors, and the elite core of G-7-based

transnational corporations.

11

Globalization of sweatshop production I

a broader

program of global economic

this effort is to

is

but one aspect within

restructuring.

The

goal o

open new markets and whole new economies

I

to the

world market and corporate investors. This usually involves

IMF/World Bank mandates slashing wages, publicly

for cutting

government spending on

and nutrition programs; freezing and

health, housing, education,

and suppressing workers'

owned property and assets

rights to organize; selling

to private interests; giving tax in-

centives and other forms of government "welfare" to corporations

and the wealthy; removing government regulations and

on corporations; devaluing currency so less

and foreign

population and away from the

tration

become

would be

and promotion of neoconservative

that funnel anger at those in the

ization has

that local people could

interests with stronger currencies

tracted to invest more;

restrictions

most marginalized 12

elite.

The domestic

increasingly obvious since the

began by busting the

air traffic controllers

buy at-

politics

sectors of the face

of global-

Reagan adminis-

union, trashing the

poor, and once again making the United States safe for the Robber

Barons.

AwThe global sweatshop pyramid of exploitation comes clothed in the specific gender, race, class, and national garments of its workers,

subcontractors,

and

13

elite.

As

sociologist

Fernandez-Kelly has astutely observed:

Maria

Patricia

Listening to the

Capitalism benefits from the exceptional.

may be viewed

wage-earners

Women

7

As long

as

women's

as the exception rather

(even in situations where large numbers of women

of the home)

women will

continue to be

criminatory policies in wages.

The sweatshop system "different,"

—

all

dis-

certain

of the population into

strata

more

privileged buffer posi-

to the benefit of the super-privileged minority sitting at

the top of the

workers'

outside

and

[emphasis added]

super-exploited positions and others to tions

work

liable to sexist

takes advantage of the "exceptional," the

relegate

to

14

role as

than the rule

power pyramid. Asian and Latina immigrant women

map

stories

life

the exploitation of these differences within

the global sweatshop economy.

Methodology: Calling on Family and Community Networks This book shines a spotlight on grassroots immigrant women as agents of change, and argues that they are, indeed, the very heartbeat

of the labor and anti-sweatshop movements. By highlighting the experiences of

women on whose

been erected, these activists

on

stories

backs sweatshop industries have

can narrow the divide between grassroots

one hand and scholars on the

the

confront similar dilemmas in other

may

other. Readers

this slice

hope

that

this bit

of their

activist heritage

and use

and kindred movements.

The primary source nese, Korean,

I

of Asian and Latina/o movement history,

our young bloods can claim to advance these

who

and ethnic communities

find helpful problem-solving approaches. Finally,

by documenting

it

racial

material for this

book

is

interviews of Chi-

and Mexicana immigrant women leaders active

independent community-based workers' centers

—Chinese

in five

Staff

New York City; La Mujer Obrera in El Paso, Texas; Asian Immigrant Women Advocates in Oakland, Caliand Workers Association

fornia;

in

Fuerza Unida in San Antonio, Texas; and Korean Immigrant

Workers Advocates

Los Angeles,

in

California.

Chinese and Korean women because of my

which gives me in these

a bit

of

communities.

I

familiarity

I

chose to focus on

own ethnic background,

and connection with the

also included the stories

of Mexican

because they often constitute the majority of immigrant

women women women

Sweatshop Warriors

8

working

sweatshop industries

in

in California,

throughout the Southwest, and Mexican organizations to the Chinese and

ter

tions.

While

I

I live,

and sis-

Korean women's organiza-

only had the resources to focus on these three ethnic

groups in a few of a larger

where

women have launched

these

cities,

movement

many different ethnicities, and the world.

I

and

mediums

artists in all

women and

that includes

located in

their organizations are part

women

immigrant

workers of

many different parts of the US,

strongly urge organizers, writers, videographers,

women in

to take the time to encourage

worker and

many emerging communities to share and document their stories and movement histories, too. Over hearty helpings of home madt guisado [stew], green tacos,

grassroots

the

sopa de polio [chicken soup],

hamhung naengmyun [cold spicy noodles],

deep

fried flounders, chiles en mole [chilies in sauce],

fish,

kimchee

[hot

vegetable pickle],

greens], steaming bowls

[hollow-stemmed

choy

of rice and baskets of tortillas,

words of wonderful

the

tong

steamed salted

women whom

I

I

listened to

and many people

in this

world dearly love and admire. The interviews were principally conducted between 1997 and 2000, camped out

at

movement

offices,

sandwiched between pickets and workshops, while driving across the state to demonstrations, leafleting at factory gates, and fighting

with government

officials.

In addition to those

women who had immigrated as adults, I women who had immigrated as

spoke with Asian and Latina

also

children with their families (what the

Korean-American community

refers to as "1.5 generation" immigrants), with

who

US-born organizers

represented the "second" and "third" generations of immi-

members of similar Thai Community Development

grant families, as well as with

organizations in-

cluding

Center,

the

Pilipino

Workers Center, and the Domestic Workers Project of the Coalition for

Humane Immigrant

tino

Rights of Los Angeles, California; the La-

Workers Center and Workers Awaaz

Southwest Public Workers Union

in

Border Agricultural Workers Union referred

me

knew and

New

York

City; the

San Antonio, Texas; and the in El Paso, Texas. Organizers

movement activists, writers, and scholars they for more information. The material in this book

to other

respected

in

Listening to the

is

of the iceberg

just the tip

today could

fill

many

—

Women

9

the organizing in communities of color

bookshelves.

This book also draws on analyses of migrant and ers' centers in the

workers in

movements

this

women's home

countries.

women workwomen

Immigrant

country depend upon these cousin

for analyses of conditions

(if

not

sister)

on the ground back home.

I

met a number of these organizers at the 1995 United Nations 4th World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China; at a 1996 conference of migrant worker organizations held in Seoul, Korea; and at a 1998

work

meeting of workers' center

for

affiliates

Environmental and Economic Justice held in Tijuana,

Mexico. At these and other gatherings, the

of the Southwest Net-

Korean

Women

I

members of

interviewed

Workers Associations United

(Seoul, Korea),

Hong Kong Women Workers Association (Hong Kong), Asian Migrant Centre

(Hong Kong), Casa de

ico),

la

Mujer Factor

Paz/SEDEPAC

X

(Tijuana,

(Coahuila,

Mex-

Frente Autentico del Trabajo (Juarez and Mexico City,

Mex-

Mexico), Servicio, Desarrollo y

and Comision de

ico),

las

Mujeres of the Comite de

Apoyo

Fronterizo Obrero Regional (Maclovio Rojas, Mexico). I

got away with pestering

members of busy organizations this movement. For over three

cause

I

have also clocked time in

cades

I

worked

in various Asian

of color, and Third World stint at first

Asian Immigrant

community, student, labor,

solidarity organizations. I

de-

women

began a 12-year

Women Advocates when the organization

opened its doors on November

Latina/o and Asian

be-

1,

1983.

community activists

Along with many other

in the late 1990s, I joined in

supporting the San Antonio, Texas, fightback organization Fuerza

Unida in its campaign against year and a half assisting the

Like so activists,

many

Levi's

dumping of workers, spending a

women with

media work.

other Asian and Latina/o labor and

my vantage point stems

from the

fact that

community members of my

family earned their livings in garment, restaurant, agricultural, and

other low-wage jobs.

My

Chinese immigrant paternal

Ching Bok See peeled onions and shelled shrimp one of her daughters sewed square-dance

Grandma

for restaurants

and

up

her

outfits

until

mid-70s for a San Francisco South of Market company owned by a

10

Sweatshop Warriors

Lebanese immigrant

words

Spanish

jAndakr

—

family.

— such

and

me

Auntie King understands some order

since the majority of

sewed were Chinese and sister,

My the

as

speed

to

women

in the

Latinas. (She used to

petticoats with leftover lace

shop where she

from work.)

My Auntie

and

assistant to

male organizer for the International Ladies Garment

Workers Union and assistant.

Yoon

"jAndale!

make our cousins, my

Virginia did a stint as a Chinese language interpreter a Jewish

up,

My

raised

later as a bilingual

elementary school teacher's

Korean immigrant maternal grandmother Agnes

1 1

children and

Oh

worked alongside my grandfather who

served as a minister, farmer, and

member of the Korean

exile inde-

pendence movement against Japanese colonialism. Before getting married,

my

mother worked

at a variety

of

sales

jobs and as a coat-checker at Forbidden City, the Chinese-owned

nightclub in San Francisco.

marrying, (at

Mom raised us

Dad worked

five kids while

as a kitchen helper. After

Dad worked

a triple-shift

and

a naval shipyard, as a cashier at a Chinese liquor store,

attendant at a Chinese gas station) so jects.

Years

later,

my

we

could

as

move out of the

an

pro-

children's elementary school friends sported

the eclectic, bright patterned pants that their mothers and aunts

sewed for them with

fabrics left over

from

their jobs in the

garment

industry.

Book Organization

C hapter On e examines the experiences of Chinese immigrant women garment and restaurant workers in New York a nd Oakland, followed by in-depth testimony from leaders of the Garment

Workers Justice Campaign of Asian Immigrant and the "Ain't

I

A

Women Advocates

Woman?!" Campaign of Chinese

Staff and

Workers Association. Chajp_ter__Twa focuses on the stories of Mexicana immigrant seamstresses in El Paso, San Antonio, and Los Angeles.

It is

followed by testimony from leaders of La Mujer

Obrera's struggle against

NAFTA-induced

layoffs

and Fuerza

Unida's fight for corporate accountability from Levi's.

T hree

examines the experiences of Korean immigrant

Chap ter

women

res-

taurant workers in Los Angeles' Koreatown, followed by testimony

Listening to the

Women

11

from leaders of Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates' Workers Organizing Project for industry-wide change within the ethnic enclave.

Chapter Four describes the relationship between immigrant

women

workers and

their

third generation activists

"extended family" of

who

and the fusion process between these two different building the

movement.

second, and

1.5,

have been attracted to their struggles

It also

sets

of people in

introduces the five workers' centers

and some of their main accomplishments. Chapter Five focuses on the development of the

women's

organizations. It examines

how vi-

brant independent workers' centers and

movements emerged

sponse to the global sweatshop pyramid.

It profiles

in re-

several examples

of the innovative organizing methodologies and campaigns of the workers' centers.

Chapter Six analyzes the role of the women's organizations

as

innovators within the broader labor and anti-sweatshop move-

ments, followed by an interview with a leader of the joint Thai

munity Development Center, Asian

Pacific

Com-

American Legal Center,

and Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates campaign

in defense

of

incarcerated Thai garment workers in El Monte. Finally, a brief conclusion summarizes the lessons to be learned from these

women and

their organizing.

Connecting Threads Five main themes surfaced in the women's stories. First, the

women worked

in their

homelands, within economies that have

been increasingly integrated into the global sweatshop. As teenagers

many of the women

served as the Asian and Latin American coun-

of the 19th-century factory

terparts

girls

who spun

the industrial

revolutions inside the former colonial powers. Before them, their

mothers and grandmothers labored tive

American

women

as the counterparts

of the Na-

before they were brutally driven from their

lands and the enslaved African and indentured Latina and Asian im-

migrant

women workers on

workers.

plantations and farms, and as domestic

Though barred from

campesinas/os,

factory jobs, these slaves, coolies,

[farmworkers] and

braceros [laborers]

grew the cash

Sweatshop Warriors

12

crops and birthed generations of workers whose labors financed the industrial revolutions. tion,

and

in

odd

Working

in the global

sweatshop and planta-

economy, these golden skinned

jobs in the informal

how

daughters of former colonial subjects described

on

serve as the foot soldiers

opment,

industrialization,

disproportionately high

march

to national

and globalization. In the new era of glob-

World

Third

alization,

the

came to economic devel-

feminist

scholars

women

As

"We

the anti-racist immigrant rights

are here because

from regions

that

labor import, and

13

and to the US, the country whose

dominance has so deeply influenced the lands.

the

in the global

migrated to urban centers inside their rap-

idly industrializing countries,

it,

dubbed

numbers of women working

sweatshop since the 1960s, "feminization of labor." Second, the

they

you were

destinies

of

their

home-

movement in England puts 16 The women all came

there."

have long been the target of US

whose economies

are

capital export

more and more

ven together through global sweatshop production, and labor markets. While they face

and

racist

tightly

and

wo-

distribution,

nativist backlash as

new immigrants, the women often traced their roots back to family members who had migrated to the US during and before the great waves of immigration from Europe beckoned by post-Civil War industrialization and expansionism. The women talked about their decisions to migrate as part

of family

strategies to

improve economic

and educational options. In other cases the women reported coming without family approval, and in times of crisis, without connections

and

ties to

ease their journeys.

They

in turn

have become the nuclei

of new migration chains of workers. International feminist

have dubbed

this rise in

women's labor

South, "feminization of migration."

Third, the

activists

migration from the global

17

women worked in the sweatshop segments

of the

US

labor market. Entering and transforming the historically segregated

US

workforce, the

women

generated

new

capital for corporations,

developers, and ethnic entrepreneurs, revitalized inner city economies, and sustained immigrant communities during a period of eco-

nomic friends,

They and community

instability.

talked about

how

contacts helped

networks of family,

them

set foot

on now

Women

Listening to the

how

well-worn paths to sweatshop jobs,

and struggled

They

also

to adjust to their

noted

their co-workers.

orated over the

longer

fits,

new

lives

last

they "learned the ropes,"

and work environments.

and immigration patterns of

shifts in the origins

They

13

how working conditions had deteri-

detailed

decade, with falling wages, loss of health bene-

work weeks, speedups, and massive

layoffs.

Many

expressed great fear about the future fate of their families and communities given industry changes coupled with growing hostility, hatred,

and backlash against them

The women had in the

"back of the house,"

immigrants and people of color.

as

a lot to say about

what goes on "behind the

at the

label,"

bottom of the "high fashion,"

"high tech" economy. Labor, feminist, race, and immigration schol-

market within which the

ars call the stratified job

women work,

the

"segmented labor market." 18 Fourth, the

women

chronicled the painful yet liberating process

through which they changed from being sweatshop industry workers to sweatshop warriors.

They transformed from women

the subcontractors and

where they

fit

to

elites

women who

into the "big picture."

They

and

[women

selves, their co-workers,

picture as they began to

comadres

dream and

talk to

exploited by

clearly

understood

started painting

them-

friends] into that big

each other about the

way

that they themselves

wanted

and, yes, paid for

the sweat, blood, and tears they had shed while

squeezed their

all

to

be seen, heard, understood, respected,

down at the bottom of the pyramid. And in standing up for basic human rights, the women confronted entrenched re-

most

class,

gender, race, and national privilege not only within

their industries,

but also within their families and communities, in-

lations

of

cluding within what sociologists have called "ethnic enclaves."

By

the very act of speaking their minds, these

have challenged multiple

layers

from corporate boardrooms

women

of oppression stretching

to labor

union

halls,

all

19

workers the

media

way

outlets,

churches, community gatherings, and the cramped living spaces of their

homes

inside inner-city barrios

sample makers

who

figure out

of a garment, then teach these sweatshop

this

and ghettos. Like the

skilled

how to design, cut, and sew the pieces process to their fellow seamstresses,

warriors are helping their co-workers,

extended

Sweatshop Warriors

14

and communities see where

families, ture,

and

how they

they, too,

fit

into the big pic-

can work together to liberate themselves as well.

Feminist organizers in the South and in the South within the North call this

women's

community

to

"triple shift"

challenge

of labor in the workplace, family, and

"multiple

oppressions" and serve as

"bridge people" within and between grassroots

movements

for jus-

20 rice.

Fifth, the

them

to

both

new ways

helped build workers' centers that enabled

resist the

oppressions they face and begin to fashion

work,

to

tured in this

women

live, think,

and

create.

The workers'

centers fea-

book are independent groups where workers gather and

organize themselves to carry out their fights and meet their needs.

Continuous industry restructuring requires the workers movement to develop strategies, tactics, methodologies,

and organizational

forms appropriate to specific niches of workers in the new econ-

omy. The groups emerged because the existing labor movement was not addressing the needs of these workers. The workers' centers served as vehicles through which the rights

how

their bare

hands to

for justice. Particularly as

fortify

themselves in their

immigrant women, they talked

how useful these organizations were in helping them

what was being

women

they either went to existing workers' centers or

formed them with about

could fight for their

from the bottom of the sweatshop pyramid. The

talked about

fights

women

said to

them and what they wanted

primarily English-speaking,

US

institutional,

and

translate

to say within the cultural environ-

ment.

These women eventually went on

to serve as the leadership core

of industry-wide campaigns that reached out to their peers working in

other sweatshops. They spoke of the mutual relationship between

their

own individual risk-taking and the forward motion of organiza-

tions that

backed them. The organizations themselves were trans-

formed through the women's participation and

women other

also

spoke of

unmet needs

how

leadership.

the centers reached out to

in their lives

—

to learn English, to

Many

them to fill become en-

franchised citizens, to break their isolation, to get out from under the

thumb of domineering

partners, to give themselves space out-

Listening to the

side the

sweatshop grind, and to

themselves as

fuller

human

Fusion and Innovation

first

organizers

15

freedom of remaking

taste the

beings.

in

Workers' Centers

These workers' centers featured between

Women

in this

book represent

generation low- waged immigrant

a fusion

women workers and

who are often their children, grandchildren and extended The immigrants'

family members.

working and middle

class

co-organizers

came from both

backgrounds and joined the immigrant

workers in building movements that fought for the rights of those

on

the

bottom of overlapping pyramids of oppression.

The

older organizers were often radicalized during an earlier

stage of the global birth of the Asian

economic

restructuring,

and Latina/o

radical

which precipitated the

movements of the 1960s and

1970s, linked to and cross fertilized by the

civil rights,

Native American sovereignty, labor, women's,

Black power,

lesbian and gay,

and other movements of the period. The organizations

anti-war,

have been joined by new generations of labor and student

From

creative organizing ries

radicals.

the 1980s to the present the workers' centers have pioneered

campaigns and scored precedent setting victo-

The workers'

during a period of ferocious attack.

centers have

often played the role of small innovators within the broader labor

and anti-sweatshop movements.

As immigrant women workers on

the

bottom of the industry

pyramid have begun to organize themselves, and create

own

their

workers' centers, they have shaken up the whole structure above

them. The Chinese immigrant garment workers that appeared on 60 Minutes were shocked, then angered to find that the style of dress

would have

they each.

collectively

The Mexicana and Chicana workers

Levi's corporate headquarters laid

them

took

been paid $5 for

off,

then enraged

their jobs to

work what cilitated

by

had

when

first

retailed for

made

their

they found out that the

Costa Rica and paid workers there for a

a free trade initiative

women workers

$175

way

into

been devastated when Levi's

the San Antonio workers had

these immigrant

that

—

made

funded by

in half

US

company full

an hour

taxpayers.

day's

—

fa-

When

were confronted with the big

pic-

Sweatshop Warriors

16

ture

of sweatshop exploitation, to paraphrase labor agitator Mother

Jones, they didn't just get

mad

—

they got organized.

women's words, please remember that they are maddeningly modest about the myriad contributions and sacrifices they've made to build this movement. They are more willing to

As you

build

up

read these

their comadres

and organizations than claim bragging

rights

for themselves. They tend to focus on what they've gotten from the movement more than what they've given. And once again, they've

put themselves on the

Thus, in some cases

line, this

I

time by telling their stories in public.

have used pseudonyms and omitted certain

pieces of identifying personal information.

wonderful

women

for sharing their

While immigrant spired this book, in histories

fact, I

workers and

no way does

of the organizations

one colored In

women

girl's hit

it

it

deeply thank these

their organizations in-

represent the official positions or

book represents just sector of the movement.

chronicles. This

on happenings

find myself chuckling

I

wisdom.

in this

now in

anticipation of the criticisms

certain compasl tong %hir/ dongji'/homies are sure to '

was

said or not said in this book.

discussion and debate that

my daughter Nguyen

But

this is all part

make about what of the process of

comes with development and growth. As

says, "It's all

good."

Notes to Listening to the

1

60

2

Kever, 1990.

3

Sweatshop Watch,

4 5

US Government Accounting

Women

17

Minutes, 1994.

1

997; and

US Government Accounting Office,

1

988:1

1

Office, 1988:17.

Yeh and McMurry, 1996:1/Z5.

6

Chin,

7

See

1

989:A1 0; and Bonacich and Appelbaum, 2000.

and Appelbaum,

Bonacich

2000:80-103

for

an

analysis

of the

inflation.

"Stock

restructuring of the retail industry.

8

Wypijewski, 1994:471-472.

9

Landler,2001.

10

Anderson, et al., 2000:3-4. Figures are not adjusted for market" refers to Standard and Poor 500.

11

G-7 stands United

12

for

States,

Group of Seven

Germany, France,

Italy,

—

the United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan.

countries

Louie and Burnham, 2000:48; Martinez and Garcia, 1997:4; Sparr, 1994; Vickers, 1991; and Suarez Aguilar, 1996.

13

Back

in the late 1960s, the

internationalist

women

Third World

Women's

Alliance, a

of color organization, began to

US-based

describe

the

intersection of race, sex, and class, as "triple jeopardy" (Beal, 1970). Veteran

of the Combahee River Collective, a counterpart Black lesbian feminist group, and social welfare professor Margo Okazawa-Rey nation, class

—

—

calls

gender, race,

as well as sexuality, dis/ability, ethnicity, language, age, religion,

of oppression and resistance" (Combahee River Okazawa-Rey, August 2000). See forthcoming alternative report on the status of US women of color to the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism edited by the Women of Color Resource Center. etc.

the

"matrix

Collective, 1983;

14 15

16

Fernandez-Kelly, 1983:90. for Asian Women, 1995a; Fernandez-Kelly, 1983; Vickers, 1991; Lourdes Arizipe, 1981:453-473; Lim, 1983:76-79; and Beneria, 1994:49-76. For more on women's labor in free trade zones and the global sweatshop industries, see Asia Monitor Resource Center, 1998; Fuentes and Ehrenreich, 1984; Southeast Asia Chronicle and Pacific Studies Center, 1978 and 1979); Nash and Fernandez-Kelly, 1983; Nash and Safa, 1985; Boserup, 1970; De la O and Gonzalez, 1994; Enloe, 1989:151-176; and Mitter, 1986.

Committee

This slogan appeared on

a picket sign at

an immigrant rights

rally

of South

Asian and Caribbean protesters during the 1980s.

17

See for example Villalba, 1996; Hondagneu-Sotelo, 1994; Kyeyoung Park, 1997;

Sharon M.

Lee,

1996:1-22;

Grace Chang, 2000:129; Conover,

1997:124-132; Stalker, 1994; Asian Migrant Centre, 1996b and 1998; Daniel Lee, 1991; Sturdevant and Stoltzfus, 1992; China Labour Education and

Information Centre, 1995; and Huang, 1997.

18

For more on the impact of gender and race on labor market segmentation, see Amott and Matthaei, 1996:317-354. Additionally, a significant portion of African-American, Chicana, Puerto Rican, and Native American women did

Sweatshop Warriors

18

move "up the ladder" into better jobs, but were instead squeezed out altogether by deindustrialization and cuts in social welfare programs. During the 1980s for the first time in US history, the labor force participation rates of African-American and white women began to merge. not make the

The

closing of the gap between Black and white

women's labor

growing sections of white means that Black working class

participation rates indicates not only that

force

women women

working outside the home; it also the cracks. See Burnham, 1989. The Clinton falling through administration's 1996 welfare "reform" legislation and other state programs are pushing African-American, Latina, Asian, and white women to take workfare jobs as non-unionized minimum and sub-minimum wage workers with little in the way of childcare, nutrition, housing, or health assistance to support this move. See Burnham and Gustafson, 2000. are

are

19 20

Light and Bonacich, 1988;

Kwong,

Peter, 1987

Latin American feminists discussed the

"triple

and 1997; Mar, 1991. Jornada," or triple shift, of

women's work during the 1980s when international financial institutions imposed structural adjustment programs on Third World nations besieged by rising debts to First World nations. The unpaid work of poor women increased as they were forced to shoulder the costs of cuts in wages and social subsidies.

Thanks

to

Luz Guerra

for bringing this term to

my

attention.

For

examples of organizing around issues of multiple oppression, see for

example Jeopardy.

issues

of the Third

\X orld

Women's

See also Moraga and Anzaldua, 1981.

Alliance newspaper, Triple

Chapter One

Holding Up Half the Sky Chinese Immigrant

Women Workers

Sandwiched between produce shops overflowing with honey and tong choy in

tangerines, fuzzy melons, string beans, ginger,

New York Staff and

papers,

Chinatown, a small grubby sign reads "Chinese

City's

Workers Association" (CSWA). Inside and

leaflets,

picket

signs;

are stacks

overflowing

file

of newscabinets;

ever-ringing telephones; the staccato of Cantonese conversation; the smell of take-out food; and constantly replenished cups of

steaming hong cha [red/black

tea].

This storefront could just as well

be in San Francisco, Penang, Singapore, Saigon, or anywhere that Chinese workers gather to

A woman

talk, eat,

and organize for

drops by to volunteer. She

one-name pseudonym, Cher or Madonna

their rights.

insists

"Lisa," laughing when teasingly

for her choice. She's taking

on using

a

compared

to

no chances

since she

and co-workers were blacklisted for demanding overtime pay and shorter hours. Although in 1995 the

Department of Labor penalized

Streetbeat Sportswear, a subcontractor for Sears, for

nonpayment of wages and

violations of

overtime laws, their workers continued to

hours a week, for

less

Roebuck and

Co.,

minimum wage and

toil for

over one hundred

than $2 an hour. Lisa and her co-workers suf-

fered various injuries and constant fatigue. "I got x-rays taken and

shows

that the [back]

bone

is

kind of bent. If I

19

sit

or

work too

it

long,

Sweatshop Warriors

20

my back just can't take it anymore. That's why I need to rest a little," Lisa explains, shifting in discomfort.

Lisa and her co-workers joined with

CSWA and the worker-stu-

dent-youth alliance National Mobilization Against Sweatshops

(NMASS)

in

August 1997

to kick off a

tures

and

May

1998, sweatshop owner Jian

retailers

campaign

to hold

such as Sears accountable for workers'

Wen

manufac-

injuries.

In

Liang and his foreman

stormed CSWA's office with thugs, threatening to kill organizers. The garment workers and their allies held their ground for another 14 months, and tors to

finally

forced Streetbeat Sportswear and

its

contrac-

pay almost $300,000 in overtime and damages owed.

1

Chinese women's labor has been pivotal in the rebirth of garment, restaurant, and other low-wage industries in the United States' inner

cities.

Their work has also been

of southern China, to

omy, and

to the

critical to

the industrialization

Hong Kong's integration into the global econ-

development of

economic zones along

special

2

China's coast catering to multinational corporations. While Chinese

men

in the railroad, laundry,

fishing,

and restaurant industries

trail-blazed the

Chinese labor movement in

1970s Chinese

women

this country, since the

have increasingly taken the

lead.

3

Women

have transformed Chinatowns in the United States from bachelor sojourner societies into diverse, vibrant family-oriented

communi-

ties.

In

this chapter,

immigrant

windows and blocked

exits to

women leaders

what they

call

take us behind gated

the "back of the house"

of the garment and service industries. They compare their prior work in China and Hong Kong to their experiences in sweatshops "made in the USA." While ethnic Chinese factory owners sweat

women

their

workers

at the

bottom of the industry pyramid,

mous-name white-owned companies perched

at the

shots in this racialized and gendered hierarchy.

Women

terly

about

levels

conditions have declined to

1

call

the

speak

bit-

9th-century

because of corporate greed, globalization, and industrial

structuring, tion.

how working

top

They

and talk

fa-

re-

how immigrant bashing has hidden their exploitahow dominant ideologies in China and the

about

—and

United States collude with employer threats and union apathy

21

Holding Up Half the Sky

a

pool of hungry workers ready to slave

women.

lence

Finally, they reflect

to the breaking point

and on

movements of Chinese

on

at

even lower wages

the injustices that

their experiences

rebel

—

to

si-

drove them

of joining and leading

women.

— they love boys and hate girls" Retired garment worker and activist Wu Wan Mei serves as the

"You know how China

of ceremonies

spirited mistress

celebration.

At

was a

CSWA's

—which she

is.

Guangdong,

hair

Wu

annual Lunar

New Year

drumbeat of dragon dancers

from workers'

permed

salt-and-pepper

grandma

at

the event, the frenetic

incited peals of laughter

in Toisan,

is

She was born

With her short

children.

of a

lively

in pre-Revolutionary

China

Her

father

has

the

look

a dajie [big sister] to six siblings.

"very, very, very small businessman,"

who

sold cha siu [barbe-

cue pork] while her mother took care of the children. I

went to school in China

that time the

for eleven years to

government mandated

teachers were badly needed. tion in 1949

I

had

just

I

is

—

to

go to school

started teaching in

let

me

1

953.

so because

At Libera-

old. It

was very

difficult for

You know how China My dad was very traditional. He

at that time.

they love boys and hate

would not

become a teacher. At

we had to do

graduated from junior high school and was

about thirteen or fourteen years

women

that

girls!

go to school [with the boys].

4

The 1949 Chinese Revolution marked a sea change in the lives like Wu. Before then, Confucian ideology dictated women's subordination first to their fathers, then husbands, and finally sons. As in other socialist countries, women were seen as a vital resource for economic development. The Communist Party promoted women's integration into the paid labor force, instituting of

women

daycare and sewing centers to

facilitate

women's

participation. In

opposition to women's Confucian-mandated subservience to ther,

husband, and son, the party resurrected the proverb that

"women

hold up half the sky." Marriage laws enacted in 1950 and

1980 guaranteed women's mates

fa-

freely.

Sexist

rights to divorce

feudalistic

bride-prices, arranged marriages,

practices

and

to

such

as

choose

their

concubines,

and the purchase of child brides

Sweatshop Warriors

22

were outlawed, while widows'

were guaranteed.

to property Still,

remarry and women's rights

rights to

5

the "love for boys" and "hate for girls" that

By

lingers in China.

30 percent

less

the late 1980s,

than

men

for the

women

Wu describes

continued to earn about

same work. 6 Seventy percent of all 7

workers dismissed from their jobs are women. By the only about 45 percent of

were enrolled

all girls

late

1980s,

8

Under

in school.

China's "one family, one child" population control policy, bies are disproportionately

abandoned.

girl

ba-

9

Second Stage Labor Migration Most of China's women migrants the country's southeastern region,

to the

United States

which has

historically

hail

from

had higher

of global trade, commerce, industrialization, female labor force

rates

participation,

and emigration of

Guangdong and

workers.

its

10

In particular, the

Fujian provinces in southeastern China, located

near large navigable rivers and seaports and sharing a history of early

western colonization, have been ization process.

tween

Guangdong province

—

Hong Kong

—and

West

at the forefront

of China's global-

serves as a thoroughfare be-

the port of entry connecting China with the

the rest of China.

Hong Kong was one of the that sprang

first sites

up during the 1960s,

as

of the global assembly line

transnational corporations

sought low-waged, non-unionized, largely female workers to manufacture garments, electronics, toys, pletely

dependent on the

capitalist

and

plastics.

Hong Kong is com-

world market, with a stunning 90

percent of its manufactured goods exported overseas. In the 1960s

and 1970s, workforce. Since as China's

women

constituted 70 percent of

Hong Kong's

factor}-

11

its

annexation by the British in 1842,

Hong Kong

served

permeable membrane for the flow of capital, goods, and

people. Before normalization of the West's relations with China in

Hong Kong in 1997, Chinese immigrants had to pass through Hong Kong to process their applications for immigration. For many women and their families, migration to Hong Kong was the first step in a multi-stage migration the 1970s and the decolonization of

Holding Up Half the Sky

23

on

to inner-city jobs in the

process, from rural to urban areas, then

United

States.

Wu worked as a teacher in mainland China before immigrating and jobs

to the United States

in

New York's

Chinatown garment

shops. She says,

My mother-

and father-in-law were very young when they immi-

grated to the US. first

to

I

since

remember

exactly

when

they came, but

Hong Kong. ... My mother-in-law sponsored us Hong

they were in

come

don't

my father-in-law had already passed away.

.

.

.

Kong was part of the passage to America; you had to go there first to get a visa. We lived in Hong Kong for about half a year in a place we rented temporarily. If you got someone to sponsor you to immigrate to the US and you were just going to Hong Kong to get your visa signed and processed, they there

was no American consulate.

Helen

Wong was

moved

ents later

to

Kong, she worked

home

workers

you do

it.

In China

Guangdong province. Her parHong Kong to make a better living. In Hong born

also

in

garment industry

in the

to care for her children. Similar to

women

let

12

who

networks,

Wong had

mittently

on both

until she

had

to stay

many Mexican immigrant

belong to extended family chain migration family

sides

members who worked and lived

of the border between China and

inter-

Hong

Kong. Extended family members on both

sides

and juggled childcare arrangements. In 1988,

Wong immigrated to

Oakland with her family through her

My parents were born in

pooled income

father-in law's sponsorship.

Guangdong.

I

have two older brothers

One older brother is in mainland China and the others are in Hong Kong. My brother was born [on the main-

and

a

younger one.

my parents were so poor they had to leave their kids behind when they went to Hong Kong to try to make some money. They left the kids with my grandmother on my mother's side. After 1950 it got really crazy in China. My brother stopped writing land] but

and we couldn'^ send money or years

we

letters

back to him. For several

lost touch. But whenever they could get letters through,

my

parents sent

and

necessities. He's a farmer. After

money

to help

him

survive, for food, clothing,

he got older,

we

back when he got married, had children, and so on.

sent

money

Sweatshop Warriors

24

Kwan "Annie" Lai, a garment worker in New York, is an energetic woman with thick jet black hair. Her parents are from Guangdong province and moved to Hong Kong before she was Oi

Her

born.

a factory

father

worked

as a chauffeur while her

making packaging

tears as she

mother worked

for radio batteries. Lai's eyes

remembers the poverty she grew up

in.

Like

fill

in

with

many girls

across Asia, she quit school and started working in a toy factory at the age of twelve because her parents could not afford her pub-

She was one of the young women who helped create

lic-school fees.

Hong Kong's economic miracle,

eventually sewing garments for ex-

some two decades

port to Western countries for

in

Hong Kong fac-

tories.

born

Lisa,

Toisan in Guangdong province on the Chinese

in

mainland in 1957,

a first-generation

is

immigrant to the United

but a second-generation garment worker. Both she and her

States,

mother worked

My

garment shops

dad worked

mom

went

to

worker. Just father's

worked

.

Hong Kong

my mom

to take care

went

oldest. I

in yi chang [a

sized factory.

We

tion inside China.

and

of her.

garment

sewed I

That was

According

to

in

1979 and worked

I

garment

have three brothers. I'm the sec-

China for eight

years.

I

also

a

medium

and women's apparel for

distribu-

factory] in Toisan. It

suits

started

as a

my

my younger brother went at first. My there in Hong Kong, so my mother

to school in

gave most of my wages to myself.

Hong Kong.

in

in a metal factor}7 After they got married,

mother was over

went there

ond

in

was

working when I was around 1 7 or

1 8.

my parents, and just kept a little bit for

how it was

in China.

14

Bo Yee, an Oakland garment worker with 27 years Hong Kong garment industry, conditions in

of experience in the

Hong Kong's garment In

shops were

Hong Kong workers

fairer

than in the United States.

get 17 paid holidays each year, paid sick

leave,

and bonuses. Seamstresses seldom work more than eight

hours

a day. If

you If

you do have

also get overtime

you get

Sewing

is

to

laid off, at least the

not such

a

work overtime

for a special order,

pay and the company provides your dinner.

bad job

in

company pays you severance pay. Hong Kong; at least you can make

25

Holding Up Half the Sky

a decent living

In

above the minimum wage sewing by piece

Hong Kong,

ployers.

For example, when sewing

work out first to

rate.

.

.

workers have more bargaining power with em-

see if the

a

new

style,

proposed wages are

workers

fair.

try the

workers

If not,

will

come

together for a brief work stoppage until they can get a

fair

wage

for the

new

compromise with

style.

But usually they can work out

a fair

15

the supervisor.

The Globalization Nightmare: Second Stage Capital Flight Relations between the United States and China were normalized after President

Mao Zedong Minister

visit.

Shortly after the death of

1976 and the routing of the Gang of Four, Prime

Deng Xiaoping's government pushed

the

into

Richard Nixon's 1972

in

capitalist

modernizations"

to reintegrate

science and technology,

(in industry, agriculture,

and national defense) and building a Chinese-style

economy. 16 As

a result of these changes,

Kong's labor-intensive

ment

who

factories

had shifted

to China.

carts,

socialist

by 1990 nearly

toy, electronics,

lost their factory jobs

dim sum

and mass-produced

were forced

to

gar-

choose between pushing

17

At the same

time,

women

scribed by Asian migrant rights activists as

"3D"

Hong Kong

workers from

the Philippines, South Asia, and mainland China to

dull."

market

of Hong

Women workers in Hong Kong

was drawing increasing numbers of migrant

and

all

laboring in fast food outlets, or working part-time as

maids and homecare attendants.

ous,

China

world market under a program of "four

fill

jobs de-

or "dirty, danger-

18

"In the early 80s, the nightmare started," says former factory

worker Lai Tong Chi, based

who works

Women Workers

aware as

I

am now,

and moving to other to China, training

I

wasn't as

down

parts of Asia," she says. Lai followed the jobs

mainland workers

in

production techniques

until

When she returned to Hong Kong

she could no longer find garment

room

Hong Kong-

but the factories already started closing

they learned and she was laid off.

hotel

with the grassroots

Association. "During that time

work and was turned away from

cleaner, sales, public transit,

and home helper

jobs.

Sweatshop Warriors

26

I

get angry as

think back to

I

when I was young and the employer

me

to work faster, exploiting me. And now they say, "you are too old." In the 70s when I was working in the factory, older women at the age of 60 or 70 were being em-

me and

beat

they pushed

Now

ployed. Employers needed them, so they had to work.

government

is

totally irresponsible

and job security for

ment and out

us.

government refuses

sides

the

And now we are being kicked

to

have any

it

But the

difficult to get jobs.

legislation safeguarding the right

19

the corporate perspective, the labor force

on

the

two

of the border are complementary, reflecting the integration of

two economies.

with

the

no insurance

A lot of the employers are using age restrictions,

as worthless.

From

is

We workers devoted a lot to the develop-

affluence of Hong Kong.

and women over the age of 35 find to work.

because there

New York's

20

One writer compared high-priced Hong Kong

Manhattan where only the

rich can afford to live.

South China increasingly houses poor people distances to work.

Hong Kong's

21

The Asian

transition

from

financial crisis

British

who commute of the

late

Commonwealth

long

1990s and

status to the

1997 "one country, two systems," integration with China only served to speed income polarization.

On

the China side of the border, hundreds of thousands of

young women workers have migrated in search of jobs economic zones on China's south tions in these zones fire that killed

ters

coast.

became apparent

in a

87 workers and injured 46.

to the special

22

The dangerous condiNovember 1993 factory

23

Export processing cen-

employ over 20 million Chinese workers, with some

migrant workers in

Guangdong province.

24

According

6.5 million

to the

China

Labour Education and Information Center, Most of the women working in these enterprises [special economic zones] are from the villages. They are driven by poverty at

home and are compelled to live away from their families. Popular among these peasant workers is the saying, "Wanna make money? rapid

Go to

Guangdong!" So the saying goes and regions with

economic development headed by Guangdong Province

have become the gold-digging dreamland of the Chinese peasantry.

However many of

these

young

women

encounter forced

27

Holding Up Half the Sky

overtime, lack of union protection, unsafe working conditions,

poor housing and

living conditions, physical

and denial of their basic

right to organize.

and sexual abuse,

25

Peoples' organizations affiliated with the Chinese Party, such as the All

Communist

China Federation of Trade Unions and the All

China Women's Federation, have devolved into toothless groups

and instruments of coercion

at best

Chan Wai Fun, as

Chinatown who worked

a seamstress in Oakland's

an office manager

port of Guangzhou in

at the

social

According to

at worst.

Guangdong prov-

ince,

The union

stand up for the workers or criticize the

really didn't

administrators.

One good

thing about union

membership was

sometimes they gave you discounts on events,

that

go see the

ets to

women's

association.

meant

just

It

like free tick-

remember much about

circus. I don't really

that

on

International

26

Women's Day,

they would give us a flower.

According

Lee Yin Wah, today's Communist Party

to

adopts a kind of "don't ask, don't

the

in

China

stance towards workers'

tell"

rights:

There's no real organizing less

about what you think.

women's conference

work going .

.

.

in Beijing?

of organizing method

used

is

on.

They

really

could care

Didn't you go to the international

From

that

in China.

whatever you do. Everyone from

all

you can see what kind

They can circumscribe

over the world was there, but

the government circumscribed you so you couldn't see really

see

going on. But

at the

how big a country it is.

ciety

is

not such an easy

When rights are.

privileges

As

r

The

task.

far as they're

tells

you what your

concerned you've already got

all

the

eight hours a day, get paid a salary,

The propaganda says, "This is the home You are in control." But the workers do not feel in

a living..

party

factor)',

what was

when you look at China you

Controlling and running such a big so-

you need if you work

and can make

Ever)

time,

you're in China the party never

of the workers. control.

same

7

is

.

.

very well organized in the institutional sense.

no matter how big or

small, has committees.

Au-

Sweatshop Warriors

28

tonomous organizations unconnected lowed.

to the party are not al-

27

Today, workers

who

dare to organize for their rights face

stiff

competition from the 150 million or more unemployed or laid-off

workers from

rural China.

Women Come to Gold Before

1

Mountain

875, Chinese women had trickled into the United States

forced prostitutes, or merchants' wives. Between 1875 and

as slaves,

women were

1945, Chinese

systematically barred

from immigrating

29

The 1945 War Brides Act allowed Chinese-American soldiers fighting on the Pacific front to marry hometown girls and bring them back to the United States. Between 1946 to the

United

States.

women

and 1952,

constituted almost 90 percent of Chinese immi-

grants to the United States.

More Chinese women than men con-

tinue to immigrate, furthering the feminization of migration.

The Chinese community

in the

30

United States was radically

transformed by the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 that

removed

and

set preferences for the recruitment

cians,

racist

quota

restrictions,

allowed family reunification,

of professionals, techni-

and other wealthy immigrants. Chinese,

Indians,

and other Asians migrated

new

31

law.

Labor historian Peter

in massive

immigrants

who

in contrast to the

preceded them.

Many new immigrants

Koreans,

numbers under the

Kwong dubbed

immigrants from higher professional and social

"uptown Chinese"

Filipinos,

the

new Chinese

strata

backgrounds

"downtown" working-class

32

sought

US

citizenship so they in turn

could sponsor more family members. Since 1965,

some 40,000 Chi-

nese per year have migrated to the United States from China, Tai-

wan, and

Hong Kong. By

1980, the Chinese-American population

was once again mosdy foreign-born. By 1985, 81 percent of Chinese immigrants entered under family preference categories and only

about 16 percent as professionals. 33 Helen her husband and five kids to Oakland from the urging of her father-in-law.

very conscious strategy to bring

Wong

Her extended members to

its

immigrated with

Hong Kong in

1988

at

family developed a the United States.

29

Holding Up Half the Sky

We

Guangdong people but both my husband and

are

were born

in

Hong Kong.

my

After

Then

zenship, she sponsored the rest of the family.

sponsored one family ther-in-law's family

1977].

[in

He had

to

all

adults

Mei immigrated

over.

My

fa-

US

after

he lived here

34

New York's

to

Chinatown through

who worked in a laundry up-

the sponsorship of her mother-in-law,

town and had

lived in the United States for

newcomers,

took

it

citi-

after that they

by the time he came to the

sponsor them one by one

awhile and got his citizenship.

Wu Wan

come

another to

after

were

his father

mother-in-law got her

many

years. Like

many

Wu and her family some time to adjust to life in

the States. In the beginning

it

was very hard

with the decision to

after

to adapt

Our

here.

and

all.

Then

Jenny Chen,

I

wasn't

at

peace

sons had wanted to come,

But after they came here they decided

(laughs) it

come

they said, "Let's go back to

that they didn't like

Hong Kong!" 35

who was born in Toisan, went straight to work in a

garment sweatshop

after

lowing him back to

New York.

marrying a "gold mountain

man" and

She found adjusting to

US

life

fol-

very

stressful.

Aiyah!

I

regret

coming

here.

When I was

worked

in China, after graduat-

ing from high school

I

different things about

how to run a restaurant.

in restaurants. I learned a lot It

was

of

better work,

more interesting. Now I'm behind a machine all day, sewing away. Sometimes when they pay you, they hold back a portion of your pay. just

For the younger women go

to school

and get

like

some

me, we often wish that we could different kind of work. Lots

times you're not even getting paid, but you have to go in to

on Sundays. Then you've got (laughs)

You

just

to look at the boss's face.

wish you could be doing something

you don't have any time

to

spend with your

friends in San Francisco that the price

go

to

work earlier and get out earlier,

and you friend's

still

on

see lights

mother works

in the

in the day,

then goes back to work

is

And

heard from

my

You

Here work

varies a lot

My

daughter's

at night.

comes home

at night. She's

I

Yuhhh!

else.

not as good as here.

right?

shops

kids.

of

work

always

to feed her kids,

tired.

36

Sweatshop Warriors

30

After immigrating to Oakland with her husband and son at the invitation

ing

work

of in-laws, Lin Cai Fen followed the in

garment

Not speaking

trail

of women seek-

factories, including her mother-in-law. I

could get was sewing in a

sweatshop. All the Chinese immigrant

women seemed to work in

garments.

I

English, the only job

sewed

at

piece rates and could only

make one

per hour. The job was terrible and the pay was too

support

my

English,

men work

dustry. This

for

dollar

me to

For new immigrants who know very

family.

is

little

in restaurants

the reality that

women

and

new immigrants

in the face.

little

garment

in-

37

New Migrant Streams: Refugees and Ransomed Workers Along with

the growing legal immigration of Chinese are

newer

streams of undocumented immigrants from China, refugees and im-

migrants from Vietnam and elsewhere. For example, the Sino-Viet-

namese War of 1979 and

earlier

Vietnamese measures

to break the

control of ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs over trade and

nesses created a large

United

wave of Chinese-Vietnamese refugees

States. Eighty-five

Vietnam

retail busi-

to the

who fled 38 Chinese. Many

percent of the "boat people"

for the United States in 1978

were ethnic

A

of these families had lived in Vietnam for several generations. large proportion trace

their ancestral roots

back to

villages

in

Guangdong and speak both Cantonese and Vietnamese. Since the late 1980s, undocumented workers from Fujian province in China have immigrated to the United States. Fujian province

has long been the source of Chinese immigration to Indonesia, laysia,

the flow of undocumented immigrants

big

Ma-

Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Taiwan. In 1993,

US news

story

when

from Fujian

briefly

became

a

the Golden Venture, a steamer carrying 286

undocumented Fujian immigrants ran aground a few hundred yards from Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York. The workers had promised to pay $30,000 to

their smugglers, called luo

heads], if they successfully reached the United States.

39

ti

[snake

Headlines

men from Hong

were made again

in January 2000,

Kong stumbled

out of cargo containers carried aboard the giant

when

15 Chinese

31

Holding Up Half the Sky

freighter Cape

May, which had docked in

had agreed

pay

to

their

ture wages. Inside

Seattle,

Washington. They

smugglers tens of thousands of dollars in fu-

were the bodies of three of

had died during the crossing.

40

their

comrades

who

This credit-ticket labor trafficking

is

the current version of the 19th-century system that brought Chinese

migrant male workers from Pearl River delta villages to Hawaiian plantations, Californian fields,

and transcontinental

Other immigrants overstay

from Mexico. In the

late

railroads.

border

tourist visas or cross the

my

1960s,

second-generation, Chi-

nese-American husband Belvin was asked to go meet some "cous-

from the home

ins"

village to help

them

cross the

Mexican border

into the United States. Eventually, they entered the United States

without him having to make the run to the border. Arranged marriages

of convenience are another way to

facilitate legal

immigrant

status.

Sweatshop and factory employers frequently

pit

undocumented

workers against those with documents. Both ethnic subcontractors

and Euro-American businesses labor, according to Peter Illegal Chinese

rights.

government

Kwong' s

from undocumented workers'

excellent

book Forbidden Workers: Government agencies

Immigrants and American Labor.

are often unable,

workers'

profit

41

and organized labor unwilling, to defend these

Kwong

describes

officials, travel

how

organized crime, corrupt

agencies in China, and

US

employers

have developed a lucrative underground smuggling industry that taps into family groups in search of work.

"In says. rip

this case ethnic solidarity brings

about its opposite,"

Kwong

"The people who know you the best also know the best ways to 42 off." The enclave community entraps workers and justifies

you

their exploitation

under the ideology of "ethnic

solidarity,"

by which

employers claim they provide jobs for poor people no one

wants to hire and that "outsiders don't understand us and

else

how we

43

do

things."

ers

from Guangdong and Hong Kong against undocumented work-

ers

from Fujian province.

Jenny Chen describes

how garment

sweatshop bosses

pit

work-

Sweatshop Warriors

32

A

of the shops are run by Cantonese, Taishanese. or

lot

Kong

people. The

diet than the

Broa

They don't even

hours.

no

[eat rice],

1990 and

ear that

would cam-

much.

domes

the

over for

And when we

We

time to even sikjaan

leave

sew 14 hours

.-:

When

about

\

sew so

to

now

even go

it.

I

came

wouldn't have to

I

the boss says, 'That's vour

to

work

the Fukinese are

eight it night, they're

still

people would

day. In the past

a

that a lot of the bosses wiO actual!]

is

those wil in that

dis-

less willing to

put

hours. So the Fukinese Are being usee, and we're be-

mpared

;

on

discriminate against

because they tend to be

latus,

many

al-

there.

criminate against those without legal status. But what's going

now

in

The boss

but the Fukinese work even longer.

.:ours, I

me

But

stuff

A lot of nme before we ready there.

No

k jock [eat rice porridge].

:

lift

Sometimes

of Fukinese. They work long

was pregnant, the boss

I

op and

lot

are

ere

Hong

shops on East

against

mem

Ify

a don't reel like

working

as

many

hours, you get a lot of pressi

Near

A

die Triple

East Broad

Restaurant

it

of Pukinc

m

ig

Trie women usi

g

and

3

I

down

at

the end of the block

under the Manhattan Bridge you see fai

work, mostly

men

a lot

[day laborers].

work m the factories. A lot of times the

Fukinese will go around selling mantou [steamed buns]. The

Made In grant

in

the

USA

New York women

City,

Chinese and other Asian and Latina immi-

comprise the majority of the garment industry's

workforce, replacing the

earlier

pool of European and Puerto Rican

immigrants and retired African Americans. Over 60 percent of New York"-

_

~.

nent factories are sweatshops.

there were e:^

lent

sweatshops

in

New

York

town. By 1984, there were 500. Between 1969 and 1982, the

of Chinese >cd

women

from

93,000 worker

workers 2

in

aVim .~

In 1960,

City's

China-

number

Chinatown garment sweatshops Today, there are an estimated ;:uring in

nent workers produces

New York

1

City."

The

an effect that ripples

33

Holding Up Half the Sky

beyond the garment

industry. Entrepreneurs

who began

as

sewing

subcontractors frequently reinvest profits into bigger businesses

and

real estate.

Women

working ten

to twelve

hours a day,

six to

seven days a week, buy prepared food and other convenience items, boosting local restaurant and grocery businesses.

Los Angeles

is

now

the nation's garment manufacturing center

with the greatest number of employees: 120,000 people, of whom 14 percent are Asian, including 7 percent Chinese, 4 percent Korean,

and 3 percent

are other Asians.

Among

Ladnos, Mexicans ac-

counted for 47 percent, Central Americans, 14 percent, and other

Ladnos 6 percent.

Of the

remainder, European Americans were 8

percent, African Americans 2 percent, and the remaining 9 percent unidentified.

48

20 to 25 major

There are about 400 garment manufacturers, about labels

producing for the mass market, and 5,000 sub-

number operating underwork home. Chinese women workers

contractors including a relatively large

ground.

Many workers

take

average §5,464 annually, other Asian

women

$6,500

—

a far cry

an owner of Guess?,

who

nuses, and perks in 1992.

from

women

$7,500, and

Mexican

such as Georges Marciano,

fat cats

pocketed a cool $8.7 million in

salary,

bo-

49

In the San Francisco Bay Area, there are an estimated 20,000

garment workers, 85 percent of whom are Asian immigrant women. In 1960, there was only one garment subcontractor listed in the

Oakland phone

directory.

By

1990, 150 East Bay garment factories

were registered with the Department of Industrial Relations' Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, with 478

more shops

in

San

The actual number of shops is probably higher because some owners do not register. The industry generates about $5 billion in annual sales and accounts for more than one-third of San Francisco's manufacturing jobs. San Francisco's three big garment manFrancisco.

ufacturers, Levi Strauss,

Gap, and

Esprit,

have outsourced the bulk

of their manufacturing overseas, so smaller manufacturers predominate in the local industry.

Nationwide, toiling

home

workers earn

as

little

as

$2 an hour, often

60 to 70 hours a week without overtime pay. Regulators

port that the practice of

home sewing

is

most widespread

in

re-

New

Sweatshop Warriors

34

York, California, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where the

home-sewing population ranges from 20,000

home

bor organizers and advocates say that gally use child labor.

51

Many

sewing workshops

la-

ille-

52

Until the 1950s almost States

to 80,000.

all

of the clothing sold in the United

was accurately labeled "Made

in the

USA." Today, 60 percent

of the clothing sold in the United States

imported.

is

53

Quicker

turn-around time, lower shipping costs, and sweatshop wages paid to

immigrant

women workers

anchors some production within

NAFTA, APEC

borders. Global trade agreements such as

GATT

Economic Cooperation),

Pacific

Trade and

Tariffs),

on Investments) and

FTAA

(General Agreement on

MAI

and the proposed

US

(Asian

(Multilateral

Agreement

(Free Trade Area of the Americas) pit

global assembly line workers against each other in

have dubbed "the race to the bottom" ronmental and labor standards to

—

what

activists

a global effort to slash envi-

attract employers.

"When GATT goes into full effect in 2005," says Lora Jo Foo, Law Caucus attorney and founding member of the Sweat-

an Asian

shop Watch

coalition, "all the jobs are

know this

controversial, but

is

I

think

going to run away to China.

we need to

keeping a certain number of jobs in

women in

our communities."

this

start talking

I

about

country for immigrant

04

Sweatshops Go from Bad to Worse The global

factory has trapped

women across

China's vast dias-

pora in a roller-coaster ride of rushes and dead seasons, expansions

and expulsions, lurches and

backfires. Despite corporate assertions

to the contrary, the reversion to 19th-century is

part

sweatshop conditions

and parcel of the globalized expansion of the bottom of the

industry pyramid. Immigrant

women workers

with years of experi-

ence working on both sides of the Pacific complained

bitterly

about

the deterioration in working conditions over the past decade.

They

described plummeting pay and benefits, ever-longer hours, production

speedups, increased injuries, and harsher treatment from

bosses.

One problem

is

the piece rate system, in

which workers

are paid

35

Holding Up Half the Sky

according to each procedure they

They

finish.

are paid a certain

amount to sew a collar, attach a zipper, or hem a skirt. Piece

rates are

determined by what the manufacturer pays the subcontractor

by the wages workers need

—not

above the poverty line. This wide-

to live

spread system of underpayment encourages subcontractors to abuse

workers, and intensifies the self-exploitation and competition be-

tween workers.

"The pay

same on Sunday. There is no such thing

just the

is

if you

can take a break

means you don't

get paid for

56

broke

Helen Wong. says

rate

You

as overtime.

piece

55

"I almost

it,

want

to.

But sewing by the

" says former garment

down

in tears

when

I first

worker

started,"

Jenny Chen.

When I was in China I I

So

didn't have to.

who

never touched a sewing machine because

was very tough. Really the boss

me how to do

taught

working

started

it. I

it

at

it.

Eventually

I

learned

is

the one

could handle

I

nine and usually finished by eight at the

earliest.

Wages vary depending on piece rates, but if you get some good work, you can sew faster. I'm young and us younger ones can do more and

move

do. a

It's

not like// tau gwat

good

is

[pig

a

see you

guy work. See that's easy to

at

soon

as

Like sometimes you

you put

day if you work really

in

like

that are

your mouth, (laughs)

work seven long days but you can only

fast.

But that's pretty

can't concentrate, you're in a

other

it

bunch of bones

When you get seeyou guy you can make about §70 to §80 a

get §300.

do

get

head and neck bones] that looks

piece of meat, but turns into a

hard to swallow

can't

when we

nickname for sewing

quickly

you guy [soy sauce chicken]

it.

little

I

rare.

A lot of times you

bad mood, you're

sick,

you

sew the seams and sometimes the seams have

must go

pieces that

money. But sometimes

it's

inside

really

just

a lot

of

and you can make more

hard to do. If you average out

what you make over the long term,

it

doesn't really add up to

all

much money. During Chinese New Year you're very, very busy. You don't even have time to visit friends, clean your house, that

and cook

months

like

[April

you're supposed

Most people if

to.

But during the

last

couple of

and May], the work has been very slow. can't

you make $7,000

make $10,000

a year.

a year to qualify for

Forget about $10,000;

union medical benefits,

Sweatshop Warriors

36

A lot of times

you're lucky.

for different reasons,

not able to make that amount. In

them

to.

Even

if

fact

many

many people

you make the money, but you don't get you have no proof, you

the boss pays you in cash and health coverage. You've got to

do whatever you can

books. Sometimes people have

to

lieve it?

Say you were able to work

at the

pay $10 or $20 to buy your paycheck.

"In the beginning

when

paid, or

can't get

to get

on

the

buy their paychecks. Can you bebeginning of the year, but

you couldn't make enough by the end of the

year.

So you have

started working," says

I first

to

57

The union

Mei, "the hours were better.

are

bosses don't want

also

seemed

to

Wu Wan

be a

bit

little

better."

Now it's

totally different.

For example,

that

you make

fore

you were only required

up

to $7,000

at least

now

$7,000 in order to get medical benefits. Beto

make $3,000, then $5,000.

and a lot of people don't make that much.

now we're working longer hours Working in

who work a "mere"

day and night. According to

Lai, jobs in the

garment

little

but

58

New York's Chinatown, says Annie Lai, "really kills

undocumented seamstresses from Fujian who district

Now it's

Of course,

but with no overtime pay.

you!" Bosses pit older seamstresses against

demands

the union

used to be a

10-hour day

literally

work

mid-town Manhattan

better than those in Chinatown,

now bosses can pressure workers to come in six days a week. 59 Lisa quit Streetbeat Sportswear in

hours exceeded 100 hours a week.

keep working

like this.

day

off And

left.

We couldn't take

in that

shop."

'No you

City

told the boss,

We're getting destroyed.

the boss said, it

"We

New York

can't

have

a

We

when

"We

just can't

need to have a

day off So

we

60

"Many of my

friends develop pain

and

illnesses related to their

to

move

their

hands

in the

same motion over and over

some women have very sore hands and shoulders and back pains. They have to sit for a long time and many develop again so that

bad is

just

anymore. There were about 60 to 70 people

work," says former garment worker Helen Wong.

They have

her

circulation or hemorrhoids.

so thick you can see

it

The

in the air

dust in

some of the

and you develop

factories

allergies.

So

37

Holding Up Half the Sky

sometimes we work with masks made by ourselves. Otherwise, we'd be sneezing

I

worked with

of some

When

the time.

all

went home from work

I

when I would blow my nose,

sometimes,

that day

women who

the colors of the fabrics

my

would appear on

Kleenex. I've heard

have had lung and breathing problems be-

cause of having worked in garment manufacturing for so long. I

now work

tel

rooms.

have

I

also 1

8

do the work

rooms

irritated

Sweatshops

in

quickly.

We

leave the

to clean ho-

We push heavy

often get bruises and

our fingers become

liquids all

is

we

day. It

use. is

My thumb

very stressful

61

tired.

Other Industries

Garment workers

are not the only sweatshop workers subjected

low wages, and occupational health hazards. Immi-

to long hours,

women

do, which

furniture. Also,

from pulling sheets

and we come home very

electronics,

I

and cracked from the cleaning

also gets very sore

grant

that

to clean in eight hours.

and move around very bumps from banging into the carts

women who

and many

in the hotels

garment industry

working

in restaurants, convalescent

homes,

hotels,

and other secondary sector jobs also endure sweat-

shop-like conditions.

Amy

Xie

is

originally

from Guangzhou, the

capitol

of

Guangdong Province in China and lives in the Bronx. She used to work as a hostess at Silver Palace Restaurant for 12 to 14 hours a day, six days a week. The restaurant had promised her a monthly salary of $1,600, but

ended up only paying her $800 with no overtime,

sick or vacation leave, or health care benefits.

worked Xie over her

lifts

her long

legs,

Sometimes she

through her lunch hour.

straight

skirt to reveal startling

caused by standing

all

day

at

dark purple bruises

running to keep up with her young son.

They would

yell at

many people, eat

you from the back room when there were too

especially

on weekends when everyone comes

dim sum. The bosses would curse and swear

walkie

talkie.

Everyone could hear them.

Now I walk so

slow after working there.

compensation from them.

all

work. She has a hard time

I

It

at

in to

you over the

was so humiliating!

never got any workers

Sweatshop Warriors

38

fell down when it was snowing in the front of the The boss makes so much money, but they are so cheap. They wouldn't even let me go to the hospital to see a doctor of my choosing. They said I had to go to their company doc-

One time I

restaurant.

tor,

to

who

work

told

me I

that day,

wouldn't have been paid. They don't give you

anything.

They

happens.

You know

Lew Ying weeks

for the

gone back

didn't have any problem. If I hadn't

I

didn't

tell

me

about workers comp. That's what

Chinatown.

Choi, a Chinese

62

home

worked 72-hour

care worker,

Evergreen Residential Care

Home

in the

Bay Area

with only one day off a week and no overtime pay. She suspected that her boss

was cheating her out of her pay when she received

payroll deduction stubs but

when

no paychecks. The owner

yelled at

she asked about what happened to her paychecks and

five

Lew Lew

quit.

Disempowering Messages

"We must organize for our rights," says former restaurant worker "We can't just worry about our families. We have to come together to protect our interests." Today, Lee is the sympa-

Lee Yin Wah.

thetic

and

skilled organizer

woman moving

stealth-like

workers

meet

first

behind the scenes

event, the clear voice behind the bull-horn at

picket

A

at

CSWA,

at

every successful

many

a

Chinatown

line. lot

of

new immigrants from China get trapped inside Many are not highly educated. They

closed community'.

what the restaurant and garment bosses' associations Because they don't speak the language and

happy

to get a job.

wages back

working

They compare

in China. That's

whole month

a

They

is

a very

accept

them.

going

are just

the $20 they get paid a day to

more than

in China.

tell

know what

on, they put up with the bosses' controlling them.

But

they

living

would have made

expenses here are a

lot higher, too.

When

first

I

came here my

relatives told

me, "As long

as

you've got a job and aren't starving don't pay attention to anything

else. If

don't take

it.

someone

tries to

hand you

Just take care of yourself."

a leaflet

the

on

They told me

the street,

that

I

had to

39

Holding Up Half the Sky

be more back

was

selfish

home

just a

hard,

and that

all

the stuff the

communist party

told

me

about helping other people wouldn't work here, that

bunch of

you can

People here also

crap.

start a business,

make

a lot

you

tell

if

you work

of money, go back

to

China to buy a house, and make more money. All of the immi-

documented or undocumented, who came by boat or by

grants,

plane, this

is

thinking. But they'll

People

their plan.

in reality for

most

just

go along with

this

way of

people the chances are nil that

be able to get rich through hard work. In China they say

you don't need

rights, you're already

don't even think about

bother?

it,

you'll

provided

for.

never get your

Here they rights, so

say,

why

63

"Even if workers want to join picket lines, many are afraid to come out in front," says Amy Xie. "The first time I went to the picket, I was scared, too. You know the bosses have all of these Mafia-type gangster guys in the

afraid to

come out

back to support them so the workers are

in front."

64

Problems Can't Be Solved Alone In describing

how

movement,

they got involved in the

women

own acCommuwomen with

often spoke about the dynamic relationship between their tions

and those of the broader struggles they labor

nity-based

organizations

provided

joined.

the

infrastructures of solidarity, resources, training, accumulated experi-

ences, ties with other struggles and sectors, and strategic vision.

course, each

woman

faced her

moment

of reckoning,

cided to stand up for her rights whatever the

risk.

As

when

Of

she de-

the conflicts es-

demands on each woman's commitment and Throughout the process, the women brought their own

calated, so did the

leadership. life

experiences,

skills,

and networks into the movement, shaping its

reach and direction. Lee Yin

Wah

Committee helps women break

women workers They

"Quite a few of the

are very strong," says Lee.

get a lot of pressure

back down. But many

women

CSWA's Women's

explains that

their isolation.

workers to

from the bosses, from

stick to the fight

fight for justice.

anyway.

They have

their families to It's

not easy for

to deal with sur-

Sweatshop Warriors

40

vival,

how to take care of their kids, and what to do with their husThrough our activities we try to stay in touch. We stress

bands.

problems

that

can't just be solved alone

by oneself.

65

According to Lee, most of the women workers who

visit

CSWA

complain about back wages they are owed. Although workers often resign themselves to violations of their rights, their bosses' failure to

pay them for work they've already performed

often the straw that

is

breaks the camel's back.

In 1992,

CSWA started a back wage campaign. Some employers

were arrested and convicted for

"Most employers

see

pay back wages.

their failure to

owing back wages

as just part

of the business,"

says Lee.

Almost

all

factories

owe

at least

one month of wages. Some owe

workers for nine weeks, or longer. Sometimes the bosses owe

Maybe the boss gives a little money to string The boss keeps saying, "Oh, I don't have the money now, but when I do, I'll give it to you." 66 them

for half a year.

them

along.

Unfortunately, labor unions are not always willing to help these

Chen and her 19 co-workers

workers. Jenny

New York when

their

On

City

first

employer

The owner reopened

again and ran off. a thing..

.

.

I

their union,

it

in

at the

needed medical benefits when doesn't really help you.

shop because

yell at

They scolded this

is

it

The union

come

in.

But

it

was union and

a lot

if

you

are

owed your

of times when you go there,

you. Like in our case, they treated us very badly.

us,

basically a

[It's I

I

runs ads and press releases in

"Why did you done

deal."

take so long to

They

come

here? Look,

say they're going to help you,

but things drag out and you never hear from them again.

phan

the

down

was pregnant. But the union

the newspaper that they have a hotline, and

they just

came and closed

November, then closed

I

Ho ma

a hassle].

heard from some friends that the boss was out of

told them,

"These workers don't speak

a

in

ILGWU/UNITE,

We went to the union first, but the union didn't

had stayed

hard-earned pay,

Empress Fashion

pay them $60,000 in back wages.

failed to

April 17, 1993, the federal authorities

shop.

do

approached

at

jail.

He

word of English. What

41

Holding Up Half the Sky

do you think back in I'm

jail?

still

money.

they're going to

Even if I go

very angry

to

jail

Do you

do?

think they can put

at this boss.

He

took our sweat and blood

67

who were

In the Streetbeat Sportswear case, workers

UNITE

buffed by

took

First the pressers

and got

come like

me

I'm not giving them a penny back!"

in

their claims to

here and

to CSWA. After that they talked to people me and other seamstresses and told us to too. We came, so now here we are. We felt

came

talk,

to us

tractors paid

was not

our

in fighting for

demonstration,

stration.

to Lisa,

touch with

what the boss did

and united

CSWA. According

also re-

rights.

.

.

We were very

some workers $25

we were

We went to every rally, every

to

come

to their counter

picketing and giving

pressure they were afraid that their business

They were looking

active

manufacturers and Sears. Streetbeat con-

at the

Because

fair..

for

ways

them

all

demonkinds of

would go down.

to sue us.

A lot of young people came out to support our campaign because they saw how our boss was treating us a lot of pressure.

how we

unfairly.

A lot of the garment bosses were

We were under

all

talking

about

were troublemakers.... The bosses put our names on

blacklist [of the Kings'

County Apparel Association].

In June 1998, sweatshop owner Jian

Wen

and arraigned for 31 counts of criminal labor

a

68

Liang was arrested

violations. In

October

1999 the Manhattan Supreme Court dismissed Streetbeat's $75 million

"SLAPP"

(Strategic

Lawsuit Against Public Participation)

against workers, Chinese Staff and

suit

Workers Association, National

Mobilization Against Sweatshops, and Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Victories Against McClintock

One ers

of the most

began

Company, laid off

at a

visible

sweatshop

and

in

and Gifford

effective actions

by garment work-

Oakland. In 1992 the Lucky Sewing

a subcontractor to fashion designer Jessica

Bo

McClintock,

Yee, Fu Lee, and their co-workers without paying back

wages owed. The

women

were shocked when they discovered that

dresses for which they were to have been paid $5 retailed for $175

Sweatshop Warriors

42

each. Similar to a

number of emergent

Bo Yee had experience

in

leaders in other campaigns,

workplace actions before immigrating to

the United States. She had also attended leadership training sessions

organized by Asian Immigrant the layoffs

Women Advocates (AIWA)

before

hit.

The Lucky Sewing Company garment workers joined with

AIWA to launch a campaign against Jessica McClintock in September 1992.

At

the

women were

first

demonstration

at

corporate headquarters, the

wore Halloween

so afraid of being blacklisted that they

masks. Soon, they stopped wearing the masks.

Besieged by protests, on December 17, 1994, Jessica McClintock offered a "charitable donation" through the Northern California Chi-

Garment Contractors Association

nese ers

would

their

the

sign a contract releasing

—on

the condition that work-

McClintock from responsibility for

back wages. Then on January

8,

names of workers who refused

1994, the contractors published

to sign in the Sing Tao newspaper,

an act tantamount to blacklisting them. The

women two

only grew

The

tactic backfired.

more angry and determined. In March 1996,

sides finally reached a settlement that included

payment of back wages, an education fund

for

the

an undisclosed

garment workers, a

scholarship fund for garment workers and their children, and a bilingual hotline for workers to report any violations of their rights in

shops contracted with McClintock.

Former home healthcare worker Lew Ying Choi

AIWA

for support in

to attorney

winning back wages.

Eugene Pak

at the

AIWA

Employment Law

also

went

introduced

Center.

On

to

Lew

Octo-

ber 19, 1994, the Labor Commissioner ordered Lew's former employer to pay $53,820.24 in back wages, interest, and penalties.

The

employer appealed the Commissioner's decision and the two parties reached a settlement for an undisclosed sum. 69

Workers' centers have also seen successes of runaway shops. Garment workers

wear and toiled 12

MSL

Sportswear shops in

in getting

at the

Laura

&

New

York

City

money out

Sarah Sports-

commonly

hours a day, seven days a week, under a union contract ne-

gotiated by

UNITE Local 23-25, producing garments

Lee Gifford, Jaclyn Smith, and Tracy Evans

labels.

for the

Kathy

WTien the boss

43

Holding Up Half the Sky

told workers not to

come

they got suspicious.

When

in

November

1997,

worker saw the boss

starting to

move

in over the a

weekend

the machines out at night, she alerted coworkers, the union, and

CSWA. CSWA

organizer Lee Yin

The workers were thing.

so smart.

Wah

They knew

recalled:

the boss

was up

to

some-

We was We brought a lot of cars and people stayed in the cars all helped the workers stake out the factory

at night. It

so cold. night.

On the second day the union and the police came. When the workers told the police what happened, the police said they couldn't erty,

ion

do anything, because the machines were

and that workers had said, "yeah,

yeah."

to

go

private prop-

to the labor department.

The workers got

The un-

They had

very quiet.

spent the whole night staying out in the cold, and then they had to stand there and watch the machines being taken away. the union didn't

over to our

do anything

office.

to help them.

They

said

So 90 workers came

We didn't have enough chairs for people to

sit!

(Laughs)

We told the workers that they needed to go to court to get an order to stop the boss from selling the machines. This was important because if the boss got rid of the machines,

wouldn't be enough

were owed,

right?

money left to pay the workers

We

maybe

the

there

wages they

helped them go to the state attorney gen-

The garment workers network helped build a lot of support for the workers. Through their own experience they learned that they have the power if they work toeral's office

and do a big

case.

gether to defend their rights.

70

After a two-year battle with pickets, community education

—

in-

cluding production of a play that was performed in the East Village

—and

court action, in January 2000, the workers

settlement of $400,000.

won

a

71

Workers' Centers Build Bridges Annie Lai worked 60

to

70 hour weeks sewing garments for the

Donna Karan label (DKNY) at a garment shop in New York City, unionized by UNITE. Despite the long hours, weekly salaries averaged $270.

Sweatshop Warriors

44

being in prison. If

It felt like

we were two minutes

docked one half-hour of our pay. all

the time once

we

machines and

all

the

end of the

padlocked.

No

was

No going to the bathroom calls,

back for the second time, close.

phone

call

But

help, a

sponsibility

workers

at

Lai's

her

DKNY

the contract, forcing the

With

CSWA

and

DKNY calling for corporate re-

On June

2000, on behalf of Lai and

7,

DKNY subcontracted shops, the Asian American Fund

action lawsuit

filed a class

for failure to pay overtime to workers forced to

work 75-hour weeks,

in

some

"CSWA really helps," and

After Lai tried to win her job

ill.

co-workers.

campaign against

Legal Defense and Education against

No

72

courage in standing up to the boss and the

was launched.

other

was often

from her daughter's school

DKNY pulled

manufacturer emboldened

NMASS's

it

not even for emergencies.

informing her that her daughter was

shop to

—

water, with the drinking fountain broken.

fired for receiving a

73

talking

rows and rows of

They checked our purses before we

did.

day.

making or receiving phone Lai

A big room with

of us looking down. Three surveillance cameras

watched everything we left at

We had to No looking up. No

started working.

Can you imagine?

to anyone.

we were keep our heads down late

cases for

below minimum wage. 74

she says. "But

fighting. If I don't fight,

CSWA's

it

really requires

me

going

help would be of no use."

and a movement infrawhen unions fail to address

Bilingual, bicultural workers' centers

them

structure to support

workers' needs. "If a lish

little

are crucial

kid goes to school and doesn't speak

and has an Asian teacher

right?" says

Jenny Chen.

bridge. Imagine

how

that speaks the language,

"It creates a bridge. Well,

these workers could

CSWA

Eng-

it

helps

is

like a

communicate with the

CSWA." CSWA, AIWA, and immigrant women worker organizers recognize the need for women to have family support for their activoutside society about their issues without

some family members fear reprisals from employers and women's activism detracts from precious family time and

ism. While feel that

household

women's

responsibilities,

others

provide

crucial

support

for

activism.

AIWA has sought to organize the children of garment and elec-

45

Holding Up Half the Sky

tronics workers. AIWA's Youth members have been learning the

Build Immigrant

Power

leadership training, workplace outreach to immigrant

Amy Kwong

fundraising.

because

I

wanted

issues

women, and

organized her fellow Berkeley High

School students to boycott Jessica McClintock. "I

worker

Project

of community organizing,

tools

first

joined

to be involved in helping to fight for

AIWA

garment

and do something positive for the community," says

Kwong.

My mom is a garment worker and I have seen and heard about the day-to-day issues in garment shops. AIWA is important because it

allows the garment workers a place to

problems

in their

workplace that

come

to

when

they have

their bosses are ignoring.

makes the community aware of the

AIWA

unfair treatment towards gar-

ment workers. 75 Similar to a

number of other leaders, CSWA's Wu Wan Mei had

prior organizing experience in her

home

country. She

was

active in

revolutionary youth and educators' groups throughout China's tur-

bulent post-Liberation years.

Her

CSWA

staunch women's liberationist

who

stresses the

nizing both

friends admire her as a

importance of orga-

men and women.

In terms of women's position,

I

have to say that the situation has

never changed. People always look

modern world we women should

down on women. But

stand up for our rights.

in the

We are

We face a lot of pressures. Raising chiljob. Women have to go out there into the community to work and survive economically. Women make up half the world and hold up half the sky. We have to break down the old backward ways. We must continue to fight for responsible for the family.

dren should be seen as another

women's

liberation

ing is

and

rights.

we face in organizwomen. Because of the extremely long hours women work, it There

are

many

obstacles and challenges

a big challenge to bring

time crunch with so

work

is

people together.

much work and

Women

are in a real

responsibility.

Women's

never done. But we're beginning to open up some space

in that area.

We also organize men. We reflect the whole commu-

nity, multi-trade, multi-issue,

workers

ment, and restaurant industries.

It's

in the construction, gar-

not right to

just

organize

Sweatshop Warriors

46

women. Men

listen to

they have to

talk,

spect as workers.

women

Every time

in this organization.

I

We encourage people to have mutual re-

listen! 76

"We Women Must Stand Up Now!" Lin Cai Fen immigrated to the United States in October 1987.

Formerly

a teacher in

housekeeper a

butcher

Guangdong

in a convalescent hospital while her

at a

meat market. She

making only $1 an hour

AIWA

at piece rates.

As

Cai

Fen

May

in

Copenhagen

shops.

first

Louie,

World

about conditions in

to testify

learned about

now

a retired

Social

Board,

Summit

US garment

With catchy Chinese proverbs always on the

tongue, Cai Fen has written stirring appeals calling for

AIWA while

her husband attends

AIWA

sweat-

of her

tip

community

support for garment workers' struggles. Her mother-in-law active in

as

garment industry

member of AIWA's Worker Membership

a

Cai Fen traveled to the 1995 United Nations

as a

husband works

started out in the

through her mother-in-law Sun

seamstress.

now works

province, she

is

also

gatherings,

and

her son helps do outreach to workers in the sweatshops.

During an animated meeting, Cai Fen

member

listens as

an AIWA board

laments that the Japanese, Koreans, Latinas, and African

Americans are more united than the Chinese. Another member says that Chinese people only

"people that

who

just

worry about themselves,

whip the snow from

IVe got snow on

my

roof." Cai

their

as in the saying,

door steps do not mind

Fen chided her fellow board

members. Let's not get too disappointed with Chinese people. is

also a

in the

Chinese organization.

work

they've

We

Look,

CSWA

should have some confidence

done and the work we've done,

too.

We

should be looking for better methods to organize more people.

We need to wake up the masses. Three thousand Chinese workers in New York demonstrated to open up construction industry jobs Each organization has its own strength Our members need to meet people from we can share these experiences. We all

to people of color in 1992. that

we can

learn from.

other organizations so

need

to start

somewhere.

Now I'm

learning English so

I

can be more effective in

this

Holding Up Half the Sky

when people

society.

Before

them,

couldn't say anything.

I

yelled at I felt

me

47

for not understanding

just terrible.

Now

at least I

know enough to say, "Hey, why don't you help me learn?!" Unless we fight for our human rights, we can never change our

fate.

But the most important thing

is

that we, as

immigrant

human rights and link our arms other workers, immigrants, women, poor people, minorities,

workers, should stand up for our

with

the homeless, and everyone else that

We women must stand up

now!

life.

Chinese and Mexican workers almost simultaneously en-

tered the rock

bottom of the US labor market with the 1848 annex-

ation of Mexico and the 1849 rush to a half later as

"from

Mexican by

fighting for a decent

beyond the borders of Chinatown

Lin's call to action echoes far barrios.

slavery

is

77

Chinese immigrant can't see in the

sisters

Gold Mountain.

women

morning

A century and

fight against

sweatshop

to can't see at night," their

staunch the hemorhaging of tens of thousands jobs

NAFTA.

Chinese garment workers and

AIWA

activists picket Jessica

corporate headquarters in San Francisco.

Photo by Tu-Minh Trinh (1992)

McClintock, Inc.

Sweatshop Warriors

48

BoYee Seamstress, Janitor, was born

I

Kong when

Guangdong

in

We

band, (laughs)

big

that

crowd gathering

portant decisions. see. It

to

was laying

I

I

went

It

marry

a blind date.

me in China. Actually, what happened

bed reading

in

Hong my hus-

to

had already met

old. I

were kind of matched up through

Then he came back was

province, in China.

was around 20 years

I

AIWA Organizer

outside.

a

famous novel when

My big sister

used to make

turns out that she had brought a

I

heard a

all

the im-

man

was kind of like checking out the goods! Well,

for

me to

at that point,

my sister had already decided we should get married, so I did so during my second year in middle school. First we were engaged for about a year. there

were

My

husband

of short

a lot

is

At

ten years older than me.

women

around.

that time

My husband jokes

that he

could have just grabbed anyone, but he decided to go for a

woman like

My first

moving early,

self

so

when

now.

was

I

got married

1

I

was

still

young

1

went to work.

sew

for a big place.

958,

Two

when

I

was

1

7 and had

my

We were married for two years before My husband did not want to have kids too

20.

Hong Kong. we took some precautions

started to

shops.

I

to

because

Kong in I

kids are old

child

taller

me.

then. I I

at first. Plus I liked to

As soon

as

enjoy my-

we moved

to

Hong

haven't stopped working since then!

changed around to a lot of different

of the shops folded. The

first

department that they were going to close

one did not

down

tell

because

it

the labor

happened

The second one knew beforehand. When the boss was going to close down secretly, we found out and sent a letter to the Department of Labor. That made the boss so scared that he started so suddenly.

to

meet with the workers. In the next incident at that same shop,

we workers were not

happy about the holiday pay they were giving us. Holiday pay used be calculated in relation to our the boss unfair

wanted

to just

pay us a

salary, flat

to

divided by 21 days. But then

HK$20

to $30.

Because

this

was

we sent a group letter to the Department of Labor again. I was

not a leader in

this case,

but

I

learned a lot through this experience.

49

Holding Up Half the Sky-Interview

my

Especially in

team

department we worked

was not

If the price

spirit.

right,

group and had high

as a

we would

negotiate with the

supervisor. If we didn't get what we wanted, we would

The boss would come running after

just

walk out.

us to get us to go back to work.

Hong Kong, even at that time. of immigration of new workers from

This was an unusual situation in Afterwards, with the rush

China, the bonds of solidarity were broken and undercut.

you work with

come

of people from mainland China,

a lot

together as a team.

for shortcuts to get

Maybe

this is

hard to

due to some of the

political

from mainland China

history there. People

Whenever

it's

are practical.

They look

what they want rather than working together

over the long term to make change. Since I've

work

come

together. In

to the

my

US,

I've

found that people can't seem to

experience, seven out of ten

from mainland China. Maybe

this is their first

job sewing.

here. In

China they were farmers plowing the

feel like

making $1

is

is

a lot

One

here are

They learn

land. That's

why

they

of money and that finding any work

to jeopardize their jobs.

two kinds of psychology among people from mainland

I've seen

China.

a day

They don't want

precious.

women

is

very frugal, economical, and hard working.

ond doesn't work hard because they didn't have China and got off to

Hong Kong also

to

eat snacks in the afternoon.

have had a more comfortable

The

sec-

work hard jobs in

Some people from

life.

When

they

first

You just look at all those hard working people and you wonder how you are going to make enough money to live and get accustomed to this way of life. My first job was come

at a

here

it's

very hard to adjust.

white guy's garment shop. The older immigrants there worked

with a bowl of rice in front of their machine. They'd just work and eat,

work and

eat. I

thought

be easier to go back to

it

was

terrible

and that maybe

it

would

Hong Kong.

Now I've adjusted to the work. I've got three jobs —one sewing, one

as a janitor,

and one

even counting the work I

started

grated to the

I

as

an organizer with

do

at

AIWA. And

I'm not

home!

month after I got here. I immiUS because of my two sons. They were not going to be working

at a factory a

Sweatshop Warriors

50

happy

Hong Kong

in

not want to

come

after the

US

working

started

I

the

at

come in 1985. Lucky Sewing Company

Working there was

like

dows were

They wouldn't

had

locked.

My

1997 changeover.

husband did

but he did

June 1986.

in

being a prisoner in a sealed cage. All the winlet

you go

to the

bathroom. They

"No loud talking" signs posted. There were about 20 of us

working ten hours a day, seven days a week,

there

endlessly, without rest.

Most of the workers were from mainland China, although some came from Hong Kong and there were a few Latinos. The boss' wife created a tense, competitive atmosphere between the workers. She

would praise some people and downgrade perience,

not as

I

They would

skillful.

to catch up. I hated the

sacrifice their

way

the boss

Because of my ex-

who

are

lunch and break time to

try

made

one department who had

three of us in

would push us

to see

who

ple to exploit themselves. I

others.

can work faster than newer workers from China

couldn't

could finish

to

us compete. There were

produce 200 pieces. They

They were

first.

How disgusting!

hate

I

getting peo-

this!

communicate with the Latino workers, but you can

have fun without speaking each other's language. use body language and whatever Latinos were better.

We

You

method you can. The

were not forced

motion.

You

relations with

compete with each

to

other. I

thought America was a very advanced country, but working in

sweatshops here,

compared bosses. It

to

I

see that the garment industry

is

Hong Kong. I see workers exploited by Chinese me feel very sad and unhappy. I feel like we should

makes

be standing up for our rights and doing something. people in the public

Hong Kong write letters.

guage.

I

is

know what

my

is

my

I

can do what

mind. But here

can help

need to

let

me

speak

I

I like. I

can

do not have the

lan-

my

mind, of course I'm

it.

The Lucky Sewing Company workers got boss's daughter called the police

They

We

going on in the sweatshops.

country. There

can speak

Now if someone

going to do

pay.

very backward

are the ones that

police to kick us out!

when

the

on us because we wanted our back

owed

Can you

so angry

us money, but they

believe

it?

We

still

used the

tried to tell the police

51

Holding Up Half the Sky-Interview

how unfairly we had been treated so the

down the address of Department of Labor and drew a kind of map for us. First we went to Oakland Chinese Community Council [OCCC]

for help.

Someone

at

they wrote

OCCC said they could help us file a complaint

with the Department of Labor, but after that

was

a

member of AIWA and had

ment Program

class

discussion gave

when we Our case

shops.

me

I'll

a very strong impression

I

never forget the

of AIWA. So

ran into problems at Lucky Sewing

it

That

rang a

Company.

plays a very important role in the fight against sweat-

It is setting a

precedent for other workers to step forward and

bring forth their grievances.

are very

AIWA.

talked about the distribution of profits.

gether, especially people

who

to

attended the Leadership Develop-

about the garment industry.

workshop where we bell

we came

good

It is still

who do

very difficult to get people to-

know each

not

other.

Even people

friends get scared to criticize the bosses' actions.

They worry about themselves and their own families and are afraid to come out to protest. I think the campaign has already affected the contractors. They are not treating workers as harshly as before. They

know to

they'd better behave themselves. For example,

change the shop to paying by piece

because of me, since he knows

I

rates,

am

my

boss tried

but was hesitant to do so

involved in the [Garment

Workers Justice] Campaign. I

think

AIWA can improve its work by organizing a wide variety

of activities to bring more people

in.

Let the people talk about their

broad experiences. Let them pinpoint where the problems

from

there,

how

are,

and

to organize themselves to solve these problems.

me for sticking my neck out like this. This my sons and my husband believe that I am doing the right thing. They agree with me. (laughs) Perhaps my husPeople have

is

criticized

the Asian mindset. But

band would even push harder because we share

similar

ways of

thinking.

—Oakland, May

17,

1994

Sweatshop Warriors

52

Kwan "Annie"

Oi

Lai

Garment Worker, Campaigner against DKNY was born

I

in

Hong Kong in

passenger vans that carry

mom worked in a

factory

came

when

province. I'm not sure

born

there.

they

lived in

US

in 1998.

Pun Yu, Guangdong

to Hong Kong, but they Hong Kong, and we were all

moved

residents, got married in

We

My

for radio batteries. I'm

to the

parents were born in Dai Luck,

were long time

one of those

six to eight people, like a small bus.

making packaging

the oldest of five children; another

My

My dad drove

1953.

Kowloon, near the

airport.

We

always saw

the airplanes flying overhead.

went

I

I've

working when

to school until fifth grade. I started

12 in toys. First

I

made packaging

and

for toys

worked in the garment industry

for

also

I

was

sewed samples.

more than 20 years. The

fac-

Hong Kong mostly get business from American, Canadian, or European companies; at my factory we got work from all three. I tories in

did a lot of sample sewing.

We made underwear and stuff. The label

was pretty well known.

my

my parents because our family was very poor. At that time in Hong Kong we had to pay money to go to school. [Her eyes water.] I couldn't study long because my mom didn't have the $8 a month it cost to go to school. Mo chin [no money]. gave

I

So

that's

was

all

why

I left

better for

until

salary to

all

early to start working.

my

brothers and

sisters,

Because

I

was working

and they were able

Hong Kong

factories are not as

For instance,

it's

bad

as

New

York; actually

not as crowded as here. Also the

much pressure on the workers like work overtime, they paid you. sewing when I was 17 or 18, in 1969 or 1970.

bosses aren't putting as

when in the

garment industry

in 1979.

I

here,

and

they had you started

I

that's

go

middle school. After that they started working, too.

pretty good.

time

to

it

it

Then

I

was easy

sewed to

working

Hong Kong until I immigrated

for a

come

how I ended up started

in

French company

to the

US and

1

worked

to

Canada

in Montreal. At that

apply for a green card. So

over here. in

Chinatown garment

factories right away.

Holding Up Half the Sky-Interview

home

I've taken samples

When

I first

came over

to

to

work on and

Chinatown,

me

ada the boss was already giving

by the piece, but if you didn't sew

53

sewed

I've

in factories.

didn't like

I really

it.

$7 an hour (Canadian).

fast

In Can-

He

paid

enough, he would give you $7

anyway as the minimum. But I exceeded

that so

about $8 an hour. Every year in the summer

could usually

I

we

make

got off two weeks

vacation and also two at Christmas. Canada also has a five-day work-

week. After coming over here, fore in Canada.

Oh,

I

thought about

didn't like

I really

it

how life had been be-

here!

New York's Chinatown really kills you! When I first came to New York, a friend of a friend working in a Chinatown garment factory said that there

In one week

I

ing in Canada.

was

at night.

make

was

The

at first.

in 1982.

We

kind of

My husband works

it

to stores.

Our daughter Winnie was in 1991. The whole time

was born

New York, I've lived in Brooklyn.

I feel like all

hard

goods. In Brooklyn there are factories that

tofu and he delivers

I've lived in

really

factories are dirty, really filthy.

me and my husband

in 1988; Jennifer, this one,

Because

it

for a year or so before getting married.

as a driver, delivering

born

went. But

to $160, much lower than what I was makAnd you would go to work at nine in the morning and

friend introduced

went out

I

made $150

not get out until seven

A

a job so

these last few years have been the worst, the hardest.

these

undocumented Fuk Chau people

are coming,

and

they will just work day and night because they have to pay back the money they owe for their fares. The bosses especially exploit them. When we go to work at nine and leave at seven the boss is not all that happy that we're working a short number of hours. I see so many Fuk Chau people working until nine or ten o'clock at night. They still

don't want to leave. So, the boss likes those

workers more and doesn't nerable. They're very in

like us

undocumented

because he knows they're so vul-

— some have

young

left their

children behind

—and now we're older. We can't work those kind of long We have families here. Even getting off at seven, by the time

China

hours.

you get home

it's

eight-something.

Before in Midtown hardly anyone worked on Saturdays. You'd

be afraid

if

you had

to

work on Saturday

that

someone might

take

Sweatshop Warriors

54

your purse or something. But

is

now these last

competing for

When

jobs.

sometimes the boss would

first

I

of other people

I

started

it, it

working

My East Points

to work.

doesn't matter, I've got a lot

[factory]

calls at

there six or seven years.

boss fired

work

—even

me in

if your

But sometimes

they were smaller, would get fevers and

my

1997

my husband

fainted but

as

an example to

kids get sick.

I

worked

kids, especially

stuff.

My

and ask about what to do, but they wouldn't time

Midtown,

in

come

can hire."

workers not to get

One

Everybody

there.

with us to

really plead

Now they just say, "If you don't do

call

or seven years, Oh!

six

many Latino and Chinese workers up

there are so

let

when

husband would

me take the call.

no one was supposed

to call

me.

When my daughter got a high fever and the school said, "We have to call your mom," my daughter said, "No! Her boss is mean and will get mad about it." They tracked me down via my social security number and But right.

I

called.

also feel the boss did a lot of other things that weren't

For instance, she would pressure us

"Don't

raise

your head.

to

keep our heads down.

From when you start until you finish your One woman pulled her spine because

work, put your head down."

of

this.

They locked

the bathroom, too, and wouldn't let us use

Also, in the summertime, the water fountain broke.

They

it.

didn't get

someone to fix the thing for two weeks even though it was so hot. Maybe they wouldn't let us drink water so then we wouldn't have to go

to the

bathroom

at

all!

One time when they laid off a worker, the person went to the labor department, sued, and won some of their money back. After that the boss came in and pressured all of us to say that we had accepted cash and forced us

all

to sign these papers.

Everyone was

mad if they didn't sign, but no one knew what the paper said. But when the boss ordered them, everyone quickly signed. Because I don't speak English, I didn't know afraid that the boss

would

what the paper

and

didn't

want

said

to sign

it

I

get

didn't sign

or one day

I

to

come

to

I felt

that if

it's

not

clear, I

might run into a problem. Several

dozens of people signed it, everyone

and people

it.

else.

They got all

these foremen

my machine to try to pressure me. I

said,

"No

55

Holding Up Half the Sky-Interview

I

want

to take

says. If

it

it

"No! You

said,

home and look at it more before I sign it." And they You can't take it home. We'll just tell you what

can't.

you don't

sign

then you don't have to work here." So

it,

they were always using intimidation and

felt like

all

I

kinds of tactics to

pressure and control us.

When there

I

was

first

November 1998, how we were before among

reinstated to the factory in

was nothing unusual.

It

was

like

the workers. People were friendly and asked

then the next day on

No

day.

November

one paid any attention

how

10th, the change

to

me. As soon

had been. But

I

was

like

as they

night and

saw

would avoid me. Ahhh! At lunch time everyone would from me.

It

would

just

be

me

just the Chinese; the Latinos

that the big boss

cause

it

didn't

at

all

one

eat

And

they

away

it

wasn't

me too. So I got the

feeling

table

avoided

by myself.

me

and the foremen were controlling everything be-

make

sense that even the Latinos

would be

like this

toward me.

They said they were

closing the factory

had opened

found out

that the factory

went back

to the factory to get

all

the rest of the workers.

who were I

went

there

on December 31,1 998.

again.

On February 4,

my W-2 form

at

lunch time and saw

Everybody was working,

on December

31st

to talk to the boss. I said,

when

1999,

the factory

all

those people

was

closing.

"Don't play with me!" She

So

said,

"Leave!" don't

I

know how

long they had been open; probably always.

The boss has two company names. One was Couture, and one, Choe. They closed the Choe company. Couture continued to operate, but I don't know when they actually called the workers back. I kept

this

newspaper ad from February 3rd

people. After reading the newspaper,

covered everyone was working

I

that said they

were hiring

went back on the 4th and dis-

there.

my boss a lot of opportunities but she doesn't want to me down, shoving me down, but I have to condnue fighting. Some people got mad at me because I've given

meet

me

halfway. She keeps putting

the boss told them,

"Oh, wages used

Now

it's

totally paid

want

me

to

to be paid half cash, half check.

by check because of her." The boss doesn't

win because

if I

go back

there, she can't

commit any

Sweatshop Warriors

56

more tem

she can. This abusive sweatshop sys-

illegal actions; if I lose,

not

is

right.

On January 4th

had gone

I

boss had just closed the factory.

nothing

we can do about

manufacturer,

DKNY,

it.

to the

union and told them that

The union people

"Oh,

said,

time so

the manufacturer

me

for suing!

why shouldn't I be

that, isn't that directed at

is

mad

at

your boss and

The union

go

better get a lawyer to

hundred

ple

So

"My

I said,

boss didn't pay for over-

suing them? If they are closing

me?" The union

of the money they owe you yet?"

rest

there's

Because you're suing the boss and the

not giving them any work. So your boss had to close."

was blaming

my

after

it.

asked,

said no.

I

down like

"Did you get the They told me I'd

How come every year we pay a cou-

dollars dues but the

union doesn't even help us?

It just

helps the bosses.

At

didn't

first I

know

Department of Labor

come

to

to

CSWA because I went to

to complain. This Chinese person

was

the

trying

me get my overtime pay and took my case. After finding out that I'd gone to the Department of Labor, the boss gave me a 1099 to help

Form

for $6,000.

My

boss was going to use

this

Form

1099

back at me for suing, saying I'd have to pay a lot of taxes. so I

I

called

do.

are

He

Mr. Chun

said,

working in

boss

is

at the

a

union

doing an

factory.

ally

me

this

Lai. You're a union worker. You You shouldn't get a 1 099 Form. Your

to

go

cash.

I

I

said,

UNITE

to the

said, "Right,

1099 Form. In

angry and upset.

me

afraid

illegal thing."

Local 22, the business agent

giving

was

Department of Labor asking what should

"Don't worry Mrs.

Mr. Chun told

posed to get

I

to get

asked

if

"Why

fact,

my

office.

you got

When I went

cash. You're sup-

you should pay

taxes."

boss wasn't the one

aren't

to

I

was

re-

at fault for

you saying anything about

my

The union told me they couldn't do company was controlled by an "evil force." I got really angry. So I called Mr. Chun at the Department of Labor again. Then he told me to go to CSWA and said, "They might boss doing anything wrong?" anything because the

ask you for a I

can afford

little it,

money." But by then

I will

March or April 1998,

pay." But since

I

I

was

furious.

started

they've never asked

me

I

coming

for

told him, "If to

money.

CSWA in

If this asso-

57

Holding Up Half the Sky-Interview

would

ciation did not exist, things

mine who would help us? Look not

like a lot

of power.

from the boss, don't

I

I

me,

at

know where

can go. I'm

I

be bad

just

we

With

When

I

a case like

fighting;

it's

got the letter

home crying and saying, "I But if we have CSWA sup-

at

lost."

can do a

off.

one person

don't speak English.

could have just stayed

porting and helping us

After

really

lot.

CSWA and NMASS sent letters to Donna Karan demand-

ing that she take responsibility for the sweatshop conditions of her

subcontractor, not only did she not take responsibility, she pulled

out

all

her garments and took them someplace

name,

how can it have this kind of sweatshop

clothing to rich people.

make on my

salary. It's

poor people

to wear.

to accept this kind

ments

a

week.

I

I

mean,

I

can't afford any

more than $1,000

of sweatshop system?

was

careful in

ments for thousands of and Chinese workers

factory?

my work

I

of the clothes

I

Why do we have

used to sew about 80 gar-

because they

The Koreans got

dollars.

They sell

for a garment. It's not for

was making $6.50 an hour.

I

causing the fac-

had no work. This company has such

tory to close. Seventy workers a big

else,

sell

these gar-

paid $7 an hour

Latinos did the cleaning, pressing, and

less.

hand work, and got the lowest wages. So

in

May 1999 we had a press conference in front of the Donna

Karan headquarters seven of the Latinas

telling

who used to work with me came we

our campaign. Together

of

everyone what happened. After

that,

out and joined

held another press conference in front

DKNY in June. Since then many other garment workers, young

women, and

students have also supported us, and

we picketed a new

DKNY store in August. Other DKNY garment workers are similar conditions

facing

and coming forward. Then we had a big meeting

November with women workers and students where we talked how we need to fight back. We all picketed her store again. We are saying to Donna Karan that she has to take re-

in

about our case and

sponsibility to reinstate

owed, that

all

all

of

us,

her clothes will be

that 75 percent of her clothes be

to us for the treatment

we

pay the wages and damages we're

made in factories obeying the law, made locally, and that she say sorry

suffered

making her

clothes.

Sweatshop Warriors

58

I

feel like

Hong Kong is

cess to control

to fight.

and intimidate workers.

is it

such a bad system? this

It's just

kind of

this

outrageous!

pressured me, pushed

really

me

pro-

I just

to

have

Because the conditions in the factory and the way the boss

DKNY has treated us were so bad,

hope we win fight

why

such a big country that they have

is

This time they

feel so angry.

but

such a small place that you wouldn't have

treatment. But Meigivo

and

US now,

I'm in the

this

campaign so

I

have

that other

felt terrible

women

pressure.

see that

I

we can

and win.

My husband has supported me all along the way. But my mom is yelling at ily

to get

me.

Why? Because the boss is putting pressure on our fam-

back

worry about my fluenced by

Ehhhh!

My

at

me.

My mom

mom. I

my mom's

feel like

lives

thinking

two daughters

with us in Brooklyn.

what I'm doing is I

right. If I

I

can't

were

in-

wouldn't go anywhere, [laughs]

are really

mad

at the boss.

They

say,

"Don't mess with our mom!"

—New York City, March 28, 1999, and April 2, 2000

%NV

Chinese and Latina workers, protest to a

York

City,

Photo by

DKNY

November

CSWA

CSWA, and NMASS

take their

subcontracted shop on 8th Ave., 29, 2000.

New

59

Notes to Holding Up Half the Sky

1

National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, 1999b.

2

See

3

Peter, 1987:151-154 on the 1982 strike by 20,000 New York Chinatown garment workers; Lam, 1 976; Yung, 1 986:290; interview with Bea Tarn Dong and Harvey Dong, May 4, 1997, on the 1974 garment workers strike against the Great Chinese American (Jung Sai) Company, owned by Esprit de Corps and the Lee Mah electronic workers strike against Farinon; interview with Lorajo Foo, April 11, 1997 on the Jung Sai garment workers strike and 1980 San Francisco hotel workers strike.

Salaff, 1995; Asia Monitor Resource Center, 1998a; China Labour Education and Information Centre, 1995.

Kwong,

Wu Wan Mei, March 26,

4 5

Borchard, 1995:117-122.

6

Borchard, 1995:122.

Interview with

Women

7

Chinese

8

Schadler, 1995:128.

9

Horn, 1992a:173-191.

10 11

Salaff, 1995;

24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

999.

Borchard, 1995:121.

Hook, 1996a; Hook, 1996b; Mei, 1984; and

To

Interview with Linda

March

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Investigation, cited in

1

of

Solinger, 1999.

Hong Kong Women Workers

Association,

15, 1996.

Interview with

Wu Wan Mei, March 26, Wong, August

Interview with Helen

7,

1

1

999.

990.

Interview with "Lisa," March 30, 1999.

Bo Yee testimony, May 1, 1993. See AIWA, Kwan and Leung, 1998:191-241.

1995a:6.

Salaff, 1995:xvi-xxiii.

Asian Migrant Centre, 1996b.

Committee

for Asian

Lee, Ching

Kwan,

Tsang,

1

Women,

1995b.

1998; and Salaff, 1995:xvi-xxiii.

994: 1 25-43, cited in Salaff,

Solinger, 1999;

1

995:xviii.

and Spence, 1990:673-74.

Asia Monitor Resource Center, 1996.

Kwan

and Leung,

1

988: 1 92.

China Labour Education & Information Centre, 1995:2-9. The Chinese government calls this labor reserve the "floating population." Kwan and Leung, 1998:203, 191-241. Interview with

Chan Wai Fun, June

Interview with Lee Yin

Kwan and

25, 1990.

Wah, October

24,

1

996.

Leung, 1988:203.

Hing, 1993:36. Hing, 1993:48. See also Yung, 1986 and 1995.

Compared

to previous

and educational

waves of Asian immigrant laborers, the higher income of the more professional and wealthy strata of

levels

Sweatshop Warriors

60

newcomers and

their children later

gave

rise to the

"model minority" myth of

pan-Asian upward mobility.

32 33 34 35 36 37

Kwong,

Peter, 1987:5.

Hing, 1993:81. Interview with Helen

Interview with

Wong, August

1990.

7,

Wu Wan Mei, March 26, May 1 8, Fen, May 7,

Interview with Jenny Chen,

Testimony of Lin Cai

1

1999.

997.

1995, in Center for

Women's Global

Leadership, 1995.

38 39 40 41

Strand and Jones,

Kwong,

44 45 46 47 48

49 50 51 52 53 54

985:28, cited in Hing,

1

993:283.

Verhovek, 2000: Al. See

Kwong,

1993:20; and

42 43

1

Peter, 1997:1-7.

Peter,

1997; also 1994a:25-29 and 1994b:422-425; Ying Chan,

Warren Hodge, 2000.

Kwong, May

Interview with Peter

21, 1997.

For an example of the view of the Chinatown garment industry as an example of ethnic resiliency, see Zhou, 1992.

May

Interview with Jenny Chen,

18, 1997.

Center for Economic and Social Rights, 1999:5.

Kwong,

Abeles, 1983:23-25; also see

Peter, 1987:30.

Center for Economic and Social Rights, 1999:5.

Bonacich and Appelbaum, 2000:171. Bonacich and Appelbaum argue that ethnic subcontractors, particularly Korean owners who employ mainly Latina/o workers, play the role of "middle minorities," buffering white and Jewish manufacturers and retailers from the Latina and Asian sweatshop workers toiling in post-Rodney King LA. Bonacich and Appelbaum, 2000:181 and 218.

Angwin, 1996:C1.

Houston Chronicle

Service, 1994:23A; Gerlin, 1994:B1.

See Bonacich and Appelbaum, 2000:184-187.

Sweatshop Watch, 2000:1-3.

Sweatshop Watch presentation at "Sweatshop Labor on the US Marianas Islands" Community Forum, February 3, 1999, UNITE office, San Francisco.

55 56 57 58 59 60 61

Bonacich and Appelbaum, 1994:177-181. Interview with Helen

Wong, August

Interview with Jenny Chen,

Interview with

May

7,

1

Wu Wan Mei, March 26,

Interview with Oi

990.

18, 1997.

Kwan "Annie"

Lai,

1

999.

March

28, 1999.

Interview with "Lisa," March 30, 1999.

Testimony of Helen Wong at community hearings on health problems Asian immigrant communities, April 20, 1990.

Amy

62

Interview with

63

Interview with Lee Yin

64

Interview with

Amy

Xie,

March

29, 1999.

Wah, October

Xie,

March

24, 1996

29, 1999.

and March 29, 1999.

in

61

Notes to Holding Up Half the Sky

65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73

Interview with Lee Yin

Interview with Lee Yin

Wah, October 24, 1 996. Wah, March 29, 1 999.

Interview with Jenny Chen,

May

Interview with "Lisa," March 30,

Asian Immigrant

18,1 997. 1

999.

Women Advocates,

Interview with Lee Yin

Wah, March

2000b.

29,

1

999.

Chinese Staff and Workers Association, 2000. National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, 1999a.

See the Center for Economic and Social Rights, 1999, for a detailed analysis

of the specific violations of the workers'

rights

and the

manufacturer, subcontractor, government agencies, and

74

culpability

of the

UNITE.

Greenhouse, 2000. Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. 2000.

75 76 77

Amy Kwong,

1998.

Interview with

Interview with

19,1994.

Wu Wan Mei, March 26, 999. AIWA Workers Board members, including Lin Cai Fen, April 1

PODER

Viola Casares and Petra Mata of Fuerza Unida and Geri

Almanza of

demanding corporate

San Francisco.

responsibility at Levi's headquarters in

Photo by Pamela Chiang (1998)

Chapter Two

Mujer Luchando, Mundo Transformando! iLa

El

Women Workers

Mexican Immigrant At

their

November

Dia

de

Los Muertos [Day of the Dead] celebration on

1994, las mujeres [the women] look gaunt but on a The women are members of Fuerza Unida, the organization they created with their own hands and hearts when Levi Strauss & Co. laid them off and ran away to Costa Rica in 1990. They have trekked all the way from San Antonio with sleeping bags 1,

spiritual high.

to

haunt Levi's plaza and corporate headquarters

in

San Francisco,

California.

So

that

CEO Robert Haas will hear their cries

sponsibility loud

and

clear, the

women

shout

for corporate re-

at the

tops of their

lungs, /No tenemos hambre de comida; tenemos hambre dejusticial [We're not

hungry for food; we're hungry for their 21 -day rolls]

ers.

hunger

justice!].

strike savoring the miracle

and steaming cups of coffee carted

Their comadre

[girlfriend]

revolutionaries]

Pancho

who

Villa, the soldaderas

in

Puerto Rican

these huelgistas de hambre [hunger strikers]

new

feet as

their

by

of pan duke [sweet

their

activist

many

support-

Luz Guerra

calls

las nuevas revolucionarias [the

picked up where Emiliano Zapata,

and

adelitas

[women

panions] of the 1910 Mexican Revolution

Throwing back

The women gendy break

soldiers

and com-

left off.

heads in laughter, they clap and tap their

QMQ2.no poeta / musico / activista Arnoldo Garcia serenades them

with his

new

rendition of a traditional Mexican song:

63

Sweatshop Warriors

64

La Fuerza Unida

En

los /rentes de liberation

de este pueblo de trabajadores

Existen mujeres fuertes j

valientes

Existen mujeres que saben luchar

En

ciudadesj campos seforman

dando fuerza j

vision

Son trabajadoras

a

los pueblos

radientes de luchas

Son trabajadoras dejusticiajpa^

Su

culturay trabajo respeten

Con

la fuerza de su dignidad

Son

las costureras pidiendo justicia

Son

las costureras

Son

las despla^adas de la

que saben luchar

Levis

Luchadoras del gran movimiento

Son

las costureras de la

Son

las costureras de liberation

tle

Fuerza Unida

As Mexico's former dictator Porfirio Diaz lamented, "Poor lit2 Mexico, so far from God, so close to the United States." Mex-

ico's fateful

proximity to the developing "Colossus of the North"

3

has long shaped the destiny of its working people and the national, race,

and

States

class

formation of the United

annexed half of Mexico's

States.

territory

Ever since the United

by seizing Texas

in

1836

and launching the Mexican- American War (1845-1848), Mexican workers have served the

bumps and

as a giant labor reserve

potholes of

2,000-mile border with the

its

US economic

and shock absorber for 4

development. Sharing a

powerful neighbor to the north, Mexico

is

3

homeland of an estimated 40 percent of US immigrants. Migra-

tion to the United States also serves as a safety net for Mexico's eco-

nomic and a year,

political system, yielding remittances

one of the

along with the

oil,

largest sources

of at

least

$6 billion

of Mexico's foreign exchange,

tourism, and maquiladora industries.

6

Chicana labor historian Vicki Ruiz says that Mexicanas crossed

{La

65

Mujer Luchando!

the border as "farm worker mothers, railroad wives, and miners'

daughters" to join male relatives recruited by those burgeoning industries during the spate of post-Civil

War US industrial expansion. 7

Especially since the 1920s, Mexican immigrant women and

US-born

Chicanas have emerged as the backbone of many of the lowest-paying,

most back-breaking jobs

orado, Arizona, and shelling,

Illinois,

in Texas, California,

New Mexico, Col-

such as the agribusiness, cannery, pecan

food processing, garment, and domestic service

Mexicana labor migration has

also increased to the

US

industries.

Northwest,

8

Midwest, East, and South. By the end of 1 996 there were 9.6 million Latinas in the United States, including 5.7 million

can origin,

1.1

and another

million Puerto Rican

2.3 million

women

of Mexi-

women, 485,000 Cuban women,

women of Latin American descent. 9 Latinas

continue to have the highest concentrations of workers in "blue col-

and the lowest

lar" operative jobs

in

management and professions

10

among all races of women. The rise in export-oriented production rations along the

US-Mexico border

for transnational corpo-

since the 1960s

and other

as-

pects of economic restructuring have accelerated Mexicanas internal

and

cross-border

labor

revolucion arias started

Many of

migration.

today's

working on the global assembly

line as

nuevas

young

women in northern Mexico for foreign transnational corporations. Some women worked on the US side as "commuters" before they moved

across the border with their families. Their stories reveal the

length, complexity,

and interpenetration of the

economies, labor markets,

histories, cultures,

US and Mexican

and race

relations.

The

women talk about the devastating impact of globalization, including massive layoffs and the spread of sweatshops on both sides of the border. Las mujeres recount what drove

ments for economic,

racial,

them

and gender

to join

and lead move-

justice, as well as the chal-

lenges they faced within their families and communities to assert their basic

human

rights.

The women

featured in this chapter play

leadership roles in La Mujer Obrera [The

Woman

Worker]

in El

Paso, Texas, Fuerza Unida [United Force] in San Antonio, Texas,

and the Thai and Latino Workers Organizing Committee of the Retailers

Accountability Campaign in Los Angeles, California.

Sweatshop Warriors

66

Growing up Female and Poor Mexican

women

and

were

girls

traditionally

expected to do

all

the cooking, cleaning, and serving for their husbands, brothers, and sons.

For

from poor

girls

sponsibilities

families, shouldering these

proved doubly

difficult

farm, sweatshop, or domestic service

"Cuca"

Arrieta, the only daughter

Jimenes, Chihuahua, reluctantly I

stayed

I

went

home because I had

to school

At

third grade.

and

re-

work

simultaneously. Refugio

of farm worker parents in Ciudad school

left

early:

of my younger brothers.

to take care

and finished no more than the

the nearby ranchitos

[little

read and write. Before starting school to read

domestic

because they also performed

I

farms]

first,

second, and

we learned how to

had already learned

how

11

write. I taught myself.

whose mother died heavy housework she did as the

Petra Mata, a former seamstress for Levi's shortly after childbirth, recalls the

only daughter: Aiyeee, I

was

let

me tell you!

It

was very hard. In those times

raised with the ideal that

you have

wash your —cook, make wanted you way they —

thing

house very tell

tortillas,

just the

strict. I

to learn to

clothes,

in

Mexico,

do every-

and clean the

My grandparents

to.

always had to ask their permission and then

let

were

them

me what to do. I was not a free woman. Life was hard for me.

didn't have

much of a childhood; I

or 13 years old.

started

working when

I

I

was 12

12

Neoliberalism and Creeping Maquiladorization

These

women came

the relationship

Puerto Rico,

of age during

between the Mexican and

Hong Kong,

of the global assembly

1965 the Mexican government

Program (BIP)

that set

of major change in

US

economies. Like

South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singa-

pore, and the Philippines, northern stations

a period

line

Mexico served

as

one of the

first

tapping young women's labor. In

initiated the

up export

Border Industrialization

plants, called

maquiladoras or

maquilas, which were either the direct subsidiaries or subcontractors

of transnational corporations. Mexican government incentives to

US and

other foreign investors included low wages and high pro-

ductivity; infrastructure; proximity to

US

markets,

of the

women worked

Antonia Flores describes her co-workers

where she worked

as purasjovenas

supervisors vjzizpuros varones

[all

[all

life-

13

and garment

electronics

in

maquiladoras before crossing the border to work in

plant

and

facilities,

loopholes; and pliant, pro-government unions.

styles; tariff

Many

67

Mujer Luchando!

;La

US plants. Maria

in the Juarez electronics

young women], while the

male]. Describing her quarter-cen-

tury-long sewing career in Mexico, Celeste Jimenez ticks off the

names of famous US manufacturers who hopped over

the border to

take advantage of cheap wages: I

sewed

name

for twenty-four years

factories

when

maquiladoras. Everyone was

down

Levi

there.

called Blanca Garcia.

status

the

wage

the maquilas because of the un-

I

worker

was born

who

ran a

in

first

Mexico City

little

in 1959.

workshop about

worked

to get a contract

My mom

this size.

brothers. I'm in the middle.

school so tro

Marta Martinez, a

I

mom:

But

got to be a teacher.

...

I

1

Once in a while

had four

I

983,

a seamstress

a maquiladora.

was able

In

was

[She points to Fuerza

area.]

and work for

as a campesino [farm worker].

are ei-

below the "family wage,"

learned to sew from her

Unida's small sewing coop production

was able

—where men

sufficient to support a family.

laid-off Levi's

company might it would be

a

Mexico

in

of male family members

ther absent, unemployed, or earning well i.e.,

in big

and Lee

14

Many of the women worked in economic

Chihuahua

Strauss,

Here

under the brand name of Lee; there

sell

stable

lived in

I

Kid,

the

Billy

like

1

sisters

she

Dad

and three

to finish 12 years

worked

of

for the Cas-

company on this side, making baby clothes. It wasn't hard to I already knew from my mom how to use an industrial ma-

learn.

chine.

15

Transnational exploitation of women's labor was part of a

broader

set

of policies that

critical

opposidon movements

Third World have dubbed "neoliberalism," British Liberal Party's

the rising

program of laissez

European and US

19th centuries.

colonial

i.e.,

the

new version of the

faire capitalism

powers during the

The Western powers, Japan, and

in the

espoused by late

1

8th and

international finan-

Sweatshop Warriors

68

the

rial institutions like

World Bank and International Monetary Fund

have aggressively promoted neoliberal policies since the 1970s.

Mexico served

as

16

an early testing ground for such standard

neoliberal policies as erection of free trade zones; commercialization

of agriculture; currency devaluation; deregulation; privatization; outsourcing; cuts in wages and social programs; suppression of workers', women's, and indigenous people's rights; militarization;

free

trade;

and promotion of neoconservative ideology.

Neoliberalism intersects with gender and national oppression.

Third World

women

constitute the majority of migrants seeking

jobs as maids, vendors, maquila operatives, and service industry

workers.

Women

also pay the highest price for cuts in education,

health and housing programs, and food and energy subsidies and increases in their unpaid labor.

The human economic

17

costs of Mexico's neoliberal

crisis are

program and extended

evident in the 60 percent drop in real

wages between 1982 and 1988 and the 30 percent drop

minimum in internal

consumption of basic grains during the 1980s. 18 In 1986, some 62 percent of the economically active population of Mexico earned

sub-minimum wages. 19 In 1994,

the

World Bank estimated

that 38

percent of the total population of Mexico lived in absolute poverty.

Two

out of five households had no water supply, three out of five

had no drainage, and one

in three

had no

The deepening of the economic

electricity.

crisis in

20

Mexico, especially un-

der the International Monetary Fund's pressure to devaluate the

peso in 1976, 1982, and 1994, forced many the

to

work in both

formal and informal economy to survive and meet their

childrearing

was forced ily,

women

and household

to

work two

responsibilities.

21

Maria Antonia Flores

jobs after her husband

abandoned the fam-

leaving her with three children to support. She had

to leave her children

home

alone,

solitos,

no choice but

to look after themselves.

Refugio Arrieta straddled the formal and informal economy because her job in an auto parts assembly maquiladora failed to bring in sufficient income.

hours

at

We

To compensate

for the shortfall, she

worked longer

her maquila job and "moonlighted" elsewhere:

made

chassis for cars

and

for the headlights.

I

worked

lots!

I

69

Mujer Luchando!

;La

worked 12 hours more or less because they paid you worked more, you got more money.

I

us so

little

that if

did this because the

You have to buy the And I had five kids. It's very expensive. I also worked out of my house and sold ce22 ramics. I did many things to get more money for my kids. schools in Mexico don't provide everything.

books, notebooks,

todos, todos

[everything].

In the three decades following

its

humble beginnings

in the

mid-1960s, the maquila sector swelled to more than 2,000 plants

employing an estimated 776,000 people, over 10 percent of Mexico's labor force.

largest source

23

In 1985, maquiladoras overtook tourism as the

of foreign exchange. In 1996,

petroleum-related industries

counted for over US$29

in

this sector trailed

only

economic importance and

ac-

4

The

billion in

export earnings annually.

maquila system has also penetrated the interior of the country, as in the

case

of Guadalajara's

assembly

electronics

Tehuacan's jeans production zones.

25

industry

and

Although the proportion of

male maquila workers has increased since 1983, especially in auto-transport equipment assembly, almost 70 percent of the workers continue to

As

be women.

26

part of a delegation of labor and

human

rights activists, this

author met some of Mexico's newest proletarians

nous

—young

indige-

women migrant workers from the Sierra Negra to Tehuacan, a

town famous

for

its

refreshing mineral water springs in the state of

Puebla, just southeast of Mexico City. Standing packed like cattle in the back of the trucks each

morning the

sewing for name brand manufacturers (producing Lee brand clothing), The

like

women

headed for jobs

Guess?,

VF Corporation

GAP, Sun Apparel

(producing

brands such as Polo, Arizona, and Express), Cherokee, Ditto Apparel of California, Levi's, tion

members

that their

12-hour work days, to

do

six

and others. The workers told

US

delega-

wages averaged US$30 to $50 a week for

days a week.

Some workers

reported having

once or twice a week. Employees often

veladas [all-nighters]

stayed longer without pay

if

they did not finish high production

goals.

Girls as

young

as 12

were searched when they

and 13 worked left for

in the factories.

lunch and again

at the

Workers

end of the

Sweatshop Warriors

70

day to check that they weren't stealing materials.

when

tinely given urine tests

were promptly

Women were rou-

hired and those found to be pregnant

fired, in violation

of Mexican labor law. Although the

workers had organized an independent union several years Tehuacan's

Human Rights Commission members

told us that

Carmen Valadez and Reyna Montero, long-time Mujer Factor

social justice

X in

had

activists in the

movements, helped found Casa de La

1977, a workers' center in Tijuana that organizes

around women's workplace, reproductive, and health against domestic violence. Valadez

and Montero say

wages and dangerous working conditions

rights,

and

that the

low

characteristic

of the

maquiladoras on the Mexico-US border are being "extended to eas

it

27

collapsed after one of its leaders was assassinated.

women's and

earlier,

all ar-

of the country and to Central America and the Caribbean.

NAFTA gion."

represents nothing but the 'maquiladorization' of the re-

28

Elizabeth "Beti" Robles Ortega,

who began working

in the

maquilas at the age of fourteen and was blacklisted after participating in independent union organizing drives

now works as AC (SEDEPAC)

border, Paz,

tion].

on Mexico's northern

an organizer for the Servicio, Desarrollo y [Service, Development and Peace organiza-

Robles described the erosion of workers rights and women's

health under

NAFTA:

NAFTA has led to an increase in the workforce, as foreign industry

has grown. They are reforming labor laws and our constitution

more

to favor even

our labor

from us

free organization

Because foreign

we must have

capital

shamelessly.. are

.

is

now

unfair against

is

trying to take

away

which was guaranteed by Mexican law. investing in

Mexico and

is

dominating,

The government is just there with its always had them out but now even more

guarantees.

hands held out;

women

foreign investment, which

For example, they are

rights.

.

it's

Ecological problems are increasing.

—

coming down with cancer

skin

A majority of

and breast cancer,

leukemia, and lung and heart problems. There are daily deaths of

worker women. water and the in

Acuna and

You

air.

can see and

As soon

as

you

feel the

arrive

Piedras Negras [border

and

cities

contamination of the start

breathing the

between the

states

air

of

jLa

Coahuila and Texas], you sense the heavy •

•

vomiting.

71

Mujer Luchando!

air,

making you

feel like

29

X

Like Casa de La Mujer Factor

in Tijuana,

and the

women

workers' centers and cooperatives whose work the Frente Autentico

delTrabajo (FAT) has prioritized especially since 1992, also participates in national

networks of Mexican

SEDEPAC

women

workers

such as the Red de Trabajadores en Las Maquilas, which meets annually in different cities in the northern border region, as well as in

binational networks like the Southwest

and Economic Justice.

Network

for

Environmental

30

Maquiladorization Accelerates Migration

Many of

the Mexicanas migrated to the United States in a

two-stage migration process, similar to

many of

the Asian

workers. Migration to the northern border region offered

proximity to family

members working on

the other side, and after

the initiation of the Border Industrialization tential

employment opportunities

women women

Program

as well. Patricia

in 1965,

po-

Fernandez-Kelly

has suggested that by recruiting mainly young female workers, the

border maquiladora program ended up drawing even more migrants to the border, yet failed to reduce male farm workers'

ment caused by termination of the Bracero Program government had

originally planned.

Many

border eventually cross into the United

unemploy-

as the

Mexican

migrants to the northern

States.

31

For example, La Mujer Obrera organizer Irma Montoya Barajas

was born she

in the central

Mexican

moved with her parents

father

found work

nine brothers and

state

as a carpenter while her

sisters. Similarly

the central state of Zacatecas, but

when

of Aguascalientes. At age ten

to Juarez in northern

Mexico, where her

mother took care of her

Maria Antonia Flores was born

moved

with her family to Juarez

she was eight years old. There her parents found

working in maquilas,

restaurants,

Fuerza Unida traces her roots to

and

as

Nuevo

little

village

of Bustamente,

odd

jobs

food vendors. Petra Mata of Laredo, Tamaulipas, across

from Laredo, Texas. But she and her parents were the

in

actually

born

in

Nuevo Leon. They moved when

they could no longer survive through farming, and Petra's grandfa-

Sweatshop Warriors

72

and

ther

many Mexican and Chinese immigrant men,

father, like

got

jobs working for the railroad.

Over time Mexican migration networks have become more

re-

Antonia Flores explains that while many

gionally diverse. Maria

workers migrate from areas adjacent to the border: People come here from almost

Mexico the

to find

nation

work due

to the

all

of the

states in the

south of

economic problems throughout

and precisely because

of the

of

pull

all

the

maquiladoras located on the border. So every day people arrive

at

the maquilas from the south looking for work and trying to better their struggle to

survive.

But they find

Around here many people come from

nada [nothing].

nada,

Coahuila, Durango,

Zacatecas, and Chihuahua, but over there in Tijuana, there are also people

almost

all

from Chiapas, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosi,

of the

states.

that

is

to say

32

Alberta "Bed" Carino Trujillo, a dedicated organizer for the hu-

man

rights

commission

in

Tehuacan, Puebla,

the southern coastal state of Oaxaca.

originally

comes from

With her mother and

siblings,

Carino struggled to survive in Oaxaca while her father worked as a migrant laborer picking oranges up in California.

Carino

anxious to

is

make

contact with

US

immigrant and

workers' rights groups to develop an information network. She and her co-workers teach a night school for garment workers and their children in Tehuacan.

on

The human

rights

workers are concentrating

the fight for better wages and working conditions locally, and

against

toxic-waste

dumping and water contamination by

the

maquilas, lack of childcare and educational opportunities, domestic

and

street violence,

pecially

among

unwanted pregnancies, and high

single mothers.

information about what

They

life is like

also

for

want

stress levels, es-

to provide accurate

immigrant workers in the

United States to dispel any illusions potential migrants might have. 33

Indeed the information "grapevine" extends into the farthest corners of Mexico. In the colonia [newly

built,

ban settlement] of Nezahuacoyotl on the

members of a

local

poorly served, subur-

outskirts

poor women's group shared

the United States during a visit

of Mexico

their

City,

knowledge of

from international participants of

a

]La

73

Mujer Luchando!

November 1989 garment workers' conference in Mexico City. Many

women were themselves internal migrants to

of the

est city fast

the world's larg-

and they proudly told conference delegates of a

free break-

and milk program they developed so that poor children would

not go to school on empty stomachs.

A Chicana activist's description of her work with immigrants in Los Angeles, unleashed an animated exchange with the Mexicana colonia organizers.

"Chicago

is

bad place

a

Mexican workers."

for

"Don't go to Fresno, they already have too many Mexicans; you can't find a job

does not

like

anymore." "Orange County

Mexicans."

"Go

cousin got a job there, and she for her

very conservative and

Washington

to

likes

it

so

to pick apples.

much,

she's

My

going to send

34 two daughters." Perhaps some of such Mexicana organiz-

ers contributed their experience to the

ton's apple orchards.

the Border

United Farm Workers Union

Mexican immigrants

efforts in the 1990s to organize

When

is

in

Washing-

35

Was Just a

Bridge

between Neighborhoods The wide variety in the immigration and citizenship

women and their family members

status

reflects the permeability

der that workers of Mexican descent have criss-crossed since

nexation in 1848. After centuries of relatively free the region, only in 1924 did the

US government

of the

of a bor-

US an-

movement within create the

Border

Patrol and the notion of the "illegal alien," thus transforming Mexi-

can workers into potential fugitives of the law unless they could

se-

cure official permits. Yet employers escaped responsibility and often

used the fear of deportation to lower the wages of undocumented workers.

36

The period from World War marked the

first

big

I

until the

wave of migration when

Great Depression

the

US government

launched a contract-labor program for male migrant workers, the predecessor of the Bracero Program. cruitment efforts states

initially

targeted

37

Mexican government

men from

re-

the central western

of Michoacan, Jalisco, and Guanajuato. These workers served

as the links

of migration chains stretching between

rural

Mexican

Sweatshop Warriors

74

communities to ies

from

all

the

US

specific

Mexican

farms and towns.

38

Over

states contributed to the

time, tributar-

flow of Mexican

workers across the border.

The elder relatives of many of the women interviewed for this book had worked in the United States, especially as farm workers, railroad workers, States or

and miners. Some had been born

had become

US

in the

United

citizens at other times in their lives, yet

continued to migrate across the border in both directions. For example, Celeste Jimenez was born in the northern state of Chihuahua

Yet she

in 1939.

My

father

explains:

was born

in Candelario, Texas,

Blanca. I'm 100 percent Mexican.

and

my mom was

and two boys.

I

My

and

father

my mom

worked

in Sierra

raising cattle

There were ten children, eight

a housewife.

was born in Mexico. I'm the

third oldest

girls

among the

My dad was a US citizen. My mom was a Mexican citizen. She was born in California but lived in Chihuahua most of her life. My mom's parents came here [to the US] in 1942. In 1964, my mom kids.

and dad came here too, but they didn't work anymore because they were getting too

old. In 1982, 1

I'm a permanent

came here directly from Chihuahua.

legal resident.

Similarly Maria del

39

Carmen Dominguez

describes the peripa-

wanderings of her farm worker father and

tetic

moved

how

her mother

closer to the border, anchoring the family:

My father was born in California and lived and worked in Mexico many, many years. to

Los Angeles

other jobs.

and

He also worked in El Paso, Texas and traveled

to

work

in the fields with

machines and doing

My mother was born in Chihuahua, Mexico.

raised four children.

She stayed

in

She bore

Ciudad Juarez most of her

40 life.

Although Carmen "Chitlan" Ibarra Lopez was born hua where her father worked

as a

miner and her mother

in

Chihua-

as a

home-

maker, she traces her cross-border roots to her grandparents' generation: I

became

US citizen through my mother because my the US. She was born in the US but she went

a naturalized

mother was born

in

jLa

back to

live in

Mexico.

What I heard was

Revolution [1910-1920] nia.

They went

cotton.

Wasco. while.

My Me

to

75

Mujer Luchando!

that during the

my grandparents came

Wasco. They were farm workers. They picked

mother and her brothers and

my

and

Mexican

to live in Califor-

sister lived

sisters

with one of

were born

mom's

in

sisters for a

41

Following the

trail

of Mexican migrant

chili

workers, long-time

Juarez residents Alicia and Carlos Marentes packed up their belong-

and crossed the international bridge separating Juarez and El

ings

Paso in 1971. After serving ion, they helped

Paso ful

a stint in the

Texas Farm Workers Un-

found the Border Agricultural Workers Union in El

in 1984. After a

decade of struggle, the union opened a beauti-

workers

who

auction system to

toil

center in 1995. This shelter acts as an oasis for

are hired through a humiliating

human

chili

New Mexico under a haze of toxic pesti-

12-hour days in Texas and

cides at temperatures that alternate

between scorching and

freezing.

Women and undocumented workers get paid the lowest of the low, averaging a scant $5,300 a year, while even male workers with docu-

ments earn only $6,000. Alicia coordinates classes

where

women

learn to

make handi-

when

they can find

during the dead season

crafts that they

can

no work

Her friendly face clouds with sadness as she many of the campesinos Carlos and I started working

sell

in the fields.

reminisces, "So

with back in 1980 have already passed away because of their hard lives.

We have

that workers

are to

lost

whole generadons of farm workers." Carlos

must become

improve

their lives.

visible within the

manizing and criminalizing these workers. "I

remember when

broader society

Yet the anti-immigrant backlash

the border

He

is

if

says

they

dehu-

shakes his head saying,

was nothing more than

a bridge

you

crossed from a poor neighborhood to a richer one. That was before they started enacting

all

the anti-immigration legislation, rounding

immigrants, and militarizing the border." Ironically,

ment of people

and some is

edented flow of

up

42

insist intentionally,

cross-border move-

increasingly restricted precisely during an unpreccapital, trade,

culture, especially since the

goods, services, information, and

enactment of the North American Free

Sweatshop Warriors

76

Trade Agreement

(NAFTA)

and environmental

proven

a total disaster for

During NAFTA's were

lost.

1

994. According to immigrant rights

a

first

Arnoldo Garcia,

NAFTA

has

Mexican workers, farmers, and small busi-

more

ness people and spurred

Mexico grew by

in

justice activist

migration:

year and a half, the

whopping $4

billion

US

trade deficit with

and some 80,000

Mexican workers' wages declined 40

US

jobs

to 50 percent, rav-

aging their buying power. While the cost of living has risen by 80

percent in Mexico, salaries only increased by a mere 30 percent.

Mexico's inflation rate runs over 51 percent; 2.3 million Mexican

people have lost jobs and the peso has been severely deval-

ued

—from

March

3.1

1996.

gone belly-up

pesos to the dollar in January 1994 to 7.6 pesos in

Over 20,000 in the face

And NAFTA's much ments have proven

to

small and

medium

businesses have

of increased multinational competition.

touted labor and environmental side agree-

be weak and

ineffective.

4

The Clinton administration doubled the budget of the INS after NAFTA. The 1996 "Illegal Immigration Reform and Im-

enacting

migrant Responsibility Act" then mandated hiring another thousand

border patrol agents. According to the Urban Institute, only four out of ten individuals

who

US

are in the

illegally

crossed the south-

ern border while the other six entered with legal visas as visitors, students, or temporary employees expired. tact

who

when

failed to leave

their visas

These immigrants have documents and have been

in con-

with the INS. Only about one-third of the undocumented pop-

ulation

from Mexico. Yet 85 percent of

is

all

the resources of the

INS, including the Border Patrol, are trained on the border with

—

Mexico

reflecting

both

racist

backlash against Mexican workers

and the INS's evidendy unquenchable hardware.

thirst for

money and

military

44

Mexico's extended economic

crises

prompted

a

major demo-

graphic shakeup in migration to the United States. These stresses forced

previous traditions of

and middle

new

workers from large industrial urban centers without

classes;

US

migration;

more people from

and more women, children, and

risk crossing the border. Political scientist

the urban

elderly people to

and immigration expert

Wayne grants

77

Mujer Luchando!

jl_a

Cornelius dubbed this new,

los

migrantes de la crisis*

5

more heterogeneous pool of miCommenting on the utility of the bor-

der to politicians and employers, La Mujer Obrera organizer

Carmen It's

Ibarra

like

reflects:

very hard for us as Mexican workers to understand the line

the border.

on

Lopez

I

think that's

why nobody has

the border's workers because

another world

kinds of problems

really, really

on

put attention

a very different situation. It's

it's

when you come through El Paso. we are seeing workers come in with

I

think the

are not just

because of the lack of good opportunities, but also because of a

lot

When I say discrimination, it's because we have a lot of members who under the amnesty law have a perfect right to come to the US and become citizens. 46 of discrimination.

Feminization of Migration

Women do not always migrate or stay home based on male family

members' unchallenged

decisions, but

sometimes play the

princi-

pal role in initiating migration. In her insightful study of the

immigration of undocumented Mexican workers, sociology professor Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo warns that contrary to popular stereotypes, extensive research families suggests that not

all

on Chicano and US-based Mexican

ization

by uniformly

families are characterized

extreme patriarchy. Although sexism

and women's growing

role as

persists, she says that

urban-

income earners have begun

to

erode male dominance to varying degrees, and that traditional social relations

and

cultural resources neither disappear

nor stay the same

but are being constantly reshaped through the processes of migration

and resettlement. Indeed, women

47

made decisions

to cross the border

ety of circumstances, including invitations relatives,

and

I

came

to El

family.

their partners, other

Some initiated the move themselves. For exCarmen Dominguez decided to move from Juarez

Paso because she got

my

a vari-

friends.

ample Maria del to El

from

under

At

Paso

in

is

of commuting to work:

1972 because

that time

another child that

tired

I

I

needed to work to support

had two children. Eight years

my baby right now who's

1

later

8 years old.

I

I

had

came

Sweatshop Warriors

78

to

work

in the factories.

I

was

1

5 years old

when

I

was pregnant

my first boy and I got married when I was 1 7, almost 1 8 years old. I met my husband through friends and the family. He worked in the construction of houses and putting up fences. When I was

with

living in Juarez, I

worked

for

two years

in El Paso, crossing the

bridges everyday from Mexico. That was too hard so to

come

to live in El

Paso and

crossing the bridges,

Mata

Petra

I

I

we

decided

stayed here. During the time

was coming to work in a garment

I

was

factory.

48

began working in the United States

also

cross-border commuter. She started working as a maid

was 12 or 1 3 years old after the quent abandonment by her

tragic

as a

when

she

death of her mother and subse-

Although she worked hard and

father.

scrubbed floors on her hands and knees, she only made $10 a week.

She

recalls,

highest pay

"During the

five years I

worked

for the

same

ever got was $16 a week." Later Petra

I

family, the

moved

to the

United States permanently after she got married. She and her hus-

band took up

their friends' invitation to

come,

first as

mented immigrants. Later Petra and her husband got US to

"have a voice, a right to vote."

undocu-

citizenship

49

Lucrecia Tamayo, a garment worker and leader in the Thai and

Latino Workers Organizing Committee of the Retailer Accountability

Campaign decided

make

to

Guerrero to Los Angeles

the big

move from Acapulco,

after her marriage failed.

During her "stop-

over" in Tijuana, that famous "travelers advisory and transit center," she secured the tion

on

means

to

make

the crossing and picked

up informa-

possible job leads in Los Angeles, the metropolis with the

second largest Mexican population in the world,

on a female

Lucrecia relied

relative, the

after

Mexico

City.

well-developed migrant "un-

derground railroad," and a waiting job market: I

got married in Mexico, but the person

bad, so

I

moved

(laughs)

I

came by

Oh,

it

was

scary!

I

married was treating

here 15 years ago in 1982. elcerro

[

I

came by

through the mountains], with a coyote.

There were so many people,

I

was

in the front

with the driver, and over there, a mountain of people. driver

I

And

was very nervous about running into immigration.

had one

sister

came

who was

to the

me

myself,

I

the

only

living here.

United States because

after

[my former hus-

band]

left, I

had

a

Los Angeles.

months was

after

I

I

had

I

here,

heard about

they teach you.

sister for

this

to

new life. about a

working

Mexico

told us

I

my

parents'

came

year.

all

get. If

straight

About

garment.

in

six

When I

word of mouth.

kind of job by

work you can

here, about the kinds of it,

to find a

started

I

The people who came back about

my

lived with

coming

in Tijuana

to take care of. It wasn't

little girl

obligation to raise her. So to

79

Mujer Luchando!

{La

about

how life is

you don't know

50

Working al Otto Lado [on the Other Side] Until recently able to land jobs in ilar

to

lished

women who

crossed the border were frequently

El Norte [the North], often performing work sim-

what they had done

Mexico. Arriving in such well-estab-

in

Mexican immigrant communities

and Los Angeles, the women found jobs even before they

settled

El Paso, San Antonio,

as

fairly quickly, in

permanently in the United

some

States.

cases

They

heard about work through family members, friends, and neighbors.

Women changed jobs as they got adjusted to US working conditions and "learned the ropes." After moving from Juarez to El Paso with her husband, Irma Montoya of La Mujer Obrera got a job working as an electronics assembler and inspector at a plant that made thermometers:

My cousin's husband told me about the job. 1987

until they laid us off in 1995.

I

I

worked

there

made good money

from there,

$6.30 an hour and the working conditions were good, too. But in

1995 they shut us

400 of us

who

down and moved

lost

our jobs.

ing for 20 years making Tony

work

as a janitor.

to Mexico.

There were about

My husband lost his Lamas boots.

job after work-

Now he can only find

51

Maria del Carmen Dominguez heard about jobs through the grapevine. After as she gained I

worked

commuting from Juarez, she changed

more experience and for 15 years in

Rudy's Sportswear where

worked

for

one year

at

learned what was available:

garment I

to better jobs

factories.

worked

The

for almost

first

five years.

Emily Joe and almost nine years

Industries as a seamstress.

one was

at

I

CMT

Sweatshop Warriors

80

My friends told me about the job in the first factory. minimum wage

got paid

sometimes up

At

to $5.50 or S6 an

the other factories

overtime. In the last

I

hour because

some

holidays.

The

shop

I

worked

CMT, we

at

was so

went bankrupt. The second one was ugly!

I

didn't like

it,

so

I

think

I

got paid more,

was by the quota.

some

small. It

benefits, like

expanded, but

their contracts

a small factor}',

(laughs).

I quit,

I

didn't get paid for

I

got

problem about wages and

then they had a

it

was paid by the hour.

factors', at

vacations and first

one

there. In the last

but

it

and

it

was too

32

Tina Mendoza of Fuerza Unida started working in Mexico

when

she was 16

United

States,

it

first I

did not like

so

I felt

really

it

here.

I

here. First

as

maquiladora

job:

come from a family that is very close I made friends I got used to the

alone here. After I

got a job working with chemicals that they put on

animals [insecticides] for about two years. After that

working

to the

took her some time to adjust and find the right

At

life

came

years old as a secretary. After she

a

cook

Then

frying chicken.

After that

factor}*.

I

stayed for eight years until they laid us off.

I

got a job

got a job

working

started

I

at

a

at Levi's.

I

33

many US-born Chicanas who work in low-waged indus34 Viola Casares, a alongside Mexican immigrant women, third-generation Chicana, started out doing farm work. Her father had picked cotton in Lubbock, Texas, and worked in Arizona. Over Like

tries

her husband's objections, she eventually landed a sewing job: In a year first

[after getting

the fields.

matoes.

my

married

daughter Sandra. After

We went

When

I

to

job packing onions..

kids

let

home

I

went back

to

.

.

My

I

my

work

used to get morning sickness

husband was

real

macho and

in

toat

jeal-

me work. I was supposed to stay home. The

were grown and going

stayed

got pregnant, then had

months,

Michigan and picked strawberries and

was pregnant

ous and would not

at 18] I

six

for a while.

to school.

...

Because of his jealousy

But the children

really

I

needed extra

things.... I

[started]

months. Then

work[ing] for Farah making pants for a couple of it

was the same thing again with

[began] harassing

me

until

I

quit.

But

I

really

my

husband.

needed

to

work.

He He

had started drinking. I

was

work and I

began working

I

going to have a secure

finally

that

was not going to

I

could make a better

Levi's

thought

I

and support us

we

our

lost

do?"

It's

it

jobs. I

I

let

home and

could

at Levi's in

job.

1980.

1

told myself that

I

him stop me

again.

thought I

had

that

I

some

retire

would be

time.

But

was so worried, "Wow, what

so hard being a single mother.

able to

At

work

of a sudden

all

are

to

With work

get things for the kids....

would be okay,

until

81

Mujer Luchando!

jLa

we going

to

55

Wages, working conditions, and benefits tended

to

be better

at

the larger factories than the smaller shops. For example, even

though the Farah Manufacturing Company in El Paso was the

target

of a major struggle and national boycott by the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers

Union (1972-1974),

as a large factory

of

some 4,000 workers, wages and working conditions were better than what women had experienced in Mexico or in smaller US shops. 36 Carmen Ibarra Lopez learned about job openings at Farah through her younger It

sister.

was good pay

an hour.

I

at the time.

The minimum wage I think was $1 .60 We worked in very good condiFarah on Gateway was in a new build-

got paid by the hour.

tions especially because the ing.

was there when the

I

pay too much attention. ferent.

I

just

strike began.

remember one day

workers walking out.

And

I

it

even though

I

noon

at

was

asked "WTiat's going on?" But tion about

why

think

was

it

it's

not

just

don't give out as

until

just

remember

I

we

lunch time

didn't have too

worked

now

at

I

didn't

inside.

that

I

it

and

informa-

Probably they had a

strike,

realized

much

dif-

saw the

trying to find out about

workers' or union committee to lead the That's

I

of all, in Mexico everything was

First

but

how

I

don't know.

unions work.

I

because the unions select a few workers, but they

much information as other organizations do, like

La Mujer Obrera does. Yes,

that

is

what you need,

a lot

of infor-

mation.

Despite low wages and

less

than optimal working conditions,

many of the women expressed satisfaction w ith being able to work outside their homes and contribute to their family's well-being. Thev T

were proud of

their skills

and job performance and enjoyed the

Sweatshop Warriors

82

friendships and camaraderie they developed with their co-workers.

Refugio Arrieta worked in a variety of restaurants and garment facEl Paso:

tories in

maybe about 100

The garment

factories

small to me.

worked at Tex-Mex International. They made

I

worked

I

were

as a seamstress,

small,

people.

an operator. They paid us the

It's

jeans.

minimum

by the hour. Sometimes we worked overtime. There were no ben-

Sometimes

efits there.

when I put

hours

cause that's four years. all

how

worked 40 hours

I

At

in overtime.

it

was before they

We were all friends

schoolmates.

the last

a week,

one

closed.

I

sometimes 50

was 20 hours be-

it

worked

there, (laughs) It

was

Tex-Mex

at

like

we were

58

Maria del Carmen Dominguez's close relations with co-workers

deepened

as they

banded together

on

to confront the boss

failure to

pay holiday leave as promised:

The

CMT factory was large and busy. I was working very well. It

was comfortable there

I

for

me, and

I

liked

it

a lot.

maybe

1,000 workers.

skilled

work.

others.

We also sewed vests. I

They sew garments

Devon was one of the

sewing men's clothes. ...

I

And I would

love to help the people.

Since she's easily

the for

my

we

area and

say, "I love you, too."

would

We were all

And I would

fight, fight,

(laughs) Yes, that's a long time to fight!

59

now a highly skilled and vivacious organizer, one can

imagine Petra Mata as a highly competent and outgoing

worker before she I

more

more money

(laughs). Yes, elks [they]

say "I love you."

CMT, every day.

in

It's

remember

don't

was the organizer

partners. Yeah.

I

tuxedos.

like

labels. I

think you get paid

had ten women and I controlled it.

fight in

When I was working now they have

think there were about 250 workers. Right

did the hard,

on the

sides

lost

more

of the

her job

at Levi's:

difficult operations, like

For

coat.

sewing the pockets

three and a half years

I

sewed

this

way before they put me on utility so I could do any operation. Then they made me a trainer to teach the new people. I liked working with the girls and helping out. Finally they made

was very happy with

pervisor for eight years.

I

got to work closely with

my

co-workers.

60

my

me a su-

job because

I

jLa

83

Mujer Luchando!

NAFTA the SHAFTA Hong Kong and Korean

Like the corporations

who

workers

transnational

dumped during the second stage of globalization, hunUS manufacturing workers, many of them

dreds of thousands of

women

of color, also found themselves out on the

jobs ran

away

street as their

Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Asia.

to

After the Border Industrialization Program had begun in 1965, the

Reagan administration launched the Caribbean Basin 1983 during the height of US military adventures ica.

Initiative in

in Central

Amer-

US military intervention in and capital export to the region accel-

erated the migration of workers, including Salvadoran, Guatemalan,

women who

sub-

sequently found jobs working in the garment industry in Los

An-

Honduran, Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Haitian

geles,

New York,

and Miami.

Prior to the enactment of nies utilized tariffs

Item 807 of the

NAFTA in

US

1994, US-based

compa-

which specified

Tariff Code,

that

applied only to the value-added portion of products assem-

bled abroad. If US apparel firms cut their garments at

them sewn

offshore, they only had to pay tariff

—which could be very

added by sewing of Third World

women

home and had

on the labor value

small, given the

low wages

workers. Item 807 was principally used to

exploit seamstresses in Mexico, Central America,

because of the region's proximity and the States has exercised in the

and the Caribbean

political clout the

United

hemisphere since the days of the Monroe

Doctrine. Thus, government trade policies effectively encouraged

corporations to take jobs overseas to bolster jectives.

61

US

foreign policy ob-

In 1960, 2 percent of apparel was imported; in 1980, 30

number of US employment peaked

percent; and in 2000, 60 percent. Conversely the

manufacturing jobs plummeted. While apparel in

1970 with 1,363,800 jobs, by 1999 the figure had

696,000.

In

1990,

Levi's,

whose brand name

jeans

synonymous with ers

to

together with

Coca-Cola and McDonald's hamburgers have become

closed

fallen

62

its

the

"American way of

life"

practically

around the world,

San Antonio plant and moved to Costa Rica where work-

earned in a day what the average San Antonio seamstress had

Sweatshop Warriors

84

made

in half an hour.

manufacturing

With

was

women

Levi's largest

some

1,150 mainly

suddenly lost their jobs. Fuerza Unida,

"we were

in 1990, asserts that

early victims

of

NAFTA."

consequences of "free trade"

direct experience in the

Fuerza Unida actively organized against the passage of sporting fly,

"AFTA NAFTA

your greed

company had

is

the

SHAFTA!" and

showing!" picket

signs.

"Levi's,

policies,

NAFTA,

button your

Between 1981 and 1990

back demanding corporate

first

to organize a sustained

administrations alike, begin-

ning with Reagan's, corporation-friendly politicians extolled the

of globalization and

63

responsibility.

Under Republican and Democratic tues

the

already closed 58 plants laying off 10,400 people.

But the San Antonio workers were the fight

US

back organization the laid-off San Antonio workers

fight

founded

factory

the time. Overnight

facility at

Mexican- American the

The San Antonio

vir-

free trade policies while maintaining a

conspicuous silence on the devastating impact of these policies on

workers and

communities. The San Antonio workers' painful

their

testimony gave voice to the economic and psychological trauma

workers go through every single time a plant closes or a company "downsizes."

64

Denied useful

mer Levi's workers

lost

and other

retraining

and peace of mind. Viola Casares says she

ment

Levi's

In

less

company

as I live,

said they

thing I

is

representatives

than 15 minutes, the

As long

had

that

I'll

men

never forget

to shut us

no one

down

will

our whole

man

the white

We

stood there tell

We didn't want to lose our jobs.

cret preparation session

on

closure: lives.

in the suit

The funny like mummies. us in Spanish,

Nothing can

re-

65

Petra Mata says she experienced the trauma twice,

again

mo-

never forget the

in suits ruined

how

homes,

to stay competitive.

said anything.

place a job with dignity.

cars,

announced the plant

heard some people fainted. They didn't even

just in English.

assistance, the for-

not only their jobs, but also their

management convened

first at

a se-

for supervisors,

and

the plant floor with the rest of the workers. Staff were told

to

keep the company's plans secret pending a general announcement

to

all

the workers. Petra recalls:

At

7:30 a.m.

BOOM! they called for a general meeting in the mid-

die it.

of the

plant.

of our

A guy got up on one of the tables and announced

That was something

jHijole!

lives, like

that we'll never forget for the rest

happened

just

it

we

heard the announcement other, crying

85

Mujer Luchando!

jLa

When

yesterday.

started screaming,

everybody

hugging each

and asking, "Why? Why? Why?" But they have

never answered. They never told us why. There was no reason to shut us tas

down

We made good quality clothes and high quo-

really.

May 1 989 we got the $200 we made such high production levels.

every week. In

cause

.

A

lot

feel like

nothing but

They

take

we had

now

nothing.

sends

many

work

machine

get scared.

to

be thrown

How

are

you

house, the kids to eat and go to years of

working for

Levi's, over-

to

some 700 sewing and

From 1997

finishing sub-

to 1999, Levi's closed 29

of

manufacturing and finishing plants in North America, slashing

some 18,500 employees

—

nearly half

Levi's also sacked workers in

of

a

You

66

contractors in 50 countries. its

dignity.

car, the

school? jHijoie! After so

Levi's

be-

how When you lose your job you

remnant,

trash, a

away your

going to pay for the

night

Bonus

of people went crazy because they didn't know

they were going to live without a job.

out.

Miracle ..

human

rights

67

Belgium and France. Over the protests

68

CEO

Robert Haas told the San

most of the work from

Chronicle that

remaining work force.

groups the company announced plans to restart

production in China.

moved

its

the closed plants

to contractors elsewhere in the Americas,

Francisco

would be

most

likely to

Mexico and the Caribbean. 69 In another example of what

March 2000,

Fitch, Talbots,

now means,

in

Brooks Brothers, Abercrombie

&

"Made

Levi's, Calvin Klein,

in

and Woolrich were added

America"

to a class action lawsuit al-

leging violations of garment workers' rights in Saipan, the Marianna Islands, a

US

ment workers

"trust" in the typically

Western

Pacific

work 12-hour days

where over 13,000

gar-

for $3.10 or less an hour,

seven days a week, often without overtime pay. The $1 billion-a-year industry in Saipan relies the Philippines,

on "guest workers" mosdy from China and

many of whom must pay

for a one-year contract to work.

70

a cash

bond up

to $5,000

Sweatshop Warriors

86

El Paso has been also been devastated by plant closures. The

some 10,000 workers in El Paso had lost because of NAFTA by 1998, the most anywhere in the

Labor Department their jobs

United

States.

71

said

For example,

which had been El Paso's

Levi's,

employer, closed three of its

est private

1,400 workers in 1997.

72

On

August

six plants, laying

larg-

some

off

Texas

29, 1997, the Greater

Finishing Corporation, a division of Sun Apparel, Inc., closed

its

El

Paso operations to send production to Mexico, including the

Tehuacan

At

free trade zone.

tracted label

the time

Sun Apparel's

largest con-

was Ralph Lauren's Polo brand. Some 200

workers included veterans

who had

served the

company

laid-off

for

more

than 18 years. In a statement calling for support, the laid-off workers said,

"Most of us were let go with little more than

rections to the

the

more than 7,000 other workers

jobs to

a

good-bye and

NAFTA training and unemployment offices Paso

in El

who

have

di-

to join

lost their

NAFTA and have been unable to get new jobs." 73

La Mujer Obrera (LMO)

is

a

Mexicana/Chicana

women work-

organization founded by garment workers and Chicana/o

ers'

movement

organizers in El Paso in 1981.

passage

the

of

NAFTA,

having

LMO fought hard against

first

hand experience with

maquiladorization enacted under the "twin city" arrangement be-

tween El Paso and Juarez during the Border Industrialization Program. Since

of workers

NAFTA's off by

laid

passage

LMO has organized the thousands LMO says that of the 20,000 dis-

NAFTA.

placed workers in El Paso by 2000, 97 percent were Latino; two-thirds,

women; one

third, single

mothers; 50 percent, between

30-45 years of age with the majority of the rest over 45 years old; and 4,000 were in job training programs. state

74

After a running battle with

and federal agencies, NAFTA-displaced workers

lion extension in

government-funded training

won a $3

addition to the original $4.2 million allocated. But Maria del

Domfnguez of

says that

mil-

for laid-off workers in

Carmen

workers in El Paso remain in a profound

state

crisis:

The economic crisis is the big, big problem right now. The women come to La Mujer Obrera because of unemployment. The factories are closing left and right now, and more of the

jLa

87

Mujer Luchando!

women are becoming single parents. Problems within the families are rising because of this situation. It's hard when women don't have the money to pay the utilities, the rent, or food. When they are confronted with the denial of public services

food stamps.

—no

welfare,

no

75

While workers

in large

and medium- sized plants

to globalization, like their Chinese counterparts,

women working in

lost their jobs

Mexican immigrant

small sweatshops also reported declining wages

and working conditions. Los Angeles, the apparel manufacturing

some 122,500 employees in Lucrecia Tamayo, an undocumented worker from

center of the Untied States, employed

April 1998.

76

Mexico, describes her experience working in Los Angeles sweatshops:

The

day

first

started

O sea [that

24 hours! I

I

working

is

to say], ever since

have worked over 12 hours

without Sundays

ery day.

worked

I

I

I

worked

from 7 a.m.

in this country

to 8 p.m. at night,

siempre trabajando [always, always

off, siempre,

I

place

a day,

was working the whole

earned $100 a week, working from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. ev-

working].

first

I felt like I

in four factories over a

worked

1

5-year period. In the

there were about 30 people, in another about

60. I

worked

20 Latinos working

We were

El

six years in the

there, with

Monte

two-hour break

if I

In the case of emergencies,

child or else the

Much

.

.

There were about

Thai workers in another room.

about $260 a week. Oh, that owner!

Joining the

.

paid by the piece, so the pay varied. Sometimes

year, like for a tor.

shop.

owner would

I

I

had

...

made

used to only get off twice a to take

had to ask

start

I

my child to the docmy sister to take my

screaming

at

me.

77

Movement

of the education and leadership training the

women

re-

The women talked about how much movement had changed them. They

ceived took place "on the job." their participation

in

the

learned how to analyze working conditions and social problems, who was responsible for these conditions, and what workers could

do

to get justice.

was

to

They learned

government

to speak truth to

representatives, corporate

power, whether

this

management, the me-

Sweatshop Warriors

88

They

unions, or co-ethnic gatekeepers.

dia,

ferent kinds of sectors

built relations

and groups and organized

a

with

dif-

wide variety of

educational activides and acdons. Their activism expanded their

world view beyond that of

their

immediate families to seeing them-

of peoples' movements fighting for justice. The women joined the movement through a variety- of routes. Some women sought out workers' centers when they experienced a particular grievance at work. Maria del Carmen Dominguez just showed up at La Mujer Obrera with over a hundred co-workers one selves as part

day.

People packed into the tiny

street.

Workers complained

office,

soon

that the boss

spilling

was

out into the

trying to cheat

them

out of holiday pay promised in the personnel policy. La Mujer

Obrera provided an infrastructure of support their wildcat strike

new

process the organization gained ing

for the

workers during

and negotiations with management. Through

Dominguez. She

leaders

this

and members, includ-

recalls:

We won! They had to give us back pay for our holidays tions, yes, for everything, for

Mujer Obrera before the

all

strike

the workers.

I

and vaca-

knew about La

because their organizers used to

come to the factory, outside the doors, and bring leaflets. So when we had problems (laughs and snaps her fingers), we remembered them.

For

a

8

long time Dominguez

felt

angry that she had not

known

and about what women workers could do to defend their Through her participation in the movement, she developed

the law rights.

her

skills,

leadership,

When

stayed at

I

and awareness:

work

in the factor}',

I

was only thinking of my-

—

how am I going to support my family nothing more, nothing less. And I served my husband and my son, my girl. But self

and

when

I

more

respect for myself.

started

working with La Mujer Obrera

We

(laughs) Pero [but] this also too! (laughs). years. I

He

I

thought, "I need

need more respect for ourselves."

meant big changes

But he supported

me

so

for

my

husband,

much through many, many

died three years ago.

also learned so

much about how

to use the

computer and

communicate with other people because the kind of communica-

;La

tion

you need to work in an organization is learned about the law and

tory. I

89

Mujer Luchando!

with people, whether they were

different

from in

a fac-

I learned how to organize classes men or women like me. I learned

how to

develop curriculum and citizenship materials in Spanish.

made

book, yeah!

a

Dominguez

I

79

also cherishes her friendships with

women worker

organizers from communities across the United States and overseas: I

did a lot of traveling for the organization. This

cause

now I know more

United

how we

good be-

very

are living in the

got the opportunity to meet with other

States. 1

worker women, which

Lucy Parsons

about where and

is

is

women,

very important to me. Projects like the

Initiative [a collaborative

of Mexican, Chinese, and

Dominican women leaders from workers' centers supported by the Funding Exchange]

the

women I

I love And I got to know difwho is doing what kind of work, and who are

are very good.

ferent organizations,

it!

representing these groups.

have also gone to international meetings ....

La Mujer Obrera quake] in Mexico.

good with

so

was the big

in 1989, after there

We

represented

was very

participated in a giant march. It

many women

We

in the streets.

September 19th Garment Workers Union. In other instances,

I

temblor [earth-

women

80

came

first

worked with the

into contact with the

workers' centers through family members, friends, and recruitment

programs and

into specific

Carmen

Ibarra

organized by the centers.

activities

Lopez learned about La Mujer Obrera from her aunt

Esperanza Rodriguez, a veteran seamstress the garment industry and continues to

She invited gan doing

me

to

a lot

come

to the meetings so

of volunteer work, and

Board of Directors and of the Comite

me

group's former director] asked started out, per.

I

I

just

gave away

participated in meetings,

Obrera could attend I

helped

room. to

flyers

I

in ordinary

don't

come and

a

meeting

who

work

I

I

labored 37 years in

as a janitor: started coming.

was

a

I

be-

member of

the

de Ljdcba. Finally Cecilia [the

to

work

When

here....

I

and La Mujer Obrera's newspa-

and when no one from La Mujer I

was

in

charge of going.

And

also

ways, cleaning, mopping, doing the bath-

mind doing it.

I still

see this place clean.

do '

it

because

I

like the

workers

Sweatshop Warriors

90

The confidence and skills women gained while standing up their rights at work spilled over into other jobs. Ibarra adds: I

remember, about

ing his IRS

bills.

She asked us

we

support him. So she said

if

six years ago, Larry, the boss, sent his

She said that Larry was having a

to talk to us.

we

asked

name of Larry if we wanted to

in the

how he wanted us

By

that time

La Mujer Obrera and

I said,

Why?" She

said, "Well, es que

the factory.

You

March

had

I

"No

just

1

991.

become

rest said yes.

to a special

where she worked

became an

organizer.

federal legislators

said,

I

"No

But even with

summer camp

One

Times.

I

way!" So

that

a

he shut

day

that

La Mujer

after the electron-

Mexico. Montoya stayed on and

when

she went to testify to state and

NAFTA

and workers' need

and placement, her picture appeared

in the

83

Refugio Arrieta

came

fled to

about the impact of

for quality job training

New York

it.

he doesn't want to close

Obrera organized for NAFTA-displaced workers plant

member of

a

82

Irma Montoya came

ics

And

to support him.

way! I'm not going to do that]

[it's

can keep your job." But

few of us said no, but the in

daughter

of problems pay-

could work eight hours but he was going to just pay

us for seven hours.

down

lot

for

first

became involved with La Mujer when she

to attend English classes:

came

to classes

ended up

one or two days

staying.

Some of my

here to attend the classes.

demonstrations, president of

a week for

friends

We worked a lot to

we have meetings

La Mesa

Directiva

some

also

help out.

with the politicians.

came

We have I

am

[Board of Directors] here.

ceived the La Mujer Obrera award.

In

two hours each, and I

from the factory

the re-

I

84

cases the organizations conducted systemadc political

education to consolidate a core of

women

worker

leaders.

Maria

Antonia Flores, Maria del Carmen Dominguez, and Eustolia Olivas

were trained

as the initial

Obrera. Flores

On some

worker leadership core of La Mujer

recalls:

occasions Cecilia gave the training, at other times

Guillermo, people

who came from

political teachers, including

different parts of the city,

from Mexico.

[Cecilia

and

Rodriguez and

91

Mujer Luchando!

jLa

Guillermo Domfnguez Glenn helped launch La Mujer Obrera

and the Centro Obrero and everything

El Paso.] They gave classes in politics

in

from Paolo

related to study,

economy of Mexico.

the political

Freire's

methods

weeks, a month, three months, or sometimes daily teachers were here. •

practice.

What we got

to

Trainings lasted two or three

from study we

first

when

the

put into

later

85

If one meets Flores today,

it is

hard to imagine her as the person

she describes before her involvement in the movement: I

have learned so

much

here.

was a submissive housewife. ican

woman who was women it's

used to be shy. all

in

mind when

I first

came

not even

know

one

labor.

that such a thing as

just thinks its

When you

came out in

I

I

as a person.

did not

At

least I

got

I

my

and limited to the

the world. Before that

I

did

women's oppression even

ex-

normal.

are just sitting there listening to your husband,

you think it's perfecdy natural

Your rights

that you have

are violated

what has made

me

no

rights as a

woman,

and you don't know it.

you go out into the outside world, you that's

here.

know what it meant to be part of an organization.

house and home

I

Mex-

made for marriage. But once we came we all learned something. For working

liberation after being suppressed for 15 years

isted;

hardly spoke.

I

the characteristics of a

harder to develop ourselves as leaders.

have these experiences did not

I

had

only

here to this organization, class

I

find another reality.

When I

so protective of this organization.

think 86

"I don't want other people to go through what we went through"

The government

raid

on

the El

Monte sweatshop on August

1995, marked a turning point in Lucrecia Tamayo's

formed from being ter

who

big

name

a frightened

relishes speaking out

worker

retailers that profited

from her

The second of August woke me

woman tions.

before

Before

that.

when

I

like

to the

and going

up. It

life.

She

2,

trans-

campaign nerve cen-

to demonstrations against labor:

was

like I

was

a blind

going to the actions and demonstra-

the owners screamed at me,

I

got real small.

I

Sweatshop Warriors

92

wondered what

know we have I

had done wrong

I

make them

to

have had two jobs since the raids

a.m. in the

call at six

come

or not you could

contract. Everything

in. I

paid $80 a week. But since the hours

to do. After a year,

I

morning

didn't like

I

started

worked and how many

I

El Monte. Because of

There

it.

went with me

me soon

I

my calculations to KIWA

took

migrant Workers Advocates]. Paul [Lee, a to talk to the

no written

is

sewed,

I

am. The

was only getting

I

working there pieces

I

you whether

telling

done by his word.

just

is

at

owner knows who

the publicity around our case, the

owner would

Now I

so mad.

rights.

wrote

like I

down

learned

[Korean Im-

KIWA

organizer]

owner and they paid what they owed

after.

I'm the information source for our group of workers. If a

problem comes up,

I call

everyone up to

let

them know what's

going on. Ever since the raid on the El Monte shop, track of all the

ger have any

I

have kept

paperwork and keep workers informed.

fear.

I

no lon-

My only fear is immigration. But the rest, no. I

do not want other workers

to suffer.

I

don't want other people

to

go through what we went through. This experience opened

up

my eyes.

It

made me

conscious.

It

gave

speak up and fight against the owners. crazy.

I

always ask Paul

demonstration?" stores that

"This

is

made

I

"When

like to yell

so

are

the motivation to

we going

and scream

much money

me

My husband to

thinks I'm

have the next

at the retailers in the

off of us.

87

the best school you could have"

Fuerza Unida allowed laid-off Levi's workers to channel their anger and sense of betrayal, while building on the friendships and ties

they had relished in their jobs.

revenge I

first

A combination of curiosity and

attracted Viola Casares to Fuerza Unida:

remember when people were passing out information.

curious and wanted to find out what they wanted to

cause of

my

curiosity,

I

started going to the meetings.

there were 25 to 30 ladies hall.

who

started

meeting

I

was Be-

tell us.

at a small

At

first

church

We began talking about how we have to do something. We

needed

to get

We needed

more information about what

to find

is

really

going on.

out what the company was going to give

us.

jLa

We

needed

down

93

Mujer Luchando!

do something because of the awful way they shut

to

the plant.

got interested.

I

to us without warning.

At

I

was angry about what they did

first I just

started as a volunteer, then

wanted

became

a

to get

back

at

them.

board member, then

I

a

88

co-coordinator.

Casares expanded her vision and network of friends through

her involvement with Fuerza Unida: I've

done

of traveling and met wonderful people. I've

a lot

learned that

am

I

not the only one

experience has opened up

my mind

who

has had problems. This

and views. For example, be-

way I was being homo-

cause of lack of information and education and the

my

raised

by

sexual

was

man

family, I used to think that being gay,

But

a sin.

beings....

Fuerza Unida.

I

don't believe that any more.

I

learned from

I

have

a

my

We are all hu-

broken marriage,

my

and

job,

second chance to pass on what the move-

ment taught me. I never thought I could have done the things that I have. Losing my job opened my eyes. I used to work and live in

my own little world. We were

taught to just look out for our

family and to compete with other people. Levi's taught us to

own

com-

pete against other workers to be part of their machine. Fuerza

Unida taught us

that

we

care about our sisters.

are part

of a bigger family, that we should

89

Marta Martinez ran into problems making her way through the

company

rehiring and

government job

layoffs but stuck with Fuerza I've

programs

training

Unida through thick and

after the

thin:

been with Fuerza Unida from the beginning. They offered

some of

us

months.

I

work

had

at the

other plants.

other workers there were their jobs.

The

I

worked

there for three

to quit because they treated us so bad.

mad

at us.

They

said

Even

we were

the

stealing

supervisors accused us of being lazy, saying that's

why the plant shut down and moved out. They were very rude to those of us who came in from the old plant. I went through the ESL, GED, and job training classes. The training mainly helped the people who could speak English. But they didn't really help people find jobs. With Fuerza Unida, the hunger strikes, everything.

90

I

worked on

the protests,

Sweatshop Warriors

94

Tina Mendoza put her energy into Fuerza Unida

Similarly,

af-

ter the Levi's layoffs:

been working with Fuerza Unida for eight

I've

two years

just

I

went

The

years.

to meetings, but after that I started

to the office regularly to help out.

We work on

first

coming

everything.

We

never say

we

We

these things so that Fuerza Unida can live on, so our

do

all

do

can't

Our

it.

problem

biggest

struggle can continue, so that

we

women

We work to

about what

women.

are

I

is

possible.

have learned a

is

with English.

can serve as an example to build pride that

met

lot here. I

so

many

we

different

people and learned about what they do, about different struggles.

For

At I

me

first I

my

tried

face.

was

great pride to be a part of this struggle.

afraid

and ashamed

best to cover

Now when to

I feel

I

go,

I

Fuerza Unida

my

scream injects

God/Allah] that we

Fuerza Unida members ers in other plants

to

and

as

loud as

you with

will

go the demonstrations.

to

face so that I

later

industries.

would not be I

move

seen.

do not cover

of energy. Ojala

a lot

continue to

I

can.

ahead.

[I

my

hope

]

reached out to low-waged work-

Obdulia "Obi" Segura

first

came

Fuerza Unida after hearing about the food bank available for un-

employed workers and low-income I

try to

can.

I

help out at Fuerza Unida, doing whatever kind of work

started

because office

I

coming here about two and

heard about the food bank.

I

a half years ago, first

Now I help with sweeping,

work, and whatever needs to be done. Even though the

women have all

families in need:

their

give a lot to the

own

families

and homes to take care

work of Fuerza Unida,

to help other

of,

they

people in

women in this world who will not do anything else, who are very egotistical. But that is not the way

need. There are for

anyone

of Fuerza Unida. Petra and Viola do everything they can to help the people, to build cooperation. That

ing with Fuerza Unida. Here

we

each other, to work together. This teer here in

whatever way

Petra Mata,

who had

as a daughter, wife,

I

can.

is

the character of work-

are always ready to help, to love is

what moves me

to volun-

92

already picked up

many

leadership

mother, and seamstress, got baptized

of fighting the world's largest garment manufacturer:

skills

in the fire

I

much

learned so

at

95

Mujer Luchando!

jLa

Fuerza Unida. This

is

you

the best school

could have, working with people, listening, chairing meetings

—

all

the things

you have

to understand to carry out the struggle.

We go to support and participate in all struggles in the movement. We work with Asian, Filipino, African American, Mexican, white. We are part of the same viHere we

are not just individuals.

sion, the

same movement. In the past when Levi's

blah,"

we

said,

don't like

"yes

sir."

Now we

ask,

They should do what's

it."

panies cannot do without workers,

right, it

said,

"Why? Wait or

"blah blah

a minute.

fair at least.

Com-

should be half and

50-50, not just 100 percent going to one side. That's

I

half,

what we

learned through Fuerza Unida.

"Sometimes God knocks us around a

little bit"

For some of the women, showing compassion, faith in the face liefs.

God knocks to

of hardships

is

Viola Casares says she us around a

solidarity,

sustained by deeply held religious be-

tells

little bit

Petra Mata, "I think sometimes

to

make

us think and to remind us

be thankful for what we have." Casares reaffirmed her

ing a

maquiladoras in Honduras with a

visit to

US

faith dur-

delegation hosted

by the Mennonite Church: Sometimes when scheduled to

get discouraged

visit different

I

pray for right.

got there, the

maquilas including a place called

first

thing

find there. But when we saw when we walked through the

door was women sewing Levi's and Dockers given

me

a big sign to see that

showed us run away

We America. really

exactly

to. It

saw

just

We

what was going on

was

in the factories

The

Levi's

was doing to our

that their chairs

our jobs had

sisters in

Central

and working conditions were less,

with no

place looked just like a prison and workers were

treated like prisoners.

angry.

God had He

right.

a miracle!

what

saw

label pants.

what we were doing was

uncomfortable and that they got paid so much

benefits.

ally

God to give me a One day we were

No one knew what we would

Interfashion.

we

I

me know if what I am doing is

sign to let

I

saw

That company

and

that with

just cares

my own eyes. about

profits.

It

94

made me

re-

Sweatshop Warriors

96

Carmen

Similarly

"All the time

Lopez of La Mujer Obrera

my job with/f

Yes,

[faith].

I

explains:

have a

lot

of

—

9:>

do

Bringing

the

Ibarra

do

to

God period. I feel very, very respectful of all the religions. my job because I have faith in God."

faith in I

I like

Home

Women's Rights

the Fight for

Work, migration, and activism are all threads that run through women's histories. But as working class women, they also en-

dured distinct challenges

their participation in

seeking to overturn oppressive

have come changes in

mothers,

as daughters, lovers, wives,

and grandmothers. With

ters,

their

class,

sis-

movements

gender, and racial practices

views of gender and family

roles.

Viola Casares complained that her husband had run around

with susmujeres de la cantina his jealousy

on

to her.

[his

women of the bars], while projecting

He refused to let her work outside

despite their poverty. Casares swears that 1990

worst year in her

That dark time she

life.

lost

the

home

was absolutely the

not only her job of

nine years, but also her marriage. She finally separated from her

husband who had become during a beating.

The

a jealous alcoholic

stress

from the

combined with her declining I

told him, "If you

want

loss

and broken her nose

of her job and marriage,

health, put Casares in the hospital:

to get

back together

it's

got to be 50-50,

not 90 percent going to your side." But by that time

had gotten

really bad.

separated for six years.

He'd come and

age.

When we

He

didn't

want

to give

stay for a couple of weeks.

loved him dearly.

He was

were

his drinking

We never got a divorce although we were

such a strong

living together

Our

me

a divorce.

oldest daughter

man with

his

macho im-

he would run around with

women. I was a good wife and faithful, but I told him, "One of these days, I'm going to leave." He would come back and ay. He had his regrets. I think a lot of it was because of his other

drinking. I've lost a lot of uncles

ther used to drink.

and cousins

to drinking. His fa-

My husband died from drinking when he was

I guess that's why I loved, hated, and pitied man all at the same time. He lived in his own way. Maybe he not know how to show love because he was not shown love

only 46 years old. this

did

since his father also drank a lot

and ran around with women.

jLa

97

Mujer Luchando!

Casares managed to climb out of the well of depression by

channeling her energy into taking care of her children and grandchil-

dren and building Fuerza Unida

as a

women like

support center for

She explains:

herself.

I'm glad that

I

became

part of Fuerza Unida.

It's really

changed

my life. What I went through with the plant closure and my marme for the work I am doing right now, even for the of my husband and coping with the loss of my job. I think

riage prepared

death that if

I

didn't have this organization,

I

would be completely

now. Fuerza Unida made us strong women, strong mothers. to be independent.

back,

"You have

to

only stayed home."

The status

barriers

I

told

my husband when

want the new

he

lost

I like

come

tried to

Viola, not the old Viola that

97

women

had

were made doubly

to

surmount because of

their

gender

because of economic hardships

difficult

women. The women worry about their and siblings. A number had experienced the loss of family to substance abuse and violence. The workers' centers acted as a women's support network. Remedios Garcia tried to manage her stress and loss by staying active:

they faced as working class

children, grandchildren, parents,

been almost seven years that

It's

That affected

me greatly.

illness to illness, (starts crying) I It's

been seven years or more

was out with his thought

it

friends.

I

oldest son

was murdered.

When

haven't been able to recuperate.

that I've stayed like this. Aieee!

He

the telephone rang that night and

must be an emergency

doctor said

my

Since that time I've gone from illness to

I

Azeee/ The

soon

as I

heard

must not always think about

this

and move on to do

as

it.

my son, I told him. So a lot of problems have come from this. I started having problems with my husband, with a lot of things because it affected me personally. But, nevertheother things. But it's

one has

less,

been

to

like this,

go on

living. I can't

do you understand?

spend enough time with another. For this

working. ...

me.

And

I

it is

have

my son.

good

to

98

recuperate so that's feel a lot

I've

have

my mama, my

they have me.

I

why

of guilt, that

I

had one complication

a lot

I've

didn't after

of friends and continue

children,

and people

who need

Sweatshop Warriors

98

Many of

the

women met

had children, and

their partners,

working outside the home when they were teenagers. They

started

described a range of positive and negative experiences with partners.

A

number of

the

women

had separated from

Despite her high levels of

husband who

jealous

skills,

their first

Elena Alvarez

is

husbands.

suppressed by a

not permit her to work for pay. She can

will

only leave the house with his permission, even though their house-

hold

is

Carmen Ibarra Lopez experienced when her first marriage did not work

in dire financial condition.

a serious bout of depression

out, so she started going to beautician school

and worked

mani-

as a

many years before she returned to the garment industry. the "honeymoon" phase of her new marriage, Carmen is

curist for Still

in

crossing her fingers and says that she

her "a second chance."

is

praying that

God

will give

99

Tina Mendoza says her husband has been very supportive of her involvement with Fuerza Unida. She his

just tries to

make

sure she has

meals ready and makes sufficient time for her family: I

no longer have babies

band supports useful,

not

at

my work

just staying

home.

My children are grown. My hus-

with Fuerza Unida.

home watching TV.

husband's meals ready and make his

much

I

He

sure

life easier. I try

to

me I

be

to

get

my

spend

as

time with the family as possible. He's a second level super-

visor after working for the city for over 25 years. is

wants

make

unionized. Before the union

came

in there

Where he works

used to be a

lots

of

discrimination against Mexicans. But thanks to the union, minorities

have been able to

Petra

her

work

Mata at

raise their positions.

also says her

husband has been very suppordve of

Fuerza Unida. Indeed, he has continued to work

low-paying jobs to support the family, especially

at

when funding

two runs

out and she and her co-coordinator Viola Casares stop getting paid. his friend rib him when they see her speaksome demonstration on TV, but she says, "at least he can see

She says that sometimes ing at

what I'm doing." 101 Maria del Carmen Dominguez takes pride

in her scrapper stance

towards her father, brothers, and schoolmates growing up, in her children's strength:

as well as

jLa

99

Mujer Luchando!

My family made it possible for me to organize the strike at the facwork

tory and I

Yes, because I

here, (laughs)

fought in school. I

my father. my husband, (laughs) jAiiyaiiyaii! Come on! With the boys at school

started out fighting with

I

fought with

I

am very strong!

played baseball, (laughs) First

wanted

I

no, not only

think,

I

my daughter, but my boys, too, yeah. My daughter is

a very, very fighting fighting, crying.

Carmen

My

to bat, to pitch....

daughter has some of the same personality as me. Well,

woman,

(laughs) Yes, but she

is

also crying,

102

Ibarra

Lopez

well as proud to break the

is

both

mold

critical

of her

own

upbringing as

in raising her daughter

and son:

You know, I was born and grew up in a culture where the women didn't have a voice.

So

I

said

I'm not going to do the same with

my children. I want to teach them to be different. I'm not the kind of a person who wants to do the same thing that my family does, did with me. No, I'm not. Especially with my daughter. You know my son is the oldest, and my daughter is the youngest. I taught my son how to clean house, wash dishes, and all kinds of tasks because

I said,

"Your

going to be your

sister is

sister

and

not going to be your maid. She a

human

each other very much. They are not very, very

the

same thing

Through the

good and that

family did.

just

being." So they both respect just

close friends. Yes,

my

is

I

brother and a

sister

but

don't want to keep doing

No, no way!

103

participation in their organizations

and

el

movimiento,

women gained new skills and awareness, underwent major trans-

formations, provided leadership to communities under siege, built

women and won victories.

working friendships with Asian immigrant

low-waged workers across the globe, and

During

a protest at Levi's

posh

glass, steel,

other

and brick corporate

headquarters in San Francisco, to the surprise, consternation, then chagrin of management,

las mujeres

suddenly chain themselves to the

front door. Calmly awaiting the arrival of police paddy wagons, over

the bullhorn they issue a friendly Texas home-style invitation to their

upcoming

Band. Las

benefit dance with Dr. Loco's Rockin' Jalapeno

mujeres luchando inspire stanzas in the band's catchy cumbia

rhythm, "El Picket Sign" (1992):

Sweatshop Warriors

100

From San Anto

to

San

Francisco Fuer^a

Unida has been saying

Desde San Anto hasta San Francisco Fuer^a Unida an da diciendo

Don't buy Dockers or Levi'sjeans and stop

the Free

Trade Agreement

j Levi'sjeansj alto al fibre comercio!

jBoicot Dockers

Elpicket sign,

elpicket sign

jQue Viva

Mujer Obrera!

"La

Elpicket sign,

elpicket sign

iQueremos justice for Janitors!

Elpicket sign,

elpicket sign

We say jChale con Elpicket sign,

Coorsl

elpicket sign

'Vorque la union es

La

Fuer^af

m

X

Carmen

Ibarra Lopez, Maria Antonia Flores, and Maria del Carmen Dominguez of La Mujer Obrera. This banner on their office wall reads: "Stop the Hemorrhaging

of Our Jobs by

NAFTA."

Photo by Miriam Ching Yoon Louie (1997)

jLa

101

Mujer Luchando!— Interview

Maria Antonia Flores La Mujer Obrera Director,

Popular Educator I

was born

in

1954

Ciudad Juarez in 1962.

my

oldest. In Juarez

as

vendors I

and

1

in Zacatecas,

have eight

parents

worked

My

Mexico.

sisters

family

moved

and brothers, and

I

to

am the

in maquilas, restaurants, [and]

selling food.

studied through middle school, then a year to be a secretary,

in a school for teachers. I

was studying ploma.

I

to

worked

become for

was an adult

a teacher, but

two years

as

literacy teacher

and get

didn't finish

I

an educator, and

while

a di-

two years

later

I

in a

maquila.

The maquila was

a rather large electronics factory called

Labs Components; about 400 people worked

there. I

old then. For that period of time the pay was

wage, and one could earn 700 pesos, but started

work at three in the afternoon, left at

Saturdays. like a

it

I

dough

don't

know

the name, but

to cover the capacitors,

we

and

it

Centra

was 19 years

good

—minimum

was very hard work.

1 1

p.m.,

also

I

and we worked

used a paste, mixed

smelled really bad.

We at-

tached different components between the two edges so the current

Then we carried the capacitors and dipped them That work gave you a lot of headaches besometimes when we handled such tiny capacitors, we had to

could pass through.

in alcohol or acetone.

cause

use a big lens to see the small pieces well enough to grab them. After a while they

changed

me

department where

to a

I

worked

at a

ma-

chine that cut the capacitor wires, squared them, and sent them to be

packaged

in

boxes for shipping. The majority of workers were

most puras jovensitas varones I

[all

[all

young women];

the supervisors

male].

got married

when I was

1

8,

almost

1

9,

on August

daughter Paula was born August 18, 1972, a year after

My son Gerardo was born in July ary 1977, and

1

973,

my youngest son in July

children, four girls

daughters.

al-

were puros

and one boy.

I

21, 1971.

My

got married.

my other daughter in Febru-

1988.

Now I have

[laughs] They're

five

from

grand-

my two

Sweatshop Warriors

102

My

husband and

1974 because

came

I

his parents

to the

US from Juarez

to El

Paso

in

had residency here, and we lived with them

Then he left the house and us to live with his mama when I moved out of my in-laws' house. Already he had gone running around with other women. I was separated from him, almost since 1977. We got to know each other because he lived near me and came to a fiesta [party] at my house. He used to work as a facfor

two

years.

until 1985,

operative in El Paso.

tors'

I

years

came here when I

was only

I

was about

the family, the in-laws.

But afterwards

I

started to

tory workshops, cleaning offices, doing special training to take care

was with

for another year.

tor}'

1986 to 1990

and

I

Then

and weekends

at night

of a sick person

I

did both jobs. I

work in

homecare

who

person for two years and after that

this

During the

22, 23 years old.

first

doing anything but taking care of

a housewife, not

small fac-

for adults.

I

got

could not move. I

worked

I

at a fac-

returned to cleaning offices and from

During the day I worked in the

factor}',

cleaned offices, [groans]

The garment factor} was so difficult. I left my children home solitos [alone]. They went to school and we didn't see each other because I didn't get home from work until one Aiiee!\ never got any sleep!

7

or two in the morning.

The worked I

first factor}-

at

worked

worked was named Emily Joe. Later

was Eddy Wad. With the

my husband

and sweet young

left

me

first

job

I still

didn't have

my

while he ran around with his

he knew about jobs and told

me where

On other jobs I had my own references, people that I worked

with and knew.

I

always

came with good recommendations.

the last job because the factor}'

After

Obrera.

1985

I

But because he was always working

things.

in these different industries

to go.

I

CMT and at other small shops, Elias Lavalla. The last one at

papers because friends

where

I

I

was near where

got off from the factor}-

volunteered because

a friend

of mine

women's meeting on

who was

I

started

enjoyed

I

a

topics given

it.

neighbor

I

found

lived.

coming

In

I

to

La Mujer

March or April of

first

brought

me

for a

bv Cecilia [Rodriguez, La Mujer

Obrera's co-founder], workshops on the oppression of la mujer, and

planning for

a festival for children.

During those days

I

only partici-

103

Mujer Luchando!— Interview

jLa

pated in small meetings and visited, not as a member. In 1986

I

be-

came a member, worked on committees, then part of the leadership. After a year they started to organize special workshops to train me and two other companeras, Maria del Carmen [Dominguez] and Eustolia [Olivas] as the

three organizers trained to advance the

first

organization.

On some

occasions Cecilia gave the training; at other times,

Guillermo [Dominguez Glenn,

came from

different parts of the city,

ing from Mexico. to study,

They gave

from Paolo

and

political teachers, includ-

classes in politics

Freire's

methods

who

husband]. People

Cecilia's

and everything related

to the political

economy of

Mexico. Trainings lasted two or three weeks, a month, three

months, or sometimes got

first

Since about 1988 stronger membership.

when

daily

from study we

later

What we

the teachers were here.

put into practice.

we began

to develop

more

and

activities

a bit

We started the first cooperative food project

through a committee organized by Maria del Carmen. She also created the newspaper for educational work.

It

was about eight pages

long and came out every month. Maria del Carmen developed educational material, leaflets and brochures, and gave classes. teacher, yes,

my past

from

them

leafleted

came

in 1988, 1990, 1991.

to every meeting. It

Cooperativa [the

health tional

clinic].

We

had over

a

was so busy!

a

thousand

a

week. Fifty work-

We

were running La

food cooperative] and also La

workers

Clinica [free

Fifteen to twenty people helped us operate our educa-

program and the coop. There was

ber. That's

the

was

in the factories during this period so

members, with educational meetings four times ers

all

training in Mexico.

There were big problems

we

I

when we had

all

a huelga [strike] in

Novem-

the problems with the union, the

divisions. I

was

moved

in charge

into

of political education. In 1995 and 1996

economic development.

we were who came from

I

we

also

prepared the curriculum

based on what

planning, for the workers, volunteers, and

people

outside El Paso.

from Spain.

We

group, whether

made it

was

We

even had

a volunteer

presentations according to the needs of the religious, progressive, or

more

conservative.

Sweatshop Warriors

104

We

conducted

The

School].

one hour

political

education in our Escue/a Popular [People's

courses lasted three months, two hours a week, with

and then one hour on econom-

in English or citizenship,

We made murals, drawings, and leaflets to reinforce the learning process. We do more murals and dinamicas [skits] and show videos. We developed plans for the Comite ics, politics,

de

and

Lucha and

social issues.

when

the people developed as stronger leaders, they

took on more responsibility for planning.

We have to design the curriculum so that everyone can understand. We do not rely much on writing because a lot of our people do not know how go

to read.

to sleep like in

tired

Doing murals together is

and hungry so we have to capture

engaged.

When

so people don't

church; they're so colorful. Workers

people

first

come, we

their interest start

come

here

and keep them

with very basic stories

and simple questions. If they go on to the second level, we cover more political economy and advanced topics. We talk about what money is, what transnational corporations are, why factories are

and neoliberalism.

closing,

We

draw

pictures of the transnational

corporations and their activities around the world and ask what does this

in

have to do with us?

We talk about what is happening to people

Chiapas and what that poor people's struggle has to do with work-

ers in this I

community.

love doing educational work!

We

started before the big gar-

women were

ment

factories started closing, while the

Then

the different corporations began setting

still

up twin

working.

plants along

the border in the 1970s here in Juarez and El Paso; later the biggest factories started to leave.

Through our

Canada we learned more about the in

Canada and the United

stories

ences

with other workers.

is

States.

relations with

disasters

We

made many

One of the most

workers in

workers went through trips

and shared

beautiful of

all

experi-

when workers support each other. Different people from La

Mujer Obrera

participate in these exchanges. It sets a

information. But the governments

We

started

working

still

[in solidarity]

passed

good base of

NAFTA.

with the [independent Mexi-

can labor union federation] Frente Autentico del Trabajo [FAT],

founded

in I960.

105

The FAT works

in four sectors. First,

it

works

in

{La

105

Mujer Luchando!— Interview

now has various national level unions, like

the workers sector, which

the unions of iron and

steel,

from northern Mexico

to the

farm,

textile,

and shoemaker workers,

southwest part of the central

Second, the cooperative sector organizes savings,

and producers cooperatives, including ers

won

valley.

consumers,

a glass factory that the

people living in the

after a strike. Third,

credit,

colonias

work-

[neighbor-

hoods] developed similar consumer cooperatives; in the urban sector colonia residents organize around

all

kinds of questions, like

water, electricity, and sewage. Finally, the campesino sector

con-

is

ducting a survey of the people in the countryside to estimate the results

of the harvest so they don't get exploited by some company.

They work with

the

damental goal

to

is

Our groups no

who

[owners of communal land].

important]....

[is

that

The

us.

Trabadajores Mexicanos] ing party. ers,

working in

col-

we want and who

decide what

situation in

Mexico

is

is

very different from

CTM

[Confederation

de

part of the official

government and

rul-

unions; is

[that are]

to develop

We are based in self-determination

who

are the ones

US AFL-CIO

of

we belong to

The FAT had

completely independently from the unions laboration with the government.

going to represent

fun-

or government, and the workers themselves are

feel this

where workers

The

improve the conditions of life of all the people.

are organizing independently because

political party

the ones

ejidotarios

the

The government's physical repression can't stop the workmany obstacles before them. For example, when

but does place

workers

really start organizing, the first thing they [the

ernment] do

is fire

everyone

commissions give people to vote

false

who

[in

the union].

Mexican gov-

Or the government labor

counts of the election votes. They bring in

really

don't

work

there.

Through

these

same

laws and government bodies that are supposed to protect the workers, the

administration carries out

many

tricks.

Since around 1963 they started to establish maquiladoras along the border and added

came necessary border,

Centro

many more

for the de

FAT

Estudios

in the

1980s and 1990s. So

to establish a workers' center

y

Taller

L^aboral,

to

train

it

be-

on

the

women

maquiladora workers about everything related to their labor rights to

defend themselves whether

at the individual

or collective

level.

Es-

Sweatshop Warriors

106

pecially here in the

United States where there

what an independent union or organization

know how

is is,

no understanding of

we want workers

to

things could be different.

In general people

who work

in the maquilas

experience in these kinds of jobs.

have no previous

Some maquiladoras

require that

workers have completed primary school, but in others, many do not

know how

to read

because

the

all

and

work in

write.

Workers receive no study or

the maquiladoras

training

very easy and routine, so

is

one needs only a certain amount of manual aptitude. They contract mosdy young people, from 16 to 35 years old, depending on the factory. If the work involves a lot of tiny pieces, they gready prefer women's labor; when the work is a little more heavy, they contract more men. The rado is about 60 percent women and 40 percent men. About 50 percent of the workers in Juarez are not from here, but from all the other states of the republic. Some 55 percent of the

women also

have children, averaging one or two. People often can-

not secure the necessities of centers to

to leave their children

Most of United

life.

accommodate so many

States,

There are not enough childcare people.

The

times parents have

by themselves.

the factories are transnational, headquartered in the

Canada, and Japan, [and more recendy, subcontractors

from South Korea and Taiwan] with maquilas.

Many

average pay

is

also

some Mexican-owned

$4 a day. [exclaims] Yes,

that's

what it

is!

That includes bonuses for productivity, good attendance, punctuality, so that workers will prizes,

work even harder

but the pay offered

us needy.

Many

is

to survive.

so low because

maquilas have people

it

They

benefits

who worked

give

them

some

to keep

ten, twelve years

doing the same thing, but have not been trained to do anything else.

At La Mujer Obrera we have lose hold

classes twice a

of our education program, or we

will

week.

We try not to We

have no power.

need to motivate the workers so they can struggle for Before

NAFTA

passed

we helped

their rights.

organize a big march

on

the

bridge between here and Mexico and had problems with the police. It

was very

many

cold!

We

stayed in the Plaza

all

night together with so

groups, including from Canada and Mexico.

Now the

education

we do

is

on

the results of the

crisis,

the di-

jLa

saster, the

unemployment, the people out

of workers

more with

like

they didn't

exist.

visible

and take on

NAFTA is

not

this

in the streets, the treating

Workers

and whatever part of the world. But

here,

107

Mujer Luchando!— Interview

are invisible in Mexico,

how can workers become

problem? The problem we are having

one affecting El Paso;

just a local

worldwide problem of neoliberalism.

also the

it is

We have to educate workers, We must understand the

both immigrants and non-immigrants. roots of the problems.

work, but why

Women

we

We need to know not just that we don't have

don't have work.

are not the only ones

working woman

is

the

one who

is

who come

in the

in

our name, La Mujer Obrera [The

in

our methods of organizing,

leadership.

for help, but yes, the

worst need.

Woman Worker];

initiatives,

with her needs,

is

ready to help her, whether she stays or

unprotected. But

pate in this organization because

it is

we also want women to in

continue to be used as objects,

partici-

our interest to strengthen the

group to promote the development of women.

strong,

comes out

a name people know so women come how we can support them. When a woman comes

we should be

not, because she

ers

it

development of women's

La Mujer Obrera is

here directly to see

We

You can hear it

We

don't want to

like furniture, right?!

have been through so many experiences that were good,

and brave.

One of the most important

of this organization

way they do routine. If a

this is

is

to

things for us as lead-

have the support of our

families.

One

no

fixed

by accepting our schedules, since there

husband or children oppose our

activities,

is

we would

have to leave our work only half done. Working together with

women through hard times like the hunger strike or the organizing of Camp Dignity [a popular education, two-week summer camp

LMO

organized for NAFTA-displaced workers and their families]

we saw how far each how the organization could grow. We have the experiences of building relationships among workers to have been great learning experiences. [There]

of us

as

an organizer could go and

better express themselves

and communicate with others.

Now I can say what I want, what I want done

expect,

what

I

in the organization, in the family, for myself.

do or do not But

if you're

only inside your home, you don't learn anything. Development

is

108

Sweatshop Warriors

very important. Lots of

good and bad

The

things

happen

one goes

as

we know how to get the strength to face problems and whatever lies ahead. If I know that my health could affect the orthrough

life.

negative ones affect your health and psyche so

must be prepared

to

ganization, then

have to think not only of myself, but also of the

my

group, of tion,

one

I

co-workers.

I

think that once one joins an organiza-

not completely free because one has to think about the

is

organization, the family, and the

and you are not alone. You have

self.

So you turn into many parts

to think about

respond to these different parts of your

life

how you are going to because you cannot

abandon them.

Our litical,

workers are in three

priorities for

and

ideological. In the future,

I

areas: the

hope

that

goal of having an economic base from which

we

we

economic, powill

can

reach our

live

and sup-

port the community and ourselves, so workers will be able to take care of their families.

hope

I

that

we

will achieve the best for the

workers, the dreams we've always had about creating a bilingual school and cultural plaza, which would be the greatest, most fabu-

Our political priority is to strengthen the workers to confront the bureaucrats to make them implement workers' rights. We must be conscious of what is happening so we can defend ourselves. We know what kind of politics we want and that we must exert eflous thing.

forts so that the voices I will ily

of the community will be heard. Ideologically

continue to uphold

my ideals

for the organization

and

my fam-

to build a better future. If the conditions

of the community improve, then

my

family's

condition will also improve. If the community's conditions do not improve, then

my family will continue to live in the same poor situation

they are in now. Without this organization ture for our children or all

we cannot have a better fu-

our grandchildren.

We have

to

keep fighting

we are conscious of our goals, we won't lose our Any woman who is a real leader has to be in the fore-

three fights. If

way, our vision.

front of continuing to struggle to better our conditions.

—El

Paso, Texas, February 24, 1997

jLa

109

Mujer Luchando!— Interview

Mate

Petra

Former Levi's Garment Worker, Fuerza Unida Organizer and Miracle Maker I was born on May 31, 1946 in a little town called Bustamente, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. My parents worked as farmers. When there was no more money in farming, they moved. My mother died at the very early age of 28 years old, when I was only 5. She had a baby in this small town they say is only a rancho. The hospital services were

women had their baat home. I think they did not take care of my mom very well, so

very poor, no doctors, nobody. In those days bies

she developed problems.

My

litde sister, the

my mom

baby

my mom

that

bore, died.

A

few days

my four brothers and myself. I was in the middle. When my mother died, my father felt lost. He couldn't stand that my mother had died, so he left us. After that, my grandfather moved me and my brothers to Nuevo Laredo. He took care of us kids until we got married. later

was sad

It

That

died, too.

for

me.

was young because

I

left

made

my ma

us five kids,

a lot of sacrifices

died.

I

you the way your mother does because you That's what life." I

I tell

my kids now, "You good

for

are

But

in a

me because now I

born from

way,

can

When I was young I had to respect myself. I was I

her.

my grandpar-

live

with dignity.

always praying that

would not do something that was going to degrade me.

my girls,

I

only have one mother in your

didn't have a mother, [eyes water]

ents did something

and suffered when

don't think anybody cares about

always

tell

"Respect yourself no matter what. You've got to have

re-

I

spect to receive respect."

After years and years

But

I

my father came back and we accepted him.

don't have the kind of love for him

cause he never lived with us

When I got married I

I

when we were

would litde,

like to

have be-

when we needed

my heart that I had to let go of, that used to bother me. But now I have my family and a wonderful husband. He helps me a lot. I've got my four kids. My daughter turned 27 in August. My oldest boy is 26, my small boy is 22, and my girl is 17. him.

had

all

this

sadness stored up in

Sweatshop Warriors

110

met

I

my

Laredo when

husband

[future]

was

15.

three or four years.

We

I

Then knew

in

el

I left

mercado [the market] in

to

work

this family

Nuevo

United States for

in the

very well in Laredo, Texas.

They asked my aunt if I could work for them. I worked in their house for two straight years without going to see my family. I had to clean the floors on my hands and knees and wash windows and change everything every month.

When I was

was able

17, 1

go home

to

Nuevo Laredo on

to

weekends, then come back to work by Monday. forth like that.

I

cleaned the house because

I just

I

the

went back and

went

to six years

of

school in Mexico. At that time there was no opportunity to go to school or college. So

I

had

to jHijole!'work as a

maid and serve them.

They had two kids, and I had to put them to bed every night, give them their clothes, prepare them for school, make breakfast, and do all the housework. There was a wife, but of course I was the maid! [laughs] I only made $10 a week. I went back to Nuevo Laredo to the same place where I had worked and started talking with my [future] husband. One time,

when

was getting off from work,

I

"What

are

you going

to

I

do today?" He

called his

house and asked,

"Well, nothing."

said,

I said,

Do you want to go with me?" My sister-in-law told me, "The day you

"Well, I'm going to go to the movies.

He

said right away,

we were

called,

was going [laughs]

to

But

I

ready to go out, but he got so excited because he

all

go with you." So I'm the one who took the it

was only

chicklet with me.

when

"Yeah!"

one day

for that

was 23 years old and Domingo was

were born here. cold.

I

later

we came

remember

the

to the

first

saved and began buying things.

tory,

27.

United

my third

counting

during the day.

child

tortillas

Then

I

We

was born

on

I

States. All the kids

days were very bad because

We didn't even have blankets

the house didn't have any windows.

After

just like a little

We have a very good relationship. We got married

Three months

was very

he was

that

first step,

Oooh! Then

are

in this

still

started

little

by

working in

of the kitchen and they paid

to a restaurant

me

a very, very

litde

we

house now. a tortilla fac-

the night shift and taking care of

moved

it

and

to cover ourselves

where

I

was

my

kids

in charge

low wage, about $60 or

jLa

$70 a week.

I

was hired three making

day, even Saturdays,

and

fied

felt like this

was not

and worked 6am

years

Zarzamora

Street.

I

4pm

was

every-

unsatis-

could do.

all I

and decided

Levi's factory

at the

The pay was very good.

this!"

to

and everything.

tortillas

People said that they were hiring

would like to do

111

Mujer Luchando!— Interview

I said,

to apply. I

"Well,

on

wow!

I

went one morning and

didn't even get back home before I already got a call. me to come in for an interview. So I went right away, and they hired me in 1976. When I started working there, they were paying by levels A to D,

took the

They

with

test. I

told

D getting higher pay—which

difficult operations, like

For three and ity

so

I

I

qualified for.

I

did the hard,

more

sewing the pockets on the sides of the coat.

a half years

I

sewed

could do any operation.

this

Then

way before they put me on utilmade me a trainer to teach

they

new people. I liked working with the girls and helping out. Finally made me a supervisor for eight years. I was very happy with my

the

they

I got to work closely with my co-workers. The layoff happened on January 16, 1990. The Friday before the

job because

Martin Luther King holiday, they told us that trainers

had

thing was

to

go downtown

all

for a meeting.

wrong because we had heard

the supervisors

We

a lot of rumors. Usually at

Christmas they gave us a $500 bonus, but not that year. out

later that

to shut us

and

suspected some-

We

found

they decreased our hours because they were planning

down. Nobody got the benefit of a pay increase based on

40 hours because we were working

less hours.

We [supervisors] went downtown to a very fancy hotel on Tuesday.

Everyone

sat

sudden we saw a

down around lot

"What's going on?"

and to

said that they

tables in a big

room. Then

of people coming with folders.

Finally, the

We

all

person from Levi's started to speak

were planning to shut us down because Levi's had

be competitive in the market. Everything turned black.

started screaming

They

We

and saying "Why?"

already had the package ready,

took us to

of a

thought,

different, individual

what you're going

knew who we were, and

rooms. Then they

"This

is

They

told us, "Yeah, yeah, calm

to get."

I

was very

down.

I

sad.

start explaining, I

started crying.

know how you

feel, I

11?

Sweatshop Warriors

know." Ahhh!

know how I for this

"How in the hell do you my job. After the 14 years I worked

told her [eyes water],

I

feel?"

I

mean I

company, they

"You're going to

love

just turn us

out

Our jobs are over. You still have a job!"

like this.

me you know how I

tell

feel?

We said,

just

came back and went outside. We hugged each other and "What are we going to do?" "Ahhh!" "I just bought my car." "I

got

my credit card to buy Christmas gifts." A lot of people were

buying houses, then lost them. They lost their the time.

had two

cars at

We lost everything because we couldn't pay no more, sabes When they turned us away they said, "Oh, we want you

[you know]?

to cooperate with us.

ple

cars. I

We want you to help us to work with the peo-

tomorrow." Everybody went back and

said,

"Oh

no!

You want

you when you are doing this to us?" They had a lot of advisors [who] told us, "You poor lady, you're going to be all right." They gave some money to the city to provide us to help

but those services did not help Levi's workers direcdy, but

services,

instead jobs.

went

They

buying a

to the

[also]

lot

whole

city

with close to 10,000 people out of

mishandled that money by renting a big office and

of things.

We didn't get anything. About 1,150 workers

were displaced.

When Levi's closed, it was a disaster for most of the families. My husband has had

to

work at two

evening he's a cook

at the Marriott

working with vegetables job

I

sent

one of

my

in a lot

member

When

I

down. In the

Hotel and in the morning he's

of grocery

kids to college.

thing that they needed, not

needed.

jobs since they shut us

My

stores.

Before

I lost

my

two older kids had every-

what they wanted, but

at least

what they

The ones who suffered most were the small ones. They rethat we could buy five pairs of pants, one for each day. lost my job my small boy said, "Mom, how come we can

only buy two pants, one to use today and the other one tomorrow?"

He

asked,

them

"Why did Junior have

this

and

I

cannot?"

It

was hard

for

to understand.

About two months before they shut us down, they started reducing personnel. They paid us whatever they wanted. Workers didn't know how to calculate their pay. So we started comparing.

"How much

do you have?"

"How much

did you get?"

And

they

jLa

said,

"Well, look

That's

I

when we

113

Mujer Luchando!— Interview

got less than you and

I

was working more

started to get together, decided to

years."

form Fuerza

Unida, and declared the boycott against Levi's.

At

first

we

didn't have any office.

Ruben's house. Ruben

[Sob's

We

did

of the work from

all

of the Southwest Public Workers Un-

ion]

was the one who helped us

The

first

start to

day they made the shut

down announcement, Ruben was

there protesting in front of the plant.

had meetings and formed the

put together Fuerza Unida.

We got a lawyer right away. We

Concilio

[Board of Directors].

The

workers got involved, and we decided to put together our demands.

Then we

got a very

little

Center on South Flores

For

six

place at the Esperanza Peace and Justice

Street.

months we got unemployment

we

two weeks. After that ran out,

more

felt

benefits,

very bad.

attention and time into Fuerza Unida.

$200 every

We put more

and

We put aside our per-

We We started having trainings and participating conferences — locally, nationally, internationally. We moved

sonal and family problems.

used to cry noches [nights] to see the

people with no food. in

again to 3946 South Zarzamora and stayed for almost two years until

we moved over here

rent

is

[to

cheaper. We're low

710

New Laredo Highway] where the

on income. The owner

is

a very

good,

cooperative man. Viola, Irene [Reyna],

time

For the

first

and

year or two the people

nated by the Board.

First, there

and another lady whose name tro,

who

in a lot

were the co-coordinators

I

I

volunteered so much.

worked

was Frances

at that

for free,

nomi-

Estrella, Raquelina,

don't remember, and Margie Cas-

A lot of girls got involved

and put

of time. Then they decided to make Fuerza Unida a

non-profit organization with papers and everything, and get a grant to pay full-time coordinators. Irene, and, because

February 1992.

We

Irene had to leave

I

was putting

in

They nominated Viola and

my

time volunteering,

me

in

worked as a team, Viola, Irene, and myself.

when we

ran out of money.

sources to hire technical assistance.

I

wish

We need someone

we had resit down

to

and use the computer. Then we could move more quickly, with our sewing cooperative, food bank, and everything.

Sweatshop Warriors

114

Every several weeks, we went at Levi's

families. It

was good but hard.

corporate headquarters.

be good leaders to head the

want to do something, we a lot

who do

just

not

need

ing clothes only for their

own

families.

households; not enough attention

We

also

must

Of course, we

My

A lot of women are heads of women

make

changes.

fall

deep

you have

two oldest

time at home.

ways wanted

My

to

into

I

We

tell

women

that if

When we

started picketing

held the poster up to cover

my

face. I

was

to look for

and create opportunities.

[children] got

married

You

the door.

son

is

I

when

I lost

job. I

did not spend too

very independent, but

my little

girl

It's

hard for

me

to decide

how many hours

plan your day, but something comes up, people

Most of

friends say, "Hey,

learned so

the time I

much

has

al-

my

family supports me.

My

to work come in

husband's

saw your wife on TV."

much

at

Fuerza Unida. This

is

the best school

—

could have, working with people, listening, chairing

you have

my

be with me. If I go to town and work late, she comes

here to help me.

to understand to carry out the struggle.

all

you

the things

Here we

are not

We We work with Asian, Filipino, African American, white. We are part of the same vision, the same move-

just individuals.

the

down

you must speak up.

missed them a lot. With the two small ones

I

see them-

Now if people don't call me, I call them. If you are denied op-

portunities,

a day.

They

paid to the problems they face.

learned these things.

and going to protests, afraid.

own goals. I have

need to be motivated by other issues and aware of

trying to abuse you,

is

our

they can do.

learn to cross so they can get to the other

other people's problems to

someone

is

very poor. Sometimes

is

that depression they side.

to develop

know what

and mother, washing dishes, cooking dinner, or mak-

selves as a wife

San Antonio

San Francisco to organize the

We had to leave our We needed to walk so far and learn to campaign. We have learned that if we

campaign

of friends

to

go to support and participate in

all

struggles in

movement.

Mexican, ment.

People come here to cry

if

want

to complain, laugh if they

tions

and advice about what

they want to cry, complain

want

to do.

to laugh,

if

they

and get recommenda-

We started a food bank two years

jLa

115

Mujer Luchando!— Interview

ago, after the Levi's layoffs, to help people during emergencies with

We didn't have many resources. We suffered and We know what many people who are out of

groceries. sacrifices.

need

—

flour, oil, rice, juices,

detergent, bread,

made work

canned goods, beans, crackers, laundry

We pay 12 cents a pound to the food bank

tortillas.

and give the bags away for

free.

People come to volunteer and sew in

exchange.

We

have a good group of volunteers working closely with

The group ing coop curtains,

is

us.

mixed between ex-Levi's and other workers. Our sew-

sells

ready-made items such

and aprons.

raising events.

a single needle.

as bedspreads, tablecloths,

We bought sewing machines after many fund-

We really need two more commercial machines with We also need a new truck to pick-up the materials for

the sewing coop and the food coop.

When sales are good, we try to give volunteers a little something for their gas expenses.

Through our

I^oteria

Mexicana [bingo] every-

one can take something home. Everyone brings something

we cook and something.

eat together.

When women

in

and

Anyone who comes here goes away with get frustrated we tell them, "Hey, come

over here!" They leave with a piece of material, bingo pri2e, advice,

make them feel good. We are trying to expand the organization. Our dream is to make pants. Now we are

and friendship

work of the making

to

miracles.

We never knew we were going to be around this long. When we met with La Mujer Obrera years ago, we asked "how could you survive so long?" They told us, "You have to think about and plan how you

are going to survive that long."

years

from now,

I

would

We have

more

established or-

boom, boom, boom!

We need tech-

like to see a stronger,

ganization that can keep going

nical assistance to stabilize the organization.

Unida do not only other

survived this long. Six

local,

I

want

to see Fuerza

but more global projects together with

women.

When we

first

came here my husband and

I

were undocu-

my husband got his citizenship. About two years ago made myself a citizen, too, because I felt that it was not right for me to be in this struggle when 1 didn't have a voice, a right to vote. I got

mented. Then I

Sweatshop Warriors

116

to

be somebody in the United

States.

life. I

go to school and

be good

college, to

I

want

our people to have a better

want

to continue to

to teach

citizens,

work

for

my grandchildren to

and participate

in

mak-

ing decisions.

My health

bothers me.

sew, to pray, and get the

knows what

down and

he's doing.

take a

husband works me.

He

want?

I

helps

rest.

at

me

two

I

want

power

Maybe he

My

to talk

to

my

uses

husband and

jobs.

He does

more with

down

sit

the people, to

for a while.

health to

kids are in

only want to see Fuerza Unida

make me slow

What

become an

God

good shape.

not go out to drink.

clean house, wash, and cook.

But

He

else

My

talks to

could

I

established orga-

nization working especially for gender equality.

—San Antonio,

Texas, October

7,

1997

117

Notes to ;La Mujer Luchando!

1

English Translation: In the liberation fronts

of working people There are women who are strong and valiant There are women who know how to struggle are women developing In the city and the countryside Giving strength and vision to the people

They

They They

are are

working working

class

class

women women

luminous with struggle for justice and peace

Respect their culture and work With the force of their dignity They are garment workers demanding justice They are garment workers who know how to They are the women displaced by Levis

struggle

The strugglers of the great movement They are the seamstresses of La Fuerza Unida They are the seamstresses of liberation. Traditional music with lyrics adapted by Arnoldo Garcia (1994).

2

Porfirio Diaz ruled

Mexico with an iron hand from 1877

until the

1910

Mexican Revolution.

3

Jose Marti, Cuba's beloved poet, writer, and leader who died May 19, 1895, fighting Spanish colonialism, coined this term and warned against US designs

on

Latin America. See Roig de Leuchsenring, 1967.

4

For example, while an estimated half million people of Mexican origin, including US citizens, were deported during the Great Depression, World War II brought Mexican workers back to the United States on a massive scale via the US government-sponsored "bracero [working arms] program," a contract labor project designed to address wartime labor shortages in agriculture. In 1954 during the post-Korean War recession, the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) implemented "Operation Wetback," which deported over one million undocumented Mexican workers. At the same time nearly five million temporary labor contracts were issued to Mexican citizens between 1942 and 1964, while apprehensions of Mexican workers without documents also numbered over five million. The bracero program ended in December 1964 due to strong opposition to abuses of migrant farm workers. (Hondagneu-Sotelo, 1994:22-23; Fernandez-Kelly, 1983:26). As of this writing, immigrant rights organizers feared that the George W. Bush administration will enact a new version of the bracero program to use guest migrant workers to work for one-year periods, making it difficult for them to organize without being deported, and forcing them to leave their families home in Mexico (Interview with Eunice Cho, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, February 26, 2001).

5

Fix and Passel, 1994:24-25.

6

Falk, 2001;

7

Ruiz, 1998:7; Hondagneu-Sotelo, 1994:20.

McDonnel, 1999.

Sweatshop Warriors

118

8

By

many growers sought

the 1920's

1994:21-22). During the

war

more

a

women and

workers, including Mexican

years

stable supply

children.

of immigrant

(Hondagneu-Sotelo,

many Mexican and Chicana/o

families

migrated from Texas to California. As the population became increasingly urban,

women moved from

the

into

fields

garment

factories

the

in

Southwest. (Amott and Matthei, 1996: 79-80; Blackwelder, 1997:71-72). For

more on

the role of Mexicana and Chicana labor, see feminist researchers like

Mora and Del Castillo, 1980; Ruiz, 1987 and 1998; Mary Romero, 1992; Leeper, 1993; Blackwelder, 1984 and 1997; Soldatenko, 1993 Rose, 1990 and 1995; Calderon and Zamora, 1990: 37-40; Vargas, 1997 Honig, 1996; Blackwelder, 1997:71-72; Ruiz, 1998; Amott and Matthei, 1996 and Fernandez-Kelly and Garcia, 1989and 1992; Fernandez-Kelly and Zavella, 1987;

Sassen, 1991.

9

10

US Department of Labor, Women's Bureau, 1997:1. US Department of Labor, Women's Bureau, 1997:

6-7. According to US government statistics, leading occupations for "Hispanic Origin" women were as cashiers, secretaries, sales, retail and personal service workers; janitors and cleaners; nursing aids, orderlies, and attendants; textile sewing machine operators, cleaners and servants in private households, and cooks in

1996. Segregation into lower-paying, secondary labor market jobs, layoffs and high unemployment, and lower educational attainment all combined to keep incomes low and poverty rates high for Mexicanas and Chicanas. The 1995 median incomes for full-time workers put Latinas at the bottom of the income scale averaging $17,178. While Mexicanas and Chicanas earned only half as much as Anglo men, their male counterparts also made only 61 percent of white male earnings in 1990 (Amott and Matthei, 1996: 91). 7

11 12 13

Interview with Refugio "Cuca" Arrieta, February 26, 1997. Interview with Petra Mata, October

7,

1997.

Fernandez-Kelley, 1983:4 and 19-46. For more on the border economy, see

&

Southwest Network for Environmental

14 15 16

Economic Justice,

Interview with Marta Martinez, October

The

9,

1997.

problems of the slump in commodity prices and markets, and ballooning rates of foreign debt which international banks feared deeply indebted nations would be forced to default. See Martinez and Garcia, 1997; Vickers, 1991; Garcia, Arnoldo, neoliberal

program was designed

to address systemic

1970s, such as the falling rates of profit, global recession,

1

996; Asian Migrant Centre,

Democracy

17

1996.

Interview with Celeste Jimenez, February 26, 1997.

in

1

996b; Zamora,

1

oil crisis,

995; National

Commission

for

Mexico, 1997b.

See Sparr, 1994; Vickers, 1991; Rivera, 1996; Suarez Aguilar, 1996; Louie and

Burnham, 2000.

18 19 20 21 22 23

Stephen, 1997: 115.

Chant, 1991:41, cited in Stephen, 1997:115.

Economist

Intelligence Unit, 1994:13, cited in Stephen, 1997:1 15.

See Beneria and Roldan,

1

987; Stephen,

1

997: 111-157; and

Thompson,

Interview with Refugio "Cuca" Arrieta, February 26, 1997.

Human

Rights Watch, 1996:2.

1

999.

119

Notes to ;La Mujer Luchando!

24 25 26 27

Fernandez-Kelly, 1994:263.

Bustos and Palacio, 1994:19; Louie, Miriam, 1998. Fernandez-Kelly, 1994:265.

Delegation meetings organized by National Interfaith Committee

for

Worker Justice and hosted by the Comision para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos del Valle de Tehuacdn, Cetili^chicahualistli (Tehuacan Human Rights Commission), February 22-23, 1998. Interviews with "Maria" and "Araceli," February 22, 1998. See National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, 1998; Louie, Miriam, 1998.

28

Carmen Valadez and Reyna Montero, February 17, 1998 in November 8, 1998. See also Valadez and Cota, 1998. Valadez and Montero explained that their group chose the feminist name "Factor X," after the X chromosomes which Interview with

Tijuana, Mexico. Interview with Beatriz Alfaro,

distinguishes females

29 30

from males.

Interview with Elizabeth "Beti" Robles Ortega, July

Author interviews with Elizabeth Robles of

1 0, 1

998.

SEDEPAC,

July 10, 1998;

Mathilde Arteaga of FAT, February 20, 1998; Carmen Valadez and Reyna

Montero, February

17, 1998;

and Beatriz Alfaro of Factor X, November

8,

1998.

31

Fernandez-Kelly, 1983: 62-63, 70-71. Between 1995 and 2000, for example,

more than 1 million Mexicans moved to the northern border, search of work in the maquila industry (Thompson, 2001 :A1).

32 33

largely in

Interview with Maria Antonia Flores, February 24, 1997.

Delegation meeting organized by the National Interfaith Committee for

Worker

Justice with the Comision para la Defensa de

'Valle de Tehuacdn, Cetili^chicahualistli

(Tehuacan

los

Derechos

Humanos

del

Human Rights Commission in

Tehuacan), February 22, 1998.

34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

Louie, Miriam, 1990.

Egan, 1997.

Gomez-Quinones and

Maciel, 1998:37-38.

Hondagneu-Sotelo, 1994:21.

Monto, 1994. Interview with Celeste Jimenez, February 26, 1997. Interview with Maria del Interview with

Carmen Dominguez, February

Carmen "Chitlan"

24, 1997.

Ibarra Lopez, February 24, 1997.

Interview with Alicia and Carlos Marentes, February 25, 1997. Garcia, Arnoldo, 1996:6.

Fix and Passel, 1996.

1

994:25. For

more on militarization of the border see

Palafox,

See also Michael Moore's spoof on the inconsistencies of

US

immigration policy, "Not on the Mayflower? Then Leave!," 1996:33-42.

45 46

Cornelius, 1988, cited in Hondagneu-Sotelo, 1994:31. Ibarra Lopez, February 24, 1 997. The 1 986 and Contract Act contained provisions for an amnesty-legalization program for undocumented immigrants who could

Interview with

Carmen "Chitlan"

Immigration Reform

Sweatshop Warriors

120

prove continuous residence in the United States since January 1, 1982, and for those who could prove they had worked in US agriculture for 90 days during specific periods (Hondagnue-Sotelo, 1994:26.)

47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57

Hondagneu-Sotelo, 1994:2-20. Interview with Maria del

Carmen Dominguez, February

Interview with Petra Mata, October Interview with Lucrecia Tamayo,

Montoya

Interview with Irma

Interview with Maria del

7,

24, 1997.

1997.

March

3,

1997.

Barajas, February 28, 1997.

Carmen Dominguez, February

Interview with Ernestina "Tina" Mendoza, October

For more on second and third generation Chicanas' Zavella, 1987; and Ruiz, 1987 and 1998. Interview with Viola Casares, October

7,

8,

24, 1997.

1997.

labor, see

1997.

See Coyle, Hershatter and Honig, 1980; Honig, 1996. Interview with

on

Carmen

1 997. For more top-down leadership within the union Coyle, Hershatter and Honig, 1980.

"Chitlan" Ibarra Lopez, February 24,

race and gender insensitivity and

during the Farah

strike, see

58

Interview with Refugio "Cuca" Arrieta, February 26, 1997.

59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70

Interview with Maria del

Carmen Dominguez, February

Interview with Petra Mata, October

7,

24, 1997.

1997.

Bonacich and Walker, 1994:86-87.

Sweatshop Watch, 2000: 1 Kever, 1990. See Bluestone and Harrison, 1982; Moore, 1996. Interview with Viola Casares, October

7,

Interview with Petra Mata, October

1997.

7,

1997.

Colliver, 2000; Schoenberger, 2000.

Landler,

1

998; Frost,

1

998, Emert,

1

998.

Emert, 1999.

Sweatshop Watch, 1998:1-2.

UNITE

had

initially

Liz Claiborne not be included in the original

71 72

Romero, 1 992;

requested that Levi's and

suit.

Verhovek, 1998.

For information on the lawsuit

filed

by injured workers

at Levi's plants in

El

Paso, see Tanaka, Wendy. 1997.

73

74

Greater Texas Workers Committee, 1997.

La Mujer Obrera, "Desastre causado por NAFTA-caused Disaster,"

Flyer,

2000.

75 76 77 78

Interview with Maria del

Interview with Lucrecia Tamayo,

24, 1997.

March

3,

1997.

Carmen Dominguez, February 24, 1997. After organizer, Dominguez in turn leafleted factor}' gates to

Interview with Maria del

becoming an

LMO

inform workers of

79

Carmen Dominguez, February

Bonacich and Appelbaum, 2000:16.

their rights

Interview with Maria del

during impending

NAFTA

Carmen Dominguez, February 24,

de Trabajadores and La Mujer Obrera. 1993.

closures.

1997. See Centro

121

Notes to {La Mujer Luchando!

80

Interview with Maria del

independent union adopted

Carmen Dominguez, February 24, 1997. The as its name the day in 1985 when angry workers

launched the group as Mexico City sweatshop owners retrieved machines first, instead of injured seamstresses trapped under the earthquake's rubble.

81 82 83 84

Interview with

Interview with

Carmen "Chidan" Carmen "Chidan"

Ibarra Lopez, February 24, 1997.

Ibarra Lopez, February 24, 1997.

Verhovek, 1998. Interview with Refugio "Cuca" Arrieta, February 26, 1997.

annual awards dinner honoring outstanding

women

LMO

labor and

holds an

community

leaders.

85

Interview with Maria Antonia Flores, February 24, 1997. For discussion

about popular education, see

Freire, 1990; Bell,

Gaventa and

Peters, 1990.

Interview with Maria Antonia Flores, February 24, 1997. 86 87 Interview with Lucrecia Tamayo, March 3, 1997. 88 Interview with Viola Casares, October 7, 1997. 89 Interview with Viola Casares, October 7, 1997. 90 Interview with Marta Martinez, October 9, 1997. 91 Interview with Ernestina "Tina" Mendoza, October 8, 1997. 92 Interview with Obdulia "Obi" Segura, October 8, 1 997. Interview with Petra Mata, October 7, 1997. 93 94 Interview with Viola Casares, October 7, 1997. Interview with Carmen "Chidan" Ibarra Lopez, February 24, 1997. 95 96 Interview with Viola Casares, October 7, 1997. 97 Interview with Viola Casares, October 7, 1997. 98 Interview with Remedios Garcia, February 26, 1997. 99 Interview with Carmen "Chidan" Ibarra Lopez, February 24, 1997. 100 Interview with Ernestina "Tina" Mendoza, October 8, 1997. 101 Interview with Petra Mata, October 7, 1997. 102 Interview with Maria del Carmen Dominguez, February 24, 1997. 103 Interview with Carmen "Chitlan" Ibarra Lopez, February 24, 1997. 104 Dr. Loco's Rockin' Jalapeno Band, 1992. Reprinted with permission. 105 The FAT started organizing on the northern border at the General Electric plant in Juarez in 1993. On September 28, 1996, the FAT inaugurated its new center for maquila workers, the Centro de Estudios

(CETLA) [Labor Workshop and Study Lujan Uranga,

CETLA

organizer,

the

FAT,

FAT, Mexico

City,

see Hathaway, 2000.

Taller Eaboral,

A.C.

Ciudad Juarez, February 25, 1997.

Interview with Mathilde Arteaga, in charge of national within the

j

Center]. Interview with Beatriz E.

women's organization

February 20, 1998. For more information on

Rally in support of

Photo by

KIWA

Nam Gang restaurant workers in L.A.'s

Koreatown.

Chapter Three

"Each Day

I

Go Home with A

New Wound Korean Immigrant On June

6,

My

march demanding

(KIWA)

Heart"

Women Workers Korean Immi-

1998, workers, their supporters, and

grant Workers Advocates sive

in

organizers

embarked on

a

mas-

Korean and Ladno restaurant

justice for

workers in Los Angeles' Koreatown. Snaking through mini-malls with

tilled

growled mae-un

shoppers,

surprised

as the

the

mouth-watering smells of

tang, dwenjangjikae,

favorite restaurants.

soon

stomachs

marchers' kalbi,

bulgogi,

kimchee,

and pa-chun wafted out the doors of

The march ended

in front

their

of the Shogun Sushi

Restaurant where workers were paid just $2 an hour. Koreatown

Han Hee Jin

restaurant worker

surged to the front of the

rally

delivered a fiery speech. Just a week before, her boss fired her naeng myon [cold noodle] specialty restaurant

about having to simultaneously wait

Han

tables,

when

Even though we need each

And

Even in

other,

yet employers

a small restaurant,

owners always

want

we are always

"Yes, Boss," "Yes,

Madam," while we

comments such

"you are only

carrying a tray

as

all

your

life"

to

she complained

treat

be treated

forced to

call

workers

as Master.

employers,

are subjected to degrading

a servant" or

"you are made for

or "you, waitress bitch." After seven

years of being subjected to these and

stand here today to state that

more degrading remarks,

we will not tolerate them anymore.

123

a

cook, and wash dishes.

told the marchers,

with suspicion.

and

from

1

I

Sweatshop Warriors

124

Han's impassioned appeal signaled a major new twist in a drama unfolding within the emerging Korean community. Despite black-

and censorship,

listing

lence and stand counterparts,

up

women like Han have begun

to break the

many Korean immigrant women workers worked

global assembly line, service, and finance industry jobs before

ing to the United States. soldiers in

Dragon formal

As young women they served

2

They labored under

economy

on

the

up from the

that sprang

shadow of South Korea's in-

ruins of their war-ravaged

many Korean immigrant women found

in factories like those they

started

as the foot

and globalized sex industry and within niches of the

country. After immigrating,

work

in

com-

South Korea's rapid march to industrialization and Four

status.

militarized

si-

and Mexican

for their rights. Like their Chinese

had worked

in at

home; others

the lowest rungs of the service industry, especially within

economy

mushroomed with the jump in KoSome brought their experiences with independent workers movement in South Korea.

the ethnic enclave

that

rean immigration after 1965. the

Women

Finance South Korea's "Economic Miracle"

Many Korean women workers have grown up under gender regime expressed in the proverb, "the

real taste

a harsh

of dried

fish

and tame women can only be derived from beating them once every three days."

3

Korea's traditional neo-Confucian ideology dictated

women's subordination der the

Sam Jong Ji Do

—

first

[triple

jangban [outside lord] while der the

to father, then husband, then

order instruction].

woman was

Man was

son un-

the bakkat

the anae [inside person] un-

Nam Jon Yu Bi [man's predominance over woman]. Women's was to serve as Hyun Mo Yang Cho [sacrificial mother

ultimate role

and submissive

As

wife].

4

the "inside persons" within poor families,

Korean women's

labor was central to family production, planting, weeding, harvesting,

processing foods and

ferns,

fish, raising

and other time-consuming

bean and pepper paste, dried and

hemp

fabric, clothing, foot,

animals, collecting roots and

tasks such as

salted fish,

making

kimchee, soy

and creating cotton and

and head wear. Korean

traditional folk

songs lament the hunger and hardship of farming and fishing people

Korean Immigrant

who

harvested the land and

Women

Women

sea.

125

continue to culdvate the

cucumbers, onions,

rice seedlings, red peppers, cabbages, squash,

and

garlic.

Along Korea's ample

and

coasts

islands,

women hang

squid and seaweed on their clotheslines to dry in the spring breezes, while sesame leaves blanket the

shigo/ [countryside].

Years spent working in Korean

Koreatown kitchens have brought

paddies and sweltering

rice

soft wrinkles to

Paek Young

Hee's smiling eyes and strong dark hands. In Los Angeles'

mandu

[potsticker] house, she deftly

of the succulent

fillings

and

light

tastiest

combines the secret ingredients

wrappings and serves these

treats

steamed, pan- fried, floating in a garlic pepper broth, or cloaked in a

steamed bun and christened whang mandu [emperor potsticker]. Like her Chinese and Mexican female peasant and working-class counterparts,

Paek had

Because ous.

I

I

less access to

have

little

education than her brothers.

education, immigrant

went to elementary school in Korea

old days in the countryside

it

life

for a

was customary

here

very ardu-

is

little bit.

But in the

for the people to

only send their sons to school, not their daughters. Because

was very hard, there was not enough money dren to school.

all

life

the chil-

5

The Korean proverb "when whales broken" captures Korea's rivalries

to send

fate

of Japan, the United

fight,

shrimps' backs get

sandwiched between the great power

States, Russia,

and China. Forcing the

"hermit kingdom" into the global economy, Japan colonized Korea in

1905 and used

ket,

it

for the next

40 years

as

its

combination

rice bas-

mine, railroad, factory, slave labor reserve, brothel, and bridge-

head to conquer the Asian mainland.

The left

defeat of Japanese imperialism at the end of World

Korea

as only

War

II

nominally independent, with occupying forces

from the Soviet Union and the United

States.

At US suggestion, the

The Soviets supported leftist guerrillas in the north, while in South Korea a US military government from 1945 to 1948 paved the way for rightwing conservative regimes to follow. The clashes between the r>orean peninsula was divided in half

at the

38th

parallel.

south and north erupted in the Korean War, which killed a

total

of

over 2 million Koreans and Chinese and over 50,000 Americans,

Sweatshop Warriors

126

and

left

the

Korean peninsula

still

divided in 1953 and in ashes.

6

The

leading role played by the United States in Korea's division and the

war cemented

its

long-standing military,

and economic

political,

penetration of South Korea and on-going state of war with North

Korea. Seeing South Korea as a bulwark against

communism,

United States provided massive military and economic aid to a

of repressive military regimes. After seizing power through a

coup

tary

in 1961,

program of

mili-

General Park Chung Hee launched an aggressive

industrialization that used state

and

hot-house capitalism and build up the chaebol porations] that control

Women's underpaid workers, financed

the

series

up

to 80 percent

labor,

both

military

power

to

[giant family-run cor-

of the Korean economy.

as industrial

workers and

7

as sex

In a pattern that was repeated in

this process.

other developing countries, South Korean companies recruited yo'kong [factory girls] from the countryside to port-oriented industries, such as

wigs, food processing, and shoes.

tics,

To assuage community fears awaiting

young country

girls

the

day and night in ex-

8

about the temptations and dangers

going to work in the "sinful city" and

placate the "inside vs. outside person"

dichotomy

government portrayed factory work Anthropologist

patriotic duty.

toil

garments, electronics, plas-

textiles,

gender

in

as fulfilling one's national

Kim Seung-Kyung

says that the

state's call for sanop chonsa [industrial soldiers] stressed the

loyalty

and obedience, exploiting

traditional

women's

messages of women

as

daughters willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the na-

filial

tion.

9

Hierarchical gender relations were maintained at

male management,

discipline,

work

whose

true vocation

Koreatown earlyjo 'kong.

poor peasant

was marriage and motherhood.

restaurant worker

Her

South Korea's

helped

all

women

10

Kim Chong Ok was one

story reads like the timeline of the

of the

development of

much touted "Miracle on the Han River." 11 Born into family, she

and her older

part of a family strategy to find I

via

and sexual harassment, and employers

portrayed factory work as only a temporary arrangement for

a

roles,

my parents work on

work

siblings migrated to Seoul as

in 1971.

the farm a

lot. I

did whatever they

Korean Immigrant

Women

127

me to do, whatever needed to be done, everything from till-

asked

ing the land to sowing the seeds, to harvesting the crops.

extremely hard

was growing everyone

few people were able

on jook

was an

when

I

to live well, but

porridge] and kamja [pota-

[rice

times got really tough, you could take one bowl of

and add enough water to serve four people for

meals.

It

often didn't have enough food

up. I'm sure a

else survived

When

toes].

rice

We

life.

couple of

a

12

Kim's work

and sweatshops

in the factories

in Seoul

continued

through her marriage and the births of her children. Her husband

worked

as a chauffeur, driving elite

rendezvous and After

I

got married,

working. full-time I

I

did a

was hard.

life

I

a factory

I

to help out so

I

kept

never had [permanent]

make money

to survive.

I made the homework making electric cords. I 1978, when I gave birth to my first child,

I

industrialization

and service

officials to their

where they made walking shoes. did

made flowers, too. After I made envelopes while I was

tail,

wanted

kept myself busy to

holes for the shoelaces.

With

I

of everything.

little

work, but

worked in

government

trysts.

taking care of the kids.

13

came expansion of Korea's

industries. In jobs

demanding

finance, re-

interaction with the

on women's

public, employers often discriminated based

physical

appearance and "attractiveness," a practice that has re-emerged

among some Korean employers

in the

United

States.

Sex Industry Shapes Service Sector The

sex industry

is

a

omy. Eight decades of

huge part of South Korea's informal econmilitary occupation

—

and dictatorship

cluding sexual slavery as "Comfort Troops"

14

to

in-

the Japanese

Imperial Army, compulsory military service and training in the use

of deadly force for

all

in

Korea, and the continued occupation

—

US troops have made women intense. 13

by 37,000 against

men

Cho

sex trafficking and violence

Ailee, an English literature professor

Research Center for

Women's

and member of the

Studies in Korea, says that violence

and sexual exploitation of Korean

women

is

rooted in militarism.

Sweatshop Warriors

128

You have

to understand that

have lived

directly

Korea

though the [government] of Roh Tae tensibly civilian, in reality the military

Tae

Woo

die.

The

to reach the position

military

a very violent society.

is

under military governments for 30

Woo

still

killed

We

Even

[1988-1992] was os-

wields power. For

of general, a

and police have

years.

lot

Roh

of people had to

people demonstrating for

democracy. Kusadae [Save the Company] thugs beat up workers.

women

In this violent military climate, men's violence against sanctioned.

is

16

During the Vietnam War, the Park regime developed the sex industry to entice foreign exchange out of Japanese businessmen and

US

on "R and R"

soldiers

once again

officials

ers to sacrifice cies offered

called

and recreation)

(rest

on women

and sex industry work-

factory

themselves "for the sake of the nation." Travel agen-

"sex tours," which included

transportation,

Government

leave.

and

prostitutes.

air travel,

hotel lodging,

17

women women working in res-

exploitation of women sex workers spilled over to

The

workers in other service industries. Korean taurants, bars, snack houses,

and barber shops are often expected

put up with male customers' sexual advances and harassment. rean Immigrant Workers Association restaurant

worked

worker

Kim Seung Min

in a variety

of odd jobs

She used to work

after her

as a donjang sa

son

money

who

ploitative

for a high interest rate.

connected people.

and led

to a lot

I

a

her single mother

husband

person

left.

who was

willing to

She would be the middle per-

didn't like her business. It

was ex-

of people crying. But even though

didn't like the kind of business

my mom was

doing, that

I

was the

money she fed us with and that I grew up on. Isn't it ironic? Our father was a playboy. He was never home. Everyday a different woman would come to our house and ask, "Where is your father?" One time a woman came to my mother's home and

me as a kind of ransom to get hold of my She threatened my mother, "If you don't tell me where

kidnapped me. She used father..

he,

is

.

.

I'm going to

kill

her."

I

was only four or

something that I'm going to remember

to

Ko-

organizer and former

how

[money lender] .... She would find

someone who needed money and lend

(KIWA)

recalled

18

five then,

my whole

life.

but that is

Korean Immigrant

We used

to live in a

house that

Women

my

129

father built, but after

he

we decided to move out. We didn't have much money so we moved into a rented room. There were times when for a month straight we only ate flour-based soup. Do you know sujiebi [flour dumpling]? Sometimes we would take a paper bag and go to the left

market and pick up potatoes and other stuff that the vendors

My wish

behind.

drink

Like

back then was to be able to

the milk

all

I

eat

all

left

and

the rice

19

wanted.

many women working in service jobs, Kim's mother had to

deal with sexual advances

My mother would

from male customers.

put us

all

to sleep early in the evening before

One day I pretended that I was followed my mom when she left. I was afraid that I might

she went away somewhere.... asleep.

I

lose her, so

I

ran to keep up.

I

saw my mom go into zpochangmacha

Wine House]. know what kind of work she was doing. I peeked into the little grass window and saw my mom sitting next to a few men and drinking with them and singing some songs. [outdoor tented restaurant], called Sun Suljib [Pure

At

that time

I

didn't

They hit their chopsticks on the ing in for a long time.

was surprised and

thigh. I

Then my from the

work

restaurant.

there. I think

Korean

living in

way

mom

for her to

it

table in rhythm, [cries]

I

was

star-

Then I saw one of the men touch my mom's I

screamed "Waaahhh!"

dragged and spanked

But

after that

was very hard

my mom

I

all

really loud.

the

way home

never went back to

for a single

society in those days.

make money. When

me

Maybe

woman to make a

this

was young

I

was the

easiest

didn't hate

my

mom for doing these things. I tried to understand her situation. 20 Minjung Workers' Movement Labor organizing in Korea's formal economy has

a long history

of radicalism. The highly politicized and militant character of the

South Korean minjung [mass or

common

people's] labor

stems from the fusion between the militarized

state

movement

and corporate

capitalism.

When demanding their most basic rights, workers imme-

had

to confront not only their bosses, but also the dictator-

diately

ship and

its

national

security

agents, including the

Korean CIA (KCIA), draconian

and labor laws, police

tactical

squads called

Sweatshop Warriors

130

baekgo'ldan [White Skull Squadron], government-controlled unions,

and ex-military company thugs.

On November worker

set

13, 1970,

21

Chun Tae

a 22-year-old

II,

garment

himself afire to protest employer and police repression of

workers organizing for

Peace Market.

their rights in Seoul's

Some

20,000 young women slaved in the one-block, four-story high maze

of tiny cubicles for less than $30 a month each. As flames consumed his

Chun grasped a copy of Korea's Labor Standards Act and "Obey the Labor Standards Act! Don't mistreat young His mother, Lee So Sun, who witnessed his death, founded

body,

shouted, girls!"

the

22

Garment Workers' Union,

Chunggye Pibok, immediately after his

funeral.

Women

spearheaded

throughout the 1970s.

pany waged

23

Women

workers

at

a pitched six-year batde (1972-1978) to

They took on the company union and elected their faces,

the

win

first

their rights.

woman union

up workers, company thugs smeared excre-

president. Police beat

ment on

movement Dongil Textile Comunion

democratic

the

and bosses

fired

and blacklisted the leaders to

smash the movement. 24 Labor unrest continued lence against

women

to

grow and

in

May

1979, police vio-

Kim Kyong In May 1980,

workers, including the death of

Suk, incited riots as far away as

Masan and Pusan.

25

US government and military complicity, the military regime of Generals Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo dispatched some

with

40,000 troops to Kwangju City in South Cholla Province to crush citizens

who had peacefully run

their city for five days in

hopes of a

"democratic spring" after the death of dictator Park. Government troops brutally massacred hundreds of

civilians.

army's brutality catalyzed the workers' and people's

Korea.

26

Horror

at

the

movements

in

The government imposed martial law, completely sus27 rights, and oudawed the Garment Workers' Union.

pended labor

During the 1980s, South Korea gained for the world's longest

dents.

28

workweek and

international notoriety

highest rate of industrial acci-

In 1985, the struggles of women workers in the

industrial estate

on

in the minjung labor

Kurodong

the outskirts of Seoul laid the basis for advances

movement. Kuro included

large estates

of shop

Korean Immigrant

Women

131

compounds, which employed some 58,000 workers, including

women who

38,000 young

called taakjang [chicken coops].

company

barracks, tiny

rooms

Daewoo Apparel company

got the

lived in

government to declare its workers'

wages

strike for better

illegal,

and

unionists were beaten, fired, and imprisoned. In a preview of the ex-

plosion that was to come, actions spread

from other Kuro shops staged dent, religious,

Launched

and human in

the country, the

proved key

in

stu-

1987 amidst the eruption of labor disputes across

Korean by

Women

Workers Association

(KWWA)

women

workers'

and forced retirement upon

state repression

marriage and childbirth. in

and women,

groups lent their support.

overcoming the fragmentation of

struggles caused

working

solidarity strikes,

rights

workers

like wildfire as

KWWA organizer Yoon Hae Ryun started

garment shops when she was

14,

from 8 a.m.

to 2 a.m.

every day. She decided to join the 1985 cooperative strike in Kuro.

When we

started to strike,

told

I

my

family about

it

in order to

prepare them for what might happen. They were shocked and cried

and

cried. I

was the only wage earner

the kids were in school and

my

father

job as a laborer lifting materials.

months

in

jail

work were sleep.

there. It

You had to

tory to work, but

where

I

his

got arrested and spent

six

was

was so crowded

that there

sleep like a knife [draws

I

was no place

When I got out of jail I went back to the

kept getting dismissed from jobs.

blacklisted

to

arms close to her body fac-

got to the

It

and could not get work. So together

women workers, I began to work 29 support women workers in their struggle.

with other displaced

KWWA to

because

with workers and students. All of my friends from

to resemble a knife].

stage

I

in the family

was too old to continue

with the

In 1987, Korea's federation of independent unions, Chunnohyup, seized world headlines as hundreds of thousands of students and

workers demanding democracy battled with helmeted, baton-wielding police and government troops while blinding tear gas choked

Some

major

cities.

strikes

and organized 1,200 new unions. 30 In 1995, the democratic

1.3 million

workers participated

unions institutionalized their national structure federation of Trade Unions

(KCTU).

as the

in

over 3,600

Korean Con-

Women workers

played a

sig-

Sweatshop Warriors

132

nificant role in the health workers' unions, particularly the nurses'

union, as well as in unions of teachers, department store employees,

Kim Seung Min explained that the 1987 Pal Nyun Nodongja Dae Toojaeng [Great Workers' Struggle], was a "nationwide rebellion. Most people who had jobs during that period and garment workers. Chil

felt

the impact of the uprising at their workplace because

it

was

a na-

tionwide rebellion, not just a union-based struggle at individual 31

workplaces."

As Korean workers unionized and

raised their

wages and work-

ing conditions, employers began to use migrant workers from China

(both Koreans and Chinese), the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia,

Hee

Nepal, and Bangladesh. Lee Jung

joined a democratic bank

workers union during that period. She compares wages, working conditions, and treatment of immigrant workers in

United

Korea and the

States:

When I was in Korea I worked at a bank for about ten years. I was able to work my way up to a certain position within the bank.... There was

a

union that formed

at the

bank so

I

started

those special white T-shirts as a union member. 1,200,000 won. So

it

was more than [US]$2,000

a

I

wearing

got paid

month. They

me a lot of bonuses at the bank, too. I got vacation pay and I would get a bonus the size of my monthly pay. ... In Korea you gave

only had to work eight or nine hours a day. They never make you work 12 hours a day like here. Nowadays some of the Southeast Asian immigrant workers in Korea have to work 12 or more

hours a day.

I

think their situation

grants face here in the US. lar to

those workers

Korea.

is

very similar to what immi-

my situation here is very simi-

are coming, almost like slave labor, to

Kim Seung Min was

movement while became

strike

feel like

32

In 1990,

I

who

I

is

swept up in the minjung student

attending high school in Inchon, Korea.

the leader of the third-year students.

going to

boring." So

I

last for a

I

thought "this

long time so we'd better not make

it

organized plays, singing, and games during the dem-

onstrations. Students started

coming out

to

watch the perfor-

mances. Close to 2,000 students came out, almost the whole

Korean Immigrant

So the

school.

133

call

the students to

undong chang [sports stadium] to demonstrate.

dium with cook. lot

It

the teachers.

was

we were

that time

come

to the

We slept in the

We brought sleeping bags During

really fun.

We used

with the 2,000 students.

real fight started

the public address system to

Women

sta-

and burners to able to

spend a

how it we were

of time talking with the teachers about the society and

runs.

The

teachers told us about the importance of what

doing.

While we were

at the

school camping out, the police and our

members would come and

family

ask us to go home..

.

.

A lot of

the riot police use buses with barbed wire, like chicken wire.

These buses

are called taakjang [chicken cages].

those buses outside the school and

Those

None

reds!

Why

are

They would park

"Those communists!

yell,

you guys supporting them?

Come

out!"

of the students went out so the baekgo'ldan [White Skull

Squadron], a special riot police, charged in and took away almost all

of the teachers. They beat up the students and then stacked

them one by one

criss-cross

In 1987, the police

killing

on top of each

other.

people that forced

Han Yol set off and many middle

of college student Lee

nationwide demonstrations of workers, students, class

33

Chun Doo Hwan

to

concede to demands

for direct elections before the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Popular pres-

sure

on succeeding governments

resulted in the

November 1995

in-

Roh Tae Woo for corruption A Seoul district court sentenced

dictment of Chun and his collaborator

and the 1980 Kwangju massacre.

Chun

to death

34

and Roh to 22 and

preme Court later reduced

a half years in prison.

the sentences, and in

December

The

Su-

1997, af-

only two years in jail, the two were freed by a presidential Koreatown restaurant worker Paek Young Hee comes

ter serving

pardon.

30

from the Cholla province region nation and where the

only had harsh words for I

am not satisfied with

tence but then

knowledge

it

36

Chun and Roh:

the judgment. First they got the death sen-

got changed to a

that they killed

many people, how can live?

that has suffered historic discrimi-

Kwangju massacres were committed. Paek

life

sentence.

many, many people.

justice

be served

if

It is

common

If they killed so

they are

still

allowed to

Sweatshop Warriors

134

Second-Stage Capital Flight During the 1980s,

women

workers launched determined cam-

paigns against plant closures by Pico Products, Tandy, Control Data Electronics,

and the Sumida Corporation. 37 In 1992,

Women Workers

local

Korean

(KWWA) branches united to form a nadonal network, the Korean Women Workers Associations United (KWWAU), or Yonobyob. As

the labor

Association

movement

gained ground, however,

nese transnational corporations fled overseas to

more

US and Japa-

fertile fields in

Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Mexico, and Central America.

companies discarded Korean women workers

like

38

The

old shoes, leaving

many with crippling injuries. At the 1 995 UN 4th World Conference on Women NGO Forum in Huairou, China, Choi Myung Hee, an injured worker, ten-year veteran of the shoe industry, and

KWWAU

organizer in Pusan detailed the devastating effects of this sec-

ond-stage globalization.

During the 1970s and 80s companies and

like

Nike, Adidas, Reebok,

LA Gear flocked to Korea. We worked long hours with toxic

glues and chemicals.

Those

Now

50,000 workers have lost their jobs.

that can find work, can only

and the

in restaurants

do so

in the service industry,

39

like.

Nearly a million workers in Korea waged a general

new

restrictive labor laws

cember

26, 1996.

40

the legislature

But by the end of 1997, the Asian

shattered South Korea's to a halt as the

rammed through

strike against

on De-

financial crisis

economic bubble. Economic growth came

won plummeted, banks folded, and seven of the coun-

40 largest conglomerates went bankrupt or were unable to pay

try's

their debts. Basic

food and commodity prices skyrocketed. The De-

cember 1997 International Monetary Fund bailout package lated

austerity

measures

that

subservient to foreign capital. legalized cies.

mass

layoffs

41

made

the

stipu-

economy even more

In February 1998, the government

and the use of temporary employment agen-

42

Following the dictum of "last hired, grants were hit hardest.

More than

first fired,"

women and mi-

a million workers, including

Korean Immigrant

some 622,000 women,

lost their jobs.

over 270,000 migrant workers.

44

Women

43

135

The government

Union

repatriated

support for migrant workers

shrank as unions focused on supporting local workers.

45

In the wake of second-stage global restructuring and the 1997 financial crisis,

KWWAU

women

contingent

focused on the plight of displaced and

KWWAU

workers.

unemployment insurance

women

to

won

extend

legislation to

working for small and me-

dium-sized businesses and developed an employment and training center

On

displaced workers.

for

August

29,

1999,

workers

(KWTU), the first nawomen. Veteran labor activist and KWWAU director Maria Choi Soon Rhie says, "Now we've got two wheels to make our bicycle move faster KWTU and launched the Korean Women's Trade Union tion-wide, multi-industry labor union for

—

KWWAU!"

46

KWTU

women golf caddies,

TV

writers for

has organized contingent workers such as

and restaurant workers, and freelance

cafeteria

KWTU president Choi Sang Rim says

soap operas.

the union has a big job ahead.

The

present situation confronting women workers at the gateway

summed up

to the 21st century can be

in the following facts:

64

percent are employed in workplaces with

less

70 percent are employed on an irregular

basis.... [They] are the

than four workers;

primary targets for dismissal [and] pressured to resign upon marriage or pregnancy....

percent.

Since

its

inception,

workers in Korea and cies like

The

rate

of organized

women

is

only 5.6

47

KWWAU

has built

in other countries.

ties

between

women

Spurred by free trade poli-

NAFTA and Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation, 48 South US

Korean subcontractors

for

Nike, and Reebok have

moved

lands, Mexico,

companies

like J.C.

Penney, Sears,

into Southeast Asia, the Pacific Is-

and Central America.

A number of these companies

use the same kind of abusive tactics overseas that have been em-

ployed against Korean workers since the 1960s. 49

Women

workers

groups in Asia and Latin America are increasing calling on

KWWAU and KCTU for solidarity in fighting these Korean-owned companies.

Sweatshop Warriors

136

America Fever Given the history of US intervention as

no

surprise that

Korea,

in

many Korean immigrants view

come

should

it

the United States

with a mixture of admiration, curiosity, anger, fascination, and lusionment. Koreans

these ambivalent emotions

call

[America Fever] and miguk byong [America Sickness].

disil-

miguk yol

31

Like many Koreatown restaurant workers, Chu Mi Hee comes home from work late. She looks great, despite having just come off a

long work

shift,

and serves guests

ing hot tea and anju [snacks]. Mrs. to

a tray loaded with cups

Chu

why

explains

of steam-

she was drawn

Miguk [America/Beaudful Country]. I

came to

this

the

was the

US in

of admiration.

was

My

living here. I

help.

1

993 by myself.

wanted to

from church who

friend

came

I

me. In Korea, the

right place for

in July or

August

sidiary

I

worked with

I

worked

for marriage,

prove myself, (laughs)

I

disintegration of

colonialism propelled the

to the

I

if

the object

me

that person's

a half.

I

I

more

related to

only had a high

was not married, so

wanted some chance

US when I was

Korean feudal first

on

as a clerk,

school diploma and not a higher degree.

when I reached the age

The

and

The pay was not bad considering

came

out and see

youth organization that was a sub-

a

of a youth foundation.

accounting.

it

is still

younger than

is

relying

We lived together for about a month In Korea,

try

US

rule

and

30.

rise

to im-

2

of Japanese

wave of Korean migration

to the

United States between 1903 and 1905, principally to Hawaii for 33

work

as agricultural laborers.

tuals,

were drawn by the influence of

Others,

mosdy

US

Korea. Between 1910 and 1924, Korean brides")

were allowed into the country

had migrated

earlier.

to

students and intellec-

Christian missionaries in

women

(called "picture

marry Korean

men who

34

In the 1950s, a second

wave of migration included Korean

wives of US servicemen and their children, war orphans, and professional

workers and students. 33 Since the war, the

US

military has

functioned as an economic enclave within South Korea, dispensing military contracts, jobs,

the black market

—

that

and is,

US

surplus and commissary goods for

survival opportunities to an economically

Korean Immigrant

Women

137

strapped population. Korean women's labor constitutes a central aspect of this enclave economy, through providing companion-

Korean

ship, cooking, cleaning, translating, interacting with

tutions,

US

and other services for

industry, rape,

table byproducts of militarization.

women

with American

"whore."

Despite

are

direct

all

The epithets

men oiyang

and

leveled at

Korean

kongju [western princess]

derogation, scholars estimate that

this

inevi-

and

have come to be synonymous with

Jiang nuna [western sister] 57

GIs. Prostitution, the sex

and violence against women 56

insti-

Korean

wives of US servicemen have assisted in the immigration of an additional 400,000 Koreans.

58

The third and largest wave of Korean immigration to the United States occurred after the

ization

enactment of the Immigradon and Natural-

Act of 1965. Between 1976 and 1990, from 30,000

Koreans immigrated annually to the United

to 35,000

States. In the 1970s and

1980s, Koreans were the third largest group of immigrants after

Mexicans and

Filipinos.

59

Rapid

industrialization, urbanization, the

commercialization of agriculture, militarization, and political repression in

Korea

all

pushed Koreans

to immigrate to the

The South Korean government promoted Korean in order to earn foreign as the Philippines

and

countries were to do.

United

exchange and relieve employment pressures,

later

Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and other

The South Korean government

and mercenary troops

States.

labor migration

to

sent workers

Vietnam, male miners and construction

workers to West Germany and the Middle East, female nurses to western Europe and the United States, and migrants to Latin America,

some of whom

later relocated to the

Since the war, Korean States at high rates in the gration. Girl 61

ilies.

women

United

States.

have migrated to the United

Korean version of the feminization of mi-

orphans were preferred over boys by

Additionally,

60

Korea sent more

girls

US

adopting fam-

than boys given the

higher value placed on sons than daughters in Korean culture.

62

By

1974, one-third of Korean immigrant professionals admitted to the

United States were nurses. During the

second

largest nationality

legislation to discourage

late

group among

US

1960s Koreans were the nurses.

63

The passage of

immigration of foreign health professionals

Sweatshop Warriors

138

1976 and 1977

in

nurses.

64

and

reduced immigration of Korean

Korean women nurses made a major contribution to

US Korean community,

lishing the

first

their

they sponsored for immigradon visas.

Anthropologist Kyeyoung Park says that tion often differs based origins

come

on economic

for survival reasons;

class people, for better well-being

those

ers, like

who went

"all legitimate trades are

strata:

husbands,

many of

65

modvadon

for migra-

people from lower-class

most middle- and upper-middle and

capital investment;

bankrupt or were

new beginning. Some Koreans

estab-

within the health industry,

by stardng small businesses with

later

whom

drastically

and oth-

fired mid-career, for a

see the United States as a place where

equally honorable" in contrast to Korea.

Park also says that middle- and upper-class Koreans find

it

66

easier to

manipulate immigration procedures, usually through sponsorship

But lower-class Koreans who have no kin

by

relatives already here.

to

sponsor them may be smuggled into the United States by way of

South America, Mexico, or the Caribbean.

Women-Centered Migration Chains

Many Korean women place rea.

where they would be

67

immigrants saw the United States as a treated better than they

Paek Young Hee's younger

States as a nurse

she

—

to

go

as the

sister

and then sponsored the

had been

in

Ko-

immigrated to the United rest

of the family. Because

—had only been

daughter of a poor farming family

able

school for a couple of years, Paek worked hard in

to

Koreatown

restaurants to

make

sure that her children could take ad-

vantage of educational opportunities in the United States. That

is

why we made sure our children got an education after here. When we first came we stayed with my younger sisabout 20 days. After that we got a place in Hanin Town

coming ter for

[Koreatown].

a

68

Kyung Park, her parents, siblings, and children were able to start new life in the United States with the help of her elder sister. I

came

rea.

At

to the

US

that time

in

1990 without

we were having

my husband. He stayed in KoHe wanted a di-

big problems.

Korean Immigrant

Women

We were separated for a while. After I came here I filed the

vorce.

divorce papers and sent them back to Korea.

and had

a lot

of girlfriends. His job was

of those women

with

all

with

my

1

139

family and

990 and got

ever since.

at night.

...

He treated me badly

terrible,

hanging around

When I came to the US I lived

my mom took care of me. I came in October

a job after

two months,

[laughing] I've

been working

69

Kim Chong Ok immigrated at the invitation of her 70 Lee Jung Hee mother-in-law, who had obtained US citizenship. immigrated to the United States for the sake of her husband who had enrolled

But the high cost of living

in the

United

States coupled with unanticipated medical expenses for their

daugh-

ter

as a student.

soon wiped out

Koreatown

their savings.

She ended up working

restaurants after the family

in various

bank account was depleted.

We sold our apartment in Korea in order to come here so we lived on that money for about one year. We didn't work at first because my husband was going to

we didn't really know much about American society. We brought about $50,000 when we first came. But our daughter broke her leg so we had to pay for her medical bills. With the car and apartment payments we pretty much spent all the money we had saved in Korea within one year.

71

Han Hee Jin series

school and

immigrated to the United States after suffering a

of economic disasters

in

Korea. As an undocumented worker,

she was vulnerable to her employer's abuse. I

my immigration status at the beginning of emnow the boss is trying to use this to silence me. I

was frank about

ployment, but felt

powerless and even more angry. The employer says she

church-going Christian and cannot use bad words she uses terms don't

should

"servant" to abuse

those

are only

who

is

a

But

me and the other workers.

I

kind of praying she does at church but she

self-criticize at

members feel

like

know what

like I do.

home

first.

And,

I

hope her fellow church

made up of citizens and green

are hurt

glected by churches.

72

and

truly

card holders.

I

need to be consoled are ne-

Sweatshop Warriors

140

Korean immigration

to the United States

35,849 and then began to decline.

peaked

1987

in

at

The number of Korean Ameri-

cans returning to Korea rose from 848 in 1980 to 6,487 in 1992. Stories

of hardship and long working hours

in

Korean small

busi-

nesses in the United States fueled this trend, as did the return to vilian rule

backlash against the Korean community during the civil

ci-

and the improving South Korean economy. In 1992, the

Rodney King

unrest in Los Angeles also reverberated back to Korea, further

slowing immigration.

73

In

late

1997, the Asian financial

crisis

sent

US shores. Many Korean immiUS currency to relatives in Korea

shock waves across the ocean to grants in the United States sent

who had lost their jobs and homes and been sent to debtors' prison. In Los Angeles, some Koreatown employers cut back on wages, hours, and jobs, blaming the Asian financial

restructuring measures gutted gains by the labor tion for

from Korea became

ways to improve

attractive again as

As South Korean movement, migra-

crisis.

working people looked

their lives.

Working Women The model

minority myth has obscured a sizable portion of the

Korean community, namely low-waged workers,

A

greater proportion of

especially

women.

US-born and immigrant Korean married

women work for pay than do white women. 74 While 28 percent of all US women work in service or factory jobs, 40 percent of Korean 75 working women are concentrated in these areas. A large portion of Korean women work in low-wage jobs in globalized industries, such as garment and electronics assembly, in hotels

and

janitorial services,

as restaurants,

and in ethnic enclave

Korean seamstresses working las,

service jobs, such

supermarkets, and stores. For example, in a study of

Texas, sociologist Shim Ja

for ethnic

Korean contractors

of the 74 women surveyed worked in poorly ventilated eraging 53.7 hours per week, but sometimes sons.

Many

also

worked

at

home. These

factories, av-

more during peak

women

76

sea-

workers did not

have paid vacation leave, nor health insurance, and piece low.

in Dal-

Um found that more than 80 percent

rates

were

Women

Korean Immigrant

Many Korean immigrant women Clara County, California,

work

San Jose and Santa

living in

as electronics assemblers.

Valley's 172,400 electronics production

male 70 percent are Asian or Latino. that 10 to 15 percent

141

77

workers

Of Silicon

—60 percent

Community activists

of the Asian production workforce

are fe-

estimate

is

Korean,

10 to 15 percent South Asian, 30 percent Filipina/o, 30 percent Viet-

namese, and the

rest other

made up 47 percent and blue-collar workforce, skilled just

Southeast Asians and Chinese.

78

Asians

Latinos 21.6 percent of the semi-skilled

and 41.2 percent and 35.8 percent of the un-

workforce within the industry.

above the minimum, without

79

Wages average $6 an hour,

benefits, opportunities for raises,

or upward mobility, even for women who have worked ten to fifteen years

for

the

company. The

women

pressured to

are

work

twelve-hour days and six-day weeks during rush seasons, but are

let

off without pay during dead seasons. Production lines are segregated

by gender, immigrant lish-speakers

status,

and

age, with older, limited

working the most hazardous and tedious

jobs.

Eng-

Korean

immigrant women assemblers commonly experience problems with repetitive stress injuries,

poor vision, nausea, rashes, headaches, and

on

miscarriages.

Korean community organizers a million

Koreans

in

live in the greater

Los Angeles estimate

that half

LA area, constituting the largest

concentration of Koreans in the United States.

Some 70

percent of

the immigrant population are workers, contrary to the popular view

of all Koreans square area

as business

filled

shops, churches,

Tae

owners.

81

"Koreatown" covers

a 20-mile

with restaurants, markets, professional services,

community and

civic organizations,

herb shops,

82

Kwon Do studios, and media outlets. Koreatown serves as the

diaspora's

social

and

cultural

Several thousand

center.

Korean

women work as waitresses, cooks, hostesses, and cashiers in the 300 83 restaurants in the enclave. Korean men work in Koreatown markets,

and

as janitors,

handymen,

painters,

While Koreatown functions

as

Korean restaurant and market owners do

a lot

in

Los Angeles' downtown garment

and construction workers.

an ethnic enclave economy, also

employ Latino men

to

of the heavy "back of the house" work. Korean contractors district

employ Mexican and

Sweatshop Warriors

142

some Korean women workers

Central American immigrants and

The

pattern and sample makers.

may have States.

84

migrated to Ladn America

garment industry before migrating to the United

in the

Koreans constitute some 10 percent of all Koreatown

Asians and African Americans.

New

85

immigrants from Korea find jobs

Women

Koreatown.

hometown

says that the

resi-

and the remaining 12 percent, other

dents, Latinos, 68 percent,

tances,

who

originated with Koreans

and worked

as

practice of hiring Latino workers

relatively quickly in

learn about jobs through friends, acquain-

and

contacts,

women restaurant workers' ages

to mid-60s, with the majority

Lee Jung Hee

local newspapers.

run from the early 20s

aged 35 to 40. The majority of women

86 have children, and older workers also have grandchildren. Ad-

justing to a

was

new industry and

fired after

country can be

working only two hours

at

her

difficult. first

Chu Mi Hee

job in the United

States.

After

1

5 days [from

for jobs here.

I

when

soon found different

my

started looking

I

places.

I

I really

got hired for only two hours and then they kicked didn't have any restaurant

say oh so oh seyo [please

So I

I

made

them

work experience,

come in] and things

for giving

like that to the

me

maybe

more....

a job since I

I

At

worked

first I

ing at the big restaurants where

I

out.

custom-

didn't

ally didn't feel that

I

I

didn't

started

work-

was paid by the hour, I

tried to stick

know any better when

anything was wrong.

Paek Young Hee found jobs

about four grateful to

had no other choice.

the reality of what the pay should be. I

at

was

complain even though the base pay was low. Once

ger restaurants.

me

[laughs] I didn't

mistakes.

continued to work in restaurants. ...

different restaurants,

friends

I

When I was honest about how short

immigration experience was, they wouldn't hire me. At one

place

ers.

she arrived in the US]

looked for shik dang [restaurant] jobs mostly, and

in

I first

I

learned

with the bigstarted.

I

re-

87

Koreatown through hometown

and other acquaintances. As an older woman, she did "back

of the house" labor

in the kitchen

and worked her way up from

part-time cook's helper to a full-time cook.

a

Korean Immigrant

At first I worked

at a ddokjib [rice

who came from

same

the

work. So so

it

I

went

for

me

to

there. I didn't

I

found out about

I

worked

.

Korea

told

me

very hard so the

first I

as

The other women

me. People who are

wasn't a

as a cook's helper, peeling potatoes,

things like that.

are older

cook.

full

I

dif-

and

worked

chopping vegetables, and

88

Kim Seung Min work

I

jobs.

work in different jobs. Usually the cooks At

newspaper

to read the

about openings where

in five or six different places.

the waitresses are younger.

restaurant

owned by someone I came from, a

that

The work was

working there were about the same age ferent ages

143

go to some other restaurant to

know how

was only when other people

might go that

cake house]

area of

kohyang chinku [hometown friend]

owner recommended

Women

also followed the trail

of immigrant

women

to

in 1997.

My plan was to make lots of money for six months and then move to New York, [sighs] So I got hired at a restaurant where I worked Someone introduced me to me that I didn't have much experience a day from my share of the tips. After that

ten days straight without any day off. that job.

so

I

The owners

only got paid $1 5

they fired me, saying

The

told

restaurant

someone

I

wasn't fast enough. But

was always

The day

anymore, the new worker got really upset.

still

busy.

it

was

They

to cover for ten days, but they never told

hired only temporarily.

I

really, really

insisted that

I I

they told

me

who was supposed

all

planned.

just

needed

me that I was come back

not to

to start

showed

up.

said they couldn't use people like this, but they leave.

89

Long Hours By before

law, restaurant workers should get paid

sub-minimum wages of Twelve-hour days and

Depending on and $3,000

a

tips,

just

six- to

over $4 an hour

at big restaurants.

seven-day workweeks are standard.

Koreatown

waitress can earn

between $600

month, and cooks, depending on whether the wait-

resses share tips, split shifts,

minimum wages

In Koreatown, restaurant workers are often paid

tips.

between $600 and $1,500. 90 Some

women work

taking off between meals, and returning to finish up.

Sweatshop Warriors

144

Thus, their waking hours are completely dominated by

their work The long hours exact a toll on women workers, shortchanging the amount of time they have to spend with children,

schedules.

spouses, friends, or at church.

Paek took

a

pay cut to work for an acquaintance. She worked 12

When

hours a day, 6 days a week.

the business did not go well, the

boss tried to lay her off without paying $1,200

She eventually found another

owed

job, but the president

Restaurant Owners' Associadon tried to get her

in

back wages.

of the Korean

new boss

to fire her

for speaking out. I

used to go to church but

The people

Sundays.

many

hours, there

with friends.

many

Like

is

I

now I

wash

are

my

I

have to work on

friends.

But working so

never enough time to socialize and spend

91

other restaurant kitchen workers in Koreatown res-

Paek works with Latino

taurants,

can't because

work with

dishes,

lift

men who,

heavy things, peel potatoes and things

like that.

How do we communicate? (laughs) By gesturing sonjit,paljit [with our hands and

words and

I

feet],

know

what we want.

I

our eyes and heads. They a

know a few Korean

few Mexican words so we point and show

have never had any problems communicating

with the Mexican workers.

92

Choi Kee Young found

a restaurant job

through the Korean

newspaper. As with the case of many immigrant and African- American families where finding a job, even a low-paid one, can be easier for

women

than men, Choi was thrust into the role of the family

"rice winner." It

was

really

hard to get used to

life

here at

first

because

I

had

to

pretty much 12 hours a day when I first started. Of course, my husband looked after our kids. But I'd come home so late that I couldn't really give my kids their baths. So during the summer, my daughter's hair smelled pretty bad!

work

I

lost a lot

hard to gain weight, but

work

that

I

came

to America. I've really tried

just can't

because of the amount of

of weight since I

I

have to do. But if I don't live

The apartment payment

is

the

this

way we can't survive.

most important because we need

a

Korean Immigrant

place to stay.

need

We

at least a

work so

I

about

a car to get

late I can't

hours or so and

six

my kids

need

thousand dollars

I'd

be

had the

that the potential for your kids to

for

him so he doesn't

dren very

well.

He

really

If

I

in

We

America.

could just work after

of the hours are so long

all

has

by

of the time to look

rest

go bad are

my husband

get the family together and

to get

my kids.

OK. But in Koreatown

biggest complaint that

145

around and go to work.

month

a

look after I

Women

really high.

cook them dinner. look after the

It's

.

..

The

he has to

that at night

is

very stressful

homework of our chil-

has turned to drinking by himself and he feels

lonely.

Sometimes

Korea

a lot, so that's

he'll

joke with

me and

why he's ended up

say he's really missing

drinking.

93

Health Hazards

Low-wage Korean women workers in the restaurant, garment, hotel, and electronics industries face a number of health hazards. In the high-stress restaurant industry,

women work with boiling liquids

and hot stoves and dishwashers, and carry heavy pots and

trays.

In

the poorly ventilated sweatshops of the garment industry, workers are engulfed

motions behind

repetitive

cramped

by dust, threads, chemical dyes and sprays, and perform industrial

machines for long hours in

spaces. In the hotel industry,

women work

with strong

cleaning agents and perform heavy labor that can lead to back, shoulder, neck, and wrist injuries. In the electronics industry,

women work with toxic chemicals, and often suffer from eye dizziness, headaches, rashes, miscarriages, injuries,

when

and cancers

that

do not become

stress

visible until years later

hard to hold employers accountable because the small

it is

shops have closed

down and

Lee Kyu Hee worked the position of parlor started

chemicals changed.

94

luxurious Fairmont Hotel in San

at the

Francisco for nine years as a

I

strain,

back and repetitive

room cleaner before being promoted

maid and restroom-cleaner.

working there when

I

was 48 years

old.

The

first

day

I

cleaned seven rooms, the second day eight, then nine, ten, eleven

rooms. didn't

.

..

It

took

me one month

know I was on

probation.

to get ...

up

to cleaning 16

rooms.

I

Now I get paid $8.20 an hour,

to

Sweatshop Warriors

146

every two weeks.

need

to survive

I

even think about quitting because

can't

even though the work

have problems only working part-time, but

I

I'm not feeling so three days....

I

well.

went

Sometimes

I

to see the doctor

OB/GYN

to the

x-rays.

I

week or

who

took x-rays but

my

stomach.

I

and internal medicine to take more

have Kaiser insurance, but can't see

because they don't cover

a

Korean doctor

95 it.

Lee Jung Hee described skin burns,

have to since

I

get laid off for a

couldn't find out the cause of the pain around

went

I

hard.

is

how she

suffered serious back injuries,

and a miscarriage because of unsafe working conditions

at the

Sa Rit Gol Restaurant where she worked as a waitress. As in

many

other Korean-owned workplaces, her boss did not offer

workers' compensation nor pay her medical a very old restaurant so the

It's

were no mats on the

tile.

They

tile is really,

just

on

of people

the boxes and

funny to watch people I fell

lot I

a lot

would get

even

that

I

was

fired.

I just

if I

falling

afraid to

There

injury,

if

you

a lot

fall,

but because

so

it's

down.

tell

was

... [I]

in a

my employer because I thought

With few exceptions the restaurants

are pretty

ronment. So

down. Sometimes

and ended up hurting my lower back.

of pain, but

Koreatown

fall

really slippery.

kind of covered the floor with

not about the

just laugh,

for her injuries.

When it gets wet a lot of people

old boxes, like Budweiser boxes. just slide

bills

much

same

the

in terms

kind of tolerated the conditions because

went somewhere

else

it

in

of the work envi-

would be

pretty

I felt

much

the

same. also suffered a miscarriage

I

tell

when I was

A

lot

I

didn't

of times they would skip

month. There were four other

women

went

to the

My

have

a scar

entire

didn't

tell

same gynecologist.

on my hand.

A

workers besides me.

back was hurting

that.

But

me anything about treatment or resting. I

was hurt so

I

told her,

choice but to keep working. In the end just couldn't

a lot

a

We

and

I

customer got drunk and pushed me.

hand was swollen because of

got annoyed that

I

.

my employer. A lot of my co-workers actually didn't have reg-

ular menstrual cycles either.

My

there. .but

work anymore. 96

my

employer

Instead she just

"No, I'm OK."

I

had no

my back hurt so much that

Korean Immigrant

Women

147

Sexual Harassment and Age Discrimination

Women complained about employers' expectations of women's physical appearance, demeanor,

establishments.

and conduct

in restaurant

Women working for Korean employers

and bar

sometimes

confronted discriminatory gender practices "imported" from vice industries in Korea.

Kyung Park ended up

ser-

leaving her restau-

rant job to escape the sexualized atmosphere.

The manager was kind of jealous and didn't like me talking to the customers. Her title was manager but she was kind of like a They madam, someone who sat and drank with the customers. had rooms sectioned off, and I saw her kissing customers and .

things like that.

didn't like seeing that

I

of environment so

Korean and

half

rean,

changed jobs

and working

.

in that kind

At lunch time it was

right away.

half American, but in the evening

drinking.

all

I

.

it

was

all

Ko-

97

Lee Jung Hee described

similar

especially those selling liquor to

work experiences

in restaurants,

male customers. Rituals of male

"bonding," unleashing pent-up aggression, "letting

it all

hang out,"

drinking oneself into a stupor, and being served by and groping

women in Korea out Asia

is

and Japan and around

US

military bases through-

notorious.

A lot of employers work, stuff like

ask the waitresses to go out for a drink after

that. If you

don't do

it,

they won't think very well

of you. Even while I'm working, employers

you

to

ate,

very hard to

have

a drink.

started

working

place

went

I

evening. tional

to

Those kinds of things

see. I've

again,

had

a lot

The employer

housewife

I

I

applied to about four places.

of customers

told

I

who came

that because

I

why

I

at night

had to leave that that

I

went

When

The

I

first

to drink in the

looked

up

like a tradi-

to the

wanted so

I

atmowasn't

job.

to for about ten days

and

That restaurant had these rooms where you can close

quit.

The sushi person told me if the owner asks you to go room late at night, don't go in because some bad things

the doors. into that

me

who came

There was another job then

are very hard to toler-

couldn't really match or play

for the job. That's

sometimes ask

seen a lot of that around me.

sphere the male customers fit

will

.

.

.

Sweatshop Warriors

148

go on

in there. I

was

quit the next day. lot

of those kinds of

Koreatown to attract

I

was

a

and the employers told

time

I

out.

good worker and I could get

men come hurt.

They

there at night to drink.

I felt like I

a job

A

anywhere. But I

my

a

hole and

case

their bosses.

Han Hee

on Korean-language

who

bit the

hand

100

for guests. sat

[too

couldn't get

your

on would

101

Park

my

machine, so he said that

and cursing

is

friend refused that

had sit-down

told her that the mats that the

friend should take

refused,

This

said,

get ruined if they were put into a washing

wash them by hand. She at her.

boss called

radio calling Lee an ungrate-

that fed her.

The employer

Jin's

liars,

Lee Jung Hee's boss

friend of mine... worked at a restaurant that

customers

I

restaurant workers are treated like

and servants by

rooms

because a

crying every

like

Aughhh! Nomu

age.

was deep down in

women

I felt

workers "servants" or "you, waitress bitch." delivered a tirade

I

old you are; they look at your body."

Many Koreatown

ful charity

too old.

act like they're picking Miss Korea: they look at

how

at-

of age discrimination against waitresses.

a lot

was turned down because of

face; they ask

thieves,

faces

down by employers

me I was

Japanese restaurants especially prefer younger

much]

young

women.

for interviews

thought

of

I just

98

Park was repeatedly turned

was wrong. There's

lot

that so

eyes, but I hear a

male customers for drinks. Despite her youthful and

searching for younger

went

stories.

me

he told

my own

restaurant owners often prefer pretty,

tractive appearance,

I

really scared after

didn't see that with

I

them home and

and the employer started

yelling

the reality for restaurant workers.

work because

after ten

My

hours of demanding

work, she knew that she would have no energy left to do anything except

fall

asleep

when

she got home.

disobeying her employer.

And

yet,

she was fired for

102

Living in Post-Rodney King Los Angeles

—two weeks can-American Rodney King— Soon On March

video

footage

16, 1991

after the nation

was rocked by

of Los Angeles police viciously beating AfriJa

Du,

a

Korean- American gro-

Korean Immigrant

cer shot

and

killed

Latasha Harlins, a

1

Women

149

5-year-old, African-American

teenager after a fight over a shoplifting charge for a $1.79 botde of

orange

juice.

The shooting was videotaped by an and-theft camera in what many saw as another mockery

and repeatedly played on TV,

of the value of African- American

103 life.

A year later, the announcement of a not-guilty verdict for police officers

dubbed 1992

who had

beaten King ignited three days of what some have 104

During the April

Los Angeles' Korean community paid

a high price for the

the nation's

riots,

first

"multi-racial riot."

African-American and Latino rage

at a legal

and economic system

dominated by white racism. Over 2,000 Korean-owned stores were looted, burned, or both.

One Korean was killed and 46 were injured.

Korean merchants suffered almost

half of the

damages incurred,

even though Koreans constituted less than 2 percent of Los Angeles county's population at the time.

105

Korean Americans have wresded with the causes of the what the community could do ing again.

Koreatown

to prevent such violence

restaurant worker Lee Jung

show more

rean owners must

Hee

riot

and

from erupt-

says that

Ko-

respect towards their workers and

customers. She urges Koreans to be less status- and

more commu-

nity-oriented.

In the

LA Uprising, the question I ask is why is it that Koreans be-

came

the target?

Tokyo.

When

that the

owners

ers

It's

I talk

not something that to people

are very, very respectful

and the owners are on an equal

That's what I've heard.

Finding Chun Tae

II

in

hit

who work

Chinatown or

Little

Tokyo I hear of waitresses. The workin Little

level in

terms of treatment.

106

Koreatown

in the

March 1992, a mere month before the LA riots, progressives Korean community came together to address the rising ten-

sions

between Koreans and other

In

needs of working

class

ethnicities

and

to address the

Koreans. Korean Immigrant Workers Advo-

(KIWA) was created as a place all Koreatown workers could come to when they ran into conflicts with their bosses. The workers' cates

center organizes restaurant, janitorial, construction, garment, and

Sweatshop Warriors

150

who work

other low-wage Korean and Latino immigrant workers for

Korean employers. As

shares a

common heritage

cratic labor

a diaspora labor organization,

and perspectives with the Korean demo-

movement.

In 1997,

Kim Seung Min was looking for information about US Koreatown

labor law after getting laid off from a

Korean democratic movement cate

KIWA

KIWA although

veteran,

it

As

restaurant.

a

didn't take her long to lo-

she was skeptical that such a creature actually

existed. I

started looking through the

ganizations.

wanted

director}7

was going out of

labor law, not necessarily to get counseling.

my

mind.

was

I

KIWA for me. He told me that called him, "Babojah! [Hey,

My

crying.

there anyway."

was

came

in

When

a picture

I

was

got here

of Chun Tae

November when

zation

I

Il's

can

picture

I

began

I

[the

II

KIWA was

I

said, "Let's just

go

because

to gain trust

garment union martyr].

I

planning to have an event

Oh,

started crying.

flyer up.

this

When I saw

must be an organi-

107

trust.

After concerted pressure,

Korean Restaurant Owners

the

KIWA in October 1996 to set

Association signed an agreement with

up a $10,000 workers' defense fund; conduct workers' nars for almost

I

boyfriend called

a

commemorating Chun Tae Il's life and had a

Chun Tae

I

movement organization. I Dummy!] There's no movement orit

ganization in the US, only in Korea." But

there

under service or-

saw Korean Immigrant Workers' Advocates.

I

know US

to

Korean

all

the

KROA

ment law notices; and initiate

rights semi-

restaurants; post bilingual

a joint research

conditions. Lee Jung Hee, a former

employ-

committee on working

member of the democratic bank KIWA when organizers con-

workers union in Korea, learned about ducted a seminar where she worked. I

learned that there were

wages

that

I

was supposed

that these things existed

had

maximum hour

to get. That's the first time

under

US

law. Before that if

to quit, then the other waitresses

with no rest days at like the

all.

Everyone puts

law in Koreatown;

minimum

laws and

had

learned

to put in 12-hour days

in that kind

that's the rule

I

somebody

of work. That's

people follow.

108

Korean Immigrant

KIWA's

In 1997, with

Women

151

support, Lee filed a

civil suit

for a serious

back injury she received because of dangerous working conditions.

She talked about

how KIWA

KIWA could do

a lot in

could address workers' needs.

terms of teaching workers about what's

going on in the US. But the

work

in restaurants

just that the

work

is

bad, but

ourselves more, and be a bit

English

of knowledge of people

work

we want

experience.

who

It's

not

opportunities to develop

more conscious about society.

I

need

the most. Ninety percent can't speak English, but I

skills

feel if people

level

limited to their

is

could learn English

gressively. I think these kinds

we could think a little more pro-

of problems are the most urgent for

the workers. I really, really

I'm doing

possibility that

back

agree with what

this also for

my

KIWA's doing 100

children, [cries

percent.

and pauses] There's a

US without going my kids could end up working in a res-

I'm going to keep living in the

to Korea. In that case

taurant. If the consciousness of Koreatown employers doesn't de-

velop,

I

think

my

children

After resolving her

Kim Seung Min I

joined

would

suffer as well.

own layoff case and volunteering at KIWA, KIWA's staff in November 1997. and

see workers outside of the meetings

them

talking, eating,

109

and having

try to

spend time with

tea or coffee. I usually listen to

what's on their minds and the difficulties they are facing at this point in their

how

to

lives.

That occupies

a lot

form an on-going workers

husband. their

It's

feel that

standing up for themselves,

they are under the family system, under the

very difficult

husband and the

We talk about

association.

The biggest problem they have is because they

of my time.

when

family.

they don't have the support of

Even though they think

this

work is

women cannot dismiss their husband's 110 opposition. So the women face a lot of dilemmas and conflicts.

very important, a lot of

After coming to the aid of restaurant workers in a disputes,

number of

KIWA began to lay the foundation for an independent res-

taurant workers association, the Restaurant

Workers Association of

Koreatown (RWAK). An outgrowth of KIWA's across race lines with Latino as well as

efforts to organize

Korean restaurant workers.

Sweatshop Warriors

152

made up of two language components, one

this association is

for

Korean female workers and one for the Latino male workers. In addition to fighting for workplace issues like better wages

and working conditions and workers compensation,

RWAK

is

be-

ginning to address the lack of healthcare benefits and childcare for the

women who

working such long hours.

are

RWAK

relationship with

La Clinica Oscar Romero

ance for both

Latino and Korean members.

its

RWAK

component of

bership

building a

is

to provide health insur-

The Korean mem-

gathering resources to set up a

is

many of the workers own ID card system for its

childcare center for restaurant workers. Since are

RWAK created

undocumented,

members,

its

in addition to a check-cashing

program and micro-credit

system.

Lee Jung Hee started working

as

an organizer for

RWAK in

Her co-organizer, Kang Hoon Jung was active in the South Korean federation of student organizations, before migrating

May

2000.

to the

United States in 1 992. Lee learned

how to deal with employers

and organize workers "on-the-job."

we have when doing outreach

Usually the problem rants

is

sometimes

ers

employers. the bosses raise

act different

Most of want

money

rants have

when

they are in front of their

the information

we

to kick us out. Lately

bring

is

about labor, so

RWAK has been trying to

for earthquake relief in El Salvador

and the restau-

been unexpectedly open to getting information.

employer that had ally

to the restau-

not with the workers, but with the employers. The work-

a lot

of claims against them

said,

One

"You're actu-

doing something good for a change," because of the informa-

tion

we had on

immigration

rights.

the employers as well. Sometimes

That kind of thing appeals to

when we go

to the restaurant,

But

the boss just tears

up the

earthquake

one employer, even though he did not want

relief,

leaflets in front

of our

faces.

for the to,

put in a $20 donation.

When stressful. I tally

I

first

started going to the restaurants

was scared

unafraid. Mostly

other organizers.

I

I

to

go and would

suffer.

But

go by myself, but sometimes

have worked on cases where

sent a worker and I've

done

that

on

my

own.

111

I

it

was

now I

had

I

really

am

to-

go with the to

go repre-

Korean Immigrant

Lee wants

RWAK to

which labor

ing,

What

153

combine labor and community organiz-

activists characterize as "social

motivates

me

to

do

this job

happening to the Korean workers are

Women

is

when

I

unionism."

think about

what

in the restaurant industry.

working so hard for such long hours

just to

112

is

They

support their fam-

ilies.

Because they are immigrants, they suffer for their whole

lives.

We need to work on a lot of the issues that surround and im-

pact the lives of immigrants. erything the worker needs.

I

hope

My

that

RWAK can work on ev-

second hope

for restaurant

is

workers to become more a part of the community and do more

work to build the community. When we do good work.

things

happen and we can

up

at

Women, Releasing Han

Immigrant Korean

women

oppression not only

families

of work together,

113

Organizing

class

a lot

release the stress that builds

workers confronted gender and

at their

workplaces, but also within their

and the Korean community. In the course of organizing, the

women began to develop a women's rate gender-specific education

support network, and incorpo-

campaigns and services into

their or-

ganizing work.

Despite Korean women's long work hours in the United States, they are their

still

expected to perform almost

homes, while

their

deremployment and nections,

and

the domestic chores in

husbands cope with either long hours or un-

a big

stability.

all

114

drop

in

economic and

social status, con-

This creates a volatile environment in

which alcoholism and domestic violence often

erupts.

A 2000 com-

munity needs assessment survey on the problem of domestic violence conducted by Shimtuh, the

Korean Domestic Violence

Program, found that 42 percent of the 347 respondents said that

knew of a Korean woman who had experienced physical violence from a husband or boyfriend, while 50 percent knew of a Kothey

rean

woman who had

experienced regular emotional abuse, and 33

percent reported that their father had

once."

5

hit their

mother

at least

Sweatshop Warriors

154

The combined gender and class oppression women face became evident during a sharing session held in April 1999 among some Korean women workers (who wish to remain anonymous). The women began by drawing charts plotting the highs and lows of their lives.

One woman

business, into

which she had poured

she had borrowed

band then

money from

fled to the

business and pay off

United States to fight

described the collapse of her husband's

United

of her labor and for which

States, leaving her to close

debts by herself.

its

start life

an abusive boss.

all

her family. She told of how her hus-

Once

over again, she found herself having to

Another woman, "Mrs. H.," family suicide.

the

116

told of

how

poor and hungry while struggling to survive

river while

down

she arrived in the

she and her husband,

in Korea,

had planned

They would drown themselves by jumping

a

into the

holding their kids. But she couldn't bear to pass the baby

over the fence.

Then her husband

days. Since his

body never turned up

pect that he was

still

alive.

bolted.

She searched for him for

in the river, she

began to sus-

He later appeared, and they eventually mi-

grated to the United States with their children. Laughing bitterly and

make

joking to

light

of her

story, she described

how

she went

through many hardships because of her husband's drinking and

gambling and her family's extreme poverty. Later when another

woman recounted being beaten black and blue by her husband, Mrs. H. shouted out, "That's he never beat me."

These and

tears,

why

I

never

left

him

in spite

of everything;

117

stories released a flood

of pent-up anguish, resentment,

mixed with exclamations of sei sang

eh!

[what

is

this

world

coming to]" and other expressions of shock, sympathy, and support. Sometimes the women's

faces glistened with tears; at other

ments the room erupted

in peals

other about the absurdity of it

of laughter

as they teased

moeach

all.

The women workers' consciousness

raising session

combined

popular education methodology and the cathartic release of han.

Han

is

the

Korean term used

ns

to described accumulated suffering,

sadness, and hardship. According to psychiatrist

Luke Kim, ban is an

"individual and collective emotive state of Koreans, involving feel-

Korean Immigrant

Women

155

ings of anger, rage, grudge, resignation, hate

and revenge.

form of victimization syndrome of Korean people, with and indignation suppressed and endured."

injustice

side" of ban, tragedy,

and

is

The "down

of fate suffered by Korean people. But the

cruel twists

and

ban, a socially

women workers expresses

culturally shared

the "up side"

understanding that acknowl-

edges and articulates Korean women's pent-up suffering, and

and allows for

fore, facilitates

of support,

solidarity,

Joining the

of

the sadness, oppression, injustice, colonialism, war,

sharing of han between the

of

119

[It is a]

feelings

release

its

there-

through a collective process

and sisterhood.

Movement

Korean women workers joined

the

movement when

they

when they could no longer tolerate their bosses' Some women organized together with their co-workers,

reached the point abuses.

while others started out fighting because of an individual grievance.

Because of the close-knit character of the Korean community and ethnic enclave,

women's

decisions to stand

up

for their rights

had

immediate consequences. Restaurant owners quickly blacklisted

some of

the

first

Korean women

who dared women endured

restaurant workers

speak out. In addition to the bosses' attacks, some

censorship from their ministers and the ethnic media, and pressure

who

from worried co-workers and family members

would never be

able to

work in Koreatown

Chu Mi Hee worked as a waitress for

two

at

Koreatown's

years. In 1996, she

feared they

again.

largest restaurant, Siyeon,

was

fired

and

blacklisted af-

ter participating in a struggle against the boss.

Him

dul otjiyo!

things did not

would kick

[It

was

go

his

things,

a strain,

it

was very hard]

to

work

way, he [the boss] would use his

even people. The

same. She didn't use her

fists,

woman owner was

didn't like,

there....

and also to cut

He

about the

but she did the same thing with her

words. They treated the workers very inhumanely. At

36 people worked

there. If fists.

Then

first

about

they started firing people they

their labor costs. That's

when our Mex-

ican chinku [friends] started opening relations with

KIWA....

Sweatshop Warriors

156

Without

me

knowing, the owners found out and

fired

our Mexi-

can friends.

We wanted

be treated with dignity and not have to work

to

under physical and verbal abuse. Most of the Mexican workers

and Korean waitresses united. With KIWA's help, we the customers.

demanded

We made a wildcat strike that lasted one hour and be kept that the owners

that the original promises

made when

leafleted

they opened.

leaflets, talking to

people,

hoped

I

...

all

that protesting, passing out

of these things would bring about

we were demanding were

good

results. I feel that the things

basic.

We were not asking for anything outrageous. 120

very

After she was fired by Siyeon for fighting for a collective bargaining agreement, she took a

new job at a coffee shop

which was owned by

of one of the Siyeon owners. She was

disoriented at

when

a cousin

Prince's

called Prince,

manager and then her minister

called her

home. I

was awakened by

phone

a

where the manager and

you

are suing [Siyeon]

I

from the minister of the church

call

went.

The

minister said, "I heard that

on behalf of the workers.

How can you do

such a childish thing?" The minister said he had gotten a phone call

from the

[Prince]

manager and heard

all

about what was going

on and that it was hard for me to continue working Then I knew that I was being blacklisted.

When

the Siyeon

owner found out

son

like that?"

The Prince owner

cause she was the one told

who

referred

me

talk to the

At

quit."

I

to

had to work.

She

[the

The manager

How could you is

I

[partici-

really small. It's

demanded

manager]

going

[that she] let

said, "Let's all

talk

To find a new job, show my experience

after resting for a while.

show my work

121

directly.

to Prince.

business."

manager be-

couldn't go back to church and face the [manager].

found another job

had

me

in you.

to find another job."

owner

at Prince,

that time I felt really disappointed in humanity. After

that incident I

you

"None of your

Koreatown

pate in the Siyeon dispute]?

worked

to consult with the

me, "I'm very disappointed

to be hard for

said,

I

"How can you hire a per-

he went to the Prince owner and asked,

But the Prince owner wanted

that

at [Prince].

experience, but to

about Siyeon. So

I

was

afraid to

go

I I

to places to look for

Korean Immigrant

The Siyeon workers had

had

scales,

to

March of 1996,

On

KIWA

and Prince operatives for

Paek Young Hee worked 12 hours at

wages

helped

file

and

firing

lawsuits

blacklisting

February 15, 1997, however, Siyeon went out of business

and the case was subsequently dropped.

boss

establishing

meal times, and the conditions for discharge, but they

keep fighting for compliance.

against the Siyeon

Chu.

157

successfully negotiated a collective bar-

gaining agreement in February and

wage

Women

Ho Dong in 1996.

122

a day, 6 days a week, but her

demanding unpaid

restaurant blacklisted her for

As

with Chu, the owners association contacted

Paek's next boss to get her

fired.

123

Luckily, her

new boss

told her

what had happened.

One day when I was working at my new job, the owner called me and asked why did I go against the restaurant

into the office

where

I

was

fired. I told

him

that

was only because

it

I

was not

my rightful wage. The owner confessed that he had received a call from the Korean Restaurant Owners Association who told the owner to let me go because I was a troublemaker. But the owner ended up telling me that I was a great worker and that they needed me and were not going to fire me. I am still working at this paid

restaurant now.

124

Paek weathered the wages she I

am

of criticism because she spoke up about

was owed and how she was

very grateful because

powerless. a

a lot

little

I

try to

ashamed.

KIWA

feel like I

and

blacklisted.

who

are

But I

feel

helps poor people

be active and help out

I

fired

all

that

I

can.

.

.

.

have done something that

not have done. All the people around

I

should

me are telling me, "Why are

you stabbing somebody from your own

nationality? If they didn't

pay you that

accepted

that.

well,

Why did you

shouldn't

I

you should have

just

have to take these actions?"

be paid for the work that

I

it,

I tell

and

left it at

them, '"Why

did?" But at the same time

me dirty looks like I did something wrong. Both my children and my husband were not at all supportive of my actions. .especially after they saw the news on the TV. The they give

.

children said that the fact that

negative impact

on

barrassed because

I

came out on

their future as students. all

his

TV

might have

a

My husband was em-

co-workers were talking about

it.

They

Sweatshop Warriors

158

were saying it was that

it

a disgrace.

was not right to

did to

me and

ing to

do these things

Speaking Up

let

.

.

the

.

Although

the other people.

I

to people.

did

criticized,.

to stop her

.

.1

feel

do what she

from continu-

Powerless

for the

new

it

was

restaurant

125

Immigrant women workers have to write a

I

owner of the

said kajal

[let's

go!]

and begun

chapter in Korean-American history. This story be-

gins with their labor struggles in their

homeland and continues in the and on the picket

kitchens, dining rooms, hotels, factories,

lines

of

inner city barrios, tossed together like chap chae [mixed vegetables

and noodles] with co-workers.

Mexican and Central American immigrant

their

They have endured long hours, low wages,

rassment, age discrimination, insults,

and

ship, criticism,

and keep

fear.

mouths

their

They have been urged shut.

sexual ha-

firings, blacklisting,

to

censor-

be patient, endure,

Yet these pioneers are taking

a stand

and beginning to change the climate and thinking within the community, winning respect for women workers' multi-racial solidarity,

securing

more

human rights, building

opening up new spaces for democracy, and

justice within the

Korean and other communities of

color within the United States.

The November Koreatown

An

1998 community town

restaurant workers

mocracy" conveyed tions.

14,

a

demanding

hall

"justice, dignity,

and de-

tumultuous mix of images, languages, emo-

angry gauntlet of restaurant owners taunted

enter the towering union hall hosting the gathering. ringleader boasted that he learned

by workers and

meeting of

KIWA.

all

seeking to

The owners'

how to picket after being picketed

Inside the hall the atmosphere was simulta-

neously welcoming, protective, and edgy as Korean and Mexican restaurant workers delivered testimony to elected officials, govern-

ment enforcement press,

community

agencies, Korean, Spanish, and English language

supporters, and family

the abusive behavior by her ex-bosses, I

go home every day with

a

members. After describing

Kyung Park

new wound

my heart because of all am a wife and mother at

in

the hurtful things that

happen

home, but

am viewed sometimes

at

work,

I

at

work.

said:

I

as a servant,

some-

Korean Immigrant

times as a

thief.

This

is

ing able to get paid as

the

government

are

supposed

in

—

is

rights

because

this is

Koreatown.

... I

it is

Not

be-

and suffering through

what makes up

the" lives

would

like to say to all

and

the other

all

mem-

very possible that by com-

may face the possibility of losing my job. But I come to this gathering today in spite of all that.

ing forward today

have chosen to

[to]

leaders, media, workers,

bers of the audience present today:

This

159

the reality of restaurant workers.

we

each day facing insults and curses

of restaurant workers

Women

I

I

believe that unless

of the powerless workers

in

someone speaks up

for the

Koreatown, we would have no

choice but to go on living with bruises in our hearts.

126

Sweatshop Warriors

160

Kim Chong Ok Economic Miracle Maker, Koreatown Restaurant Worker

My memory's not so good,

was born July 16, 1955 in Chungchong Namdo, Nomsan-kun, Yangchon-myon, Paramni Ilko. I

went to school

there, too.

When I was

16, 1

came up

to Seoul.

I

my older brother's house and learned some trades. My par-

stayed in

were nongbu

ents

[laughs] I

[farmers].

rather small, just big

They had

enough

There are nine of us

their

own piece of land.

It

was

for us to feed ourselves.

kids, six

daughters and three sons.

I

was the

fourth daughter and seventh child in the family. All of my brothers

and

sisters

They

all

turned out well. Actually, I'm the poorest

got married and had children. They never got divorced or

had marriage

went

I

among them.

troubles.

to school

up

to junior high school.

me about what happened, I can't stop! lings couldn't

Once you

[laughs]

start

asking

A lot of my older sib-

even go to school. They learned hangul [the Korean

phabet] by themselves.

Us younger ones were

able to

go

al-

to school

and get some education.

When I got older, both of my parents and my older siblings all urged me to come up to Seoul. During that time people looked to Seoul as a better place to side.

a living than farming in the country-

Farming is such hard work. Life

staying with a machine. ers'

make

is

better in the city.

While

I

was

my brother up in Seoul, I learned a trade, how to knit on

My brother was a taxi driver. I stayed at different brothMy brothers took care of me because I was one of the

houses.

youngest

kids.

Life in Seoul

homework

at

was OK;

someone

at least

else's

they had machines there.

it

home.

was better than farming. It

was

like a private

I

did

home, but

A bunch of women would get together to

Maybe six or seven women worked there. The owner divided up the work between us. I was told that they would export these items, after we finished. We knitted sweaters for export. I also make

things.

worked

No

at a lot

of small, small

regular hours

were

factories.

set for the

homework.

If you

wanted

to

Korean Immigrant

Women— Interview

161

The hours depended on how much work you wanted to do, how much money you wanted to earn. The other workers were also young women. Everybody who worked there came from somewhere else. I lived in Mapo, Shinsu-dong, I think. The big factory area was in Kuro-dong dan. I do more, you could;

if

not,

you

didn't.

lived close to there.

came up

I

cated time].

to Seoul in

band.

.

of places

met him through

I

971 Bok chap hae [that was a very compli-

could write a book about

I

at these different kinds

we

1

friends.

brought guys to

talk

But it turned out

kept following

me

that

One

hus-

had a kind of club where Friends in that group

It

was

like a

"meeting"

[a

who came was

thought he was probably mar-

he got interested in me.

for

He picked me and

government

Chung Hee

one of the government

criticized that job so

plained because even though for these

my

around, [laughs]

husband was driver I

worked

I

and met

of the guys

This was during the time of the Park

for about a year.

was too much.

talk.

and introduced them. date], [laughs]

my husband. He looked very old so I ried.

It

We girls

got together to spend time and

group introductory

it!

until I got older

we were

officials.

Then my husband had

officials.

regime.

My

He did

that

com-

he ended up leaving.

I

married, he was

driving

They would go

still

women's

to different

to stay out late to wait for them,

and

home

late

because of that. After I criticized him, he never consulted me, he

just

houses.

them home,

take

[sighs]

quit. I hate to talk

about

things about Korea.

Haaaahh, he was always coming

this

127

Through my husband,

He had

because people are going to think bad

I

was able

to

come

to the

United

States.

members here. His mother was here and she had her We came November 30, 1985. Life here was very month after I came I found work at Saint Joan's [a com-

family

[US] citizenship. difficult.

pany

think the a year.

A

Los Angeles],

in

I

that

clothes.

I

company is very famous and big. I worked there for about on Olympic [Boulevard, in the heart of Koreatown]

lived

for six years.

At

first I

didn't

band took me back and the bus.

produced knitted sweaters and

know how to get Then I

forth to work.

my hushow to take

to work, so

learned

Sweatshop Warriors

162

worked

I

eight hours a day

had the weekend

days. Since I

garment work.

When

and got off on Saturdays and Sun-

off, I

used the time to learn

got laid off from that factory,

I

When

get a job sewing for four or five months.

I

how to do

was able

to

Saint Joan's called

me back to work, I decided not to go. I had problems understanding English and there were a lot of colors to remember for knitting the

when I knit the needles would break and I wouldn't be able to get much done. When the work went smoothly it was fine, but when things went wrong, it was a big hassle. Sewing is much easier. Also sometimes

patterns.

When I

started

working

at Saint Joan's, the

to unionize, so I also participated.

what was going on, but the ting paid enough. It

but

Korean

ladies

They

They were

while.

afraid that they

I

got used to

hall],

Street. I don't

there that did not

knitting

itself,

the details of

know

might lose

exacdy,

some

want

get-

older

to partici-

but other kinds of work.

their jobs there

and not be able

money and

fell I

May

My hus-

followed him around and helped him for a

it.

I

to death to climb

got

all

up on the

sunburned with

really hard. Later

we opened

but the business didn't go very

Restaurant.

for

all

the garment industry for about three years.

a painter, so I

The work was

I

do the

At first I was scared

a while

in

was on Alvarado

who were working

did not

worked in

band was

chess

know

any other work.

to find I

didn't

I

were saying that we weren't

think they couldn't unify fully because there were

I

pate.

strikers

workers were trying

down. So then

I

went

to

a

But after

on my

face.

badukjang [Korean

well.

work

roof.

freckles

So we ran out of

at the

Korean Soup

stayed there a long time, from 1991 or 1992 until

I

quit

1998.

was

a cook's helper

when I

started. I

worked

as a cook's helper

about seven months and then became a cook.

I

started out at

$1,400 a month, working more than 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. After

I

shift. I

became

a

cook I got $100 more. The restaurant ran a 24-hour

worked four days on the night

shift

and two days on the day

shift.

We

couldn't negotiate about our wages.

negotiate, as

soon

as the

words came

Whenever we

tried to

out of our mouths, the

em-

Women— Interview

Korean Immigrant

on and on

ployer would start cussing us out, and go that.

We

didn't

to face them.

didn't

I

not good to switch jobs too often.

there. It's this

want

everywhere so

needed to

I

ing there. During this process

were about four or

Our

years like me.

My wages

five

just I

people

friendship

163

want

I

for days after

working

to quit

figured that

it

was

like

bear the hardship and keep work-

to my co-workers. There who had worked there around ten

grew close

grew and we decided

to stick together.

increased to $1,800 a month. But in April 1998, the

em-

ployer complained that the business was not doing well. She said the

IMF

crisis

was

affecting the business over here in the

The cooks' wages were

they had decided to cut our wages.

we

$1,400 a month. So

US, and

that

cut to

decided to walk out.

Since the restaurant ran 24 hours, there were three cooks to

work

the three different shifts.

cook's helpers.

We

We

used to have dishwashers and

need that help to cook, but the employer

really

cut three people out. So the cooks had to

do everything

in the

on us and we already worked long hours. The owner kept oppressing us and acting like she was doing everything within the law on wages and hours. But when we calculated how much we should have been earning, the figures just didn't match up. So we confronted the employer. She kept saying if you don't like kitchen. It was very hard

it,

you can always

work but

leave.

did not reduce

She started [paying me] for eight hours of

my hours

to that

amount. So the problems

started there.

The wage ple

—

cut

was

for example,

duced the wages and the people

problem, but the employer also

demanded

also

who were laid

talked about

off).

that

That upset

what we could do about

taking acdon.

cause

a

We

eventually

went

jobs.

me and

everyone

this situation

to

laid off peo-

The employer we do all of the work

worked four peoples'

I

KIWA

and

it

else.

re-

[of

We

led to us

for consultation be-

my employer emphasized that she was doing things by the law.

She kept on saying "The law

is

this

and

that."

So the workers de-

cided to find out what our rights were.

KIWA more than

[told us]

about labor laws. For example,

eight hours a day then they

overtime. Before going to

if

workers work

need to get compensated for

KIWA DOL [the US Department of La,

Sweatshop Warriors

164

my restaurant

The Korean Soup Restauwas operating 24 hours a day. But when the investigator came my employer told us not to tell our true work hours, but we

bor] investigated rant out,

1998].

[in

were supposed to say whatever she told us to

my employer got upset with us

gation,

to investigators.. ers

and

.

.

During the

say.

investi-

for not answering "correctly"

[Eventually] the negotiations [between the

KIWA and the employer]

broke

work-

down and we ended up

su-

ing the employers.

KIWA

The

restaurant workers so

ever

I

The owners

are the

the

Korean to use

The treatment

law.

How should I

you

for their benefit.

feel like,

"Why

of

will participate in.

I

say

should

is,

it? It is

Do

on an American holiday? No. Even employers

to the meetings

always think that what-

I

same wherever you

percent satisfied with you.

want

come

to

participate [d]....

can do to be of help,

I

me

organizers ask[ed]

They

go.

well,

are not 100

not the

half-half.

US

law or

The employers

they allow us to take a day off if

I let

there are

no customers, the

you

when

rest

I

am

paying

you?" Well,

I

work from 10

a.m. to 10 p.m.

spective of the employers, to serve

them even if it is

ers leave

then

when

Of course from

the customers

come

in,

the per-

they want

past closing time. If I stay until the custom-

who knows when I will leave? My legs cannot stand it my husband to pick me up at 10 p.m. So I leave.

after 12 hours. I tell

The employer I

also says to leave.

feel that there is a division

between the kitchen and

hall

work-

ers.

There needs to be an understanding between the kitchen and

hall

workers. For example,

then

it

ruins the food.

[the] others'

needs

Both

if

the food does not

come out

sides should be able to

in time,

understand what

are.

When I first visited KIWA, I was so frightened. My heart started

KIWA for the second time and the third time, I passed the frightening stage. Now we have become like neighbors. When KIWA [was] not in Koreatown, when was] to

pound and pound. But as

I

visited

[it

so far away, near Korea Times

occur to curious.

[at their

former

office],

it

did not even

me to visit. But when KIWA was right in front of us, I I am sure a lot of people felt that way. I knew KIWA

got ex-

Korean Immigrant

who knew where? I

isted,

but

cases

must have

I

think

Women— Interview

165

believe ever since [they]

moved

[their]

increased.

KIWA

is

doing great work, nomu nomu choun kot [too

many good things]. We didn't know what KIWA was doing before we came here. But now I have seen for myself that they're doing such good things. By coming here we've seen how much effort and energy they put into better

this

and we are going

work. In the future things are going to get

to see

improvements

in the

working condi-

tions.

—Los Angeles, November

17,

1998

Sweatshop Warriors

166

Kyung Park Koreatown Restaurant Worker and Fighter was born Christmas Eve, December

I

was an

electrician.

He

ran a

medium- sized

business.

He

out electrical lines from one mountain to the next.

helped him in his business for awhile, but

homemaker.

full-time

and

I

They

[laughs]

ents, like

sister

later

and

a

like to

complain and never

father

used to

My

lay

mother

she became a

younger brother

I'm the second oldest. The second child

sister;

know,

have an older

I

My

24, 1953....

is

very bad you

listen to their par-

me.

Chun Chon. I didn't get accepted into moved there after graduation from high

finished high school in

school in Seoul, but

I

school and worked as a hotel receptionist for almost seven years.

The

job was

good and

I

was very happy.

I

learned about the job in

the newspaper. I

met

my husband during that dme, when I was

in the cafe. in

He was a musician,

downtown

Seoul.

sang,

drinking coffee

and played instruments

We got married in

1984. After

I

in clubs

got pregnant,

I

my job. My daughters were born in 1986 and 1993. My sisters, brothers, and parents decided to immigrate to the US I wanted to come, too. My elder sister came to study here after

quit

so

graduating from college in Korea, and she sponsored the whole family. I

came

to the

we were having

US

rated for a while. After

sent

them back

friends.

in

1990 without

big problems. I

to Korea.

His job was

He wanted

came

He

here,

treated

terrible,

my husband. At a divorce.

I filed

me

that time

We were

sepa-

the divorce papers and

badly and had a lot of girl-

hanging around with

all

of those

women at night. Looking back I think he might have come to the US maybe he would not have on in Korea. [In the United States] first I worked as a furniture store sales person. Then I worked at Joong-Ang I/bo [Korean Central Daily] on the directory, answering phones and so on in San Diego. Then I

if I

had sponsored him. But then

come because he had something

started

working

again,

better going

as a waitress.

San Diego was

a very small

community, so people knew

me and

.

Women— Interview

Korean Immigrant

167

my family. I got my first waitress job through one of my sister's contacts. When she first came to study, my sister volunteered at this organization that helped immigrants who couldn't speak English. One of the persons she helped worked as a head waitress. I went to .

an interview and found out that they knew each other and

up getting the I

worked

very friendly.

I

.

ended

position. in a Japanese restaurant

and

of the customers were

all

The work was good because at that time all I had on of money because of my financial difficul-

my mind was earning lots had

ties. I

broken up with

just

my

where I was going to get money to tember 1993 when too much!

The

.

I

couldn't

my

a lot

there until Sep-

second

child.

[laughs] Everything?! It's is

someone

that

I

met

in

was working here before he came. kyeh don

[money

bought a car and had everything ready

But when he came, he

we went through

so

worked

money and won $26,000 of

a mutual credit union]

for him.

second child

to the US. I

saved up some

I

from

Do I have to tell?

father of the

Korea and brought So

became pregnant with

I

a very sad story.

It's

husband and was wondering

survive. I

just couldn't adjust to

of hardship. Then

I

American

life

got pregnant and

work anymore. He ended up spending all my money. He his income was not enough so I had to work, too. He

worked, but

beat [and] cursed

me

and

called

me

names.

I

think his frustrations

came from making less money than me. Everyone

me to

in

my

family told

we had a child we wanted to try make it work once more so we moved from San Diego to Orange to break

up with him, but

since

County. But that didn't work out

either.

So

I

ended up moving

to

LA. While we were married, we used

we ended up owing he said

I

from

my

kids.

pay the

$10,000. Since the cards were under

had to pay for

and leaving my kids

credit cards to

at

it.

So

I

ended up having

to

bills

my

and

name,

pay off the debt

my parents' and sister's house. I got separated

The second

relationship

was even harder than the

first. I

moved

friends in

to

LA

in 1996,

maybe

LA, only an acquaintance.

I

in

March.

started

I

didn't have any

working

Japanese restaurant inside the Radisson Hotel. Since

right I

away

didn't

in a

know

Sweatshop Warriors

168

anyone,

learned about the job through the newspaper.

I

minimum

When I worked holidays,

wage.

worked overtime,

had

them

same

pay,

but

was having a hard time myself.

I

to help cover

even though

other Japanese restaurant.

work from

at night

and

I

It

too. It .

.

.

you had

to report to

work in

I

during the day, then go to work

restaurant

is

had only wanted

My

At a lot of the Japanese morning then

the

home I

at

all

I

res-

take a two-

would

once. Night

to

hours were

is

rather

when

the

busy anyway. A lot of people who go to work during the

day have kids, so they don't

work

worked at an-

I

or three-hour break midday, then go back to work. rest

wait-

was getdng the

OK at the beginning,

was

to get that position.

5 p.m. to midnight, six days a week.

taurants

when I OK.

The other I

After that job

was good because

was able

got paid

got holiday pay;

stayed there for about eight or nine months.

I

resses couldn't handle their tables, so

I

I

got overtime pay. So everything was

I

I

early. I didn't

have

like to stay to close up.

my

kids staying with

They want

me, so

I

was

to

go

able to

at night.

never made a mistake

the customers order a

at that restaurant

la carte

they get a

little

to ring that up, too, but I forgot. I think

it

except just once.

When

was supposed

receipt. I

was about $12. The man-

me around demanding that I pay half and saying it was my fault. I got upset because he should have talked to me about it after the shift instead of bothering me while I was working. ager kept following

So

I said, "I'll

made

pay the whole thing and I'm quitting."

that mistake

working there

I

all

It's

not

the time, just that once. So after five

ended up

like I

months

quitting.

After that came the hard times, [laughs]

I

went

for interviews

and the employers told me I was too old. Ehhhh! I thought I was a good worker and I could get a job anywhere. Uhhhh! But I was wrong I'm going to count how many owners turned me down.

Maybe

it

was

five

Before that

I

or six owners.

was hired

at a different restaurant briefly

through a

man I knew. I got fired because the relationship between man and owner turned bad, and the sushi man left the res-

head sushi the sushi taurant.

owner

I

tried to stay,

didn't like

me

but after a

since

I

month

was brought

I

in

had

to leave

because the

by the sushi man, so she

Women— Interview

Korean Immigrant

started giving

me

a hard time.

My

169

co-workers told me, "Try to en-

work together." I wanted to continue but the employer said she couldn't work with me. I got rejected by so many Korean restaurants that I didn't want to deal with Koreans anymore, so I went to a Japanese restaurant. dure and bear

Let's just

it.

owned by a Korean. My friend who worked at this restaurant said, "I'm moving to Texas so why don't you come and replace me?" So that's how I got this job where I'm working. The

Yet

was

it

also

OK and the owner

hours are

only in the restaurant briefly, so

is

it's

good.

At one

restaurant

I

received hourly pay; at another

by the hour, but

I

think the pay was pretty close to

got about $700,

1

think

it

was about 46 hours

hours per week, with some 49-hour weeks. 5 [p.m.] to

I

a

in the

work.

We

morning, got off

at

ended up picketing

I

week, sometimes 42

work from

reported to

midnight for four days. Then for two days

work

wasn't paid

I

minimum wage.

reported to

I

midday, and then reported back to

this restaurant

paid for three days of work. After

I quit,

because

I

didn't get

they said they wouldn't pay

me. I

kept on calling the restaurant and demanding

quit, I

deserved to be paid for the work

upset that

you

I

try calling

it's

had already done.

I

got so

A co-worker there told me, "Why don't KIWA?" So that's why I called. KIWA does good

couldn't sleep.

me do

work. They helped think

I

my pay. Even if I

something that

I

couldn't

do by myself.

very powerful to have this organization. Before

was not important,

that the

work I

did in restaurants

I

this, I felt I

was very mean-

But now I'm able to stand up for my rights. When I went to the restaurant to demand my back wages, one of

ingless.

my

other co-workers

said,

"Why

don't you just give up, what can

a lot

of power and money and was

you do?" The owner had well-known this

in the

community. But

money because I

I felt

had worked for

that

I really

needed

to get

it.

received the check from one of the business partners, not

from the

actual owner.

to the restaurant thing.

I

where

She said that

it's

Sometimes the partner who paid I

work now and

good

that

I

tells

me

stood up for

that

my

I

still

comes

did the right

rights,

and

that

Sweatshop Warriors

170

even

run into her partner

if I

only did what

I

had

to

should be strong and

I

do and

Their partnership broke up. So she

tell

her that

nothing to be ashamed

there's

how

asks

still

I

of.

I'm doing and

sometimes we have coffee together. Since that time

KIWA,

cause of

I

have been participating in

realized that so

I

worse conditions than me. I'm things like that.

come out

I

hope

that this

who work

just

are

coming out

working under

by looking

at

what

and

to meetings

helpful, [laughs] After

is

full-time. I think that

the kind of people

KIWA activities. Be-

many people

can

I retire I

KIWA does

and

with the organization you can better

how

understand

why

served.

very easy to just think about yourself and get on with

your

own life, This

tice.

part of It

nity

It's

but there are people

really

is

and

the world goes around

who work hard to win some

good and important work and I'm proud

town

hall meeting]. I

be done, so

decided

I

better to get

whipped

me to

decided in

to ask

just to first,

commuabout five minutes when some-

decide to speak out

me about it. do

it.

go up there

pure torture!

[laughs] I

to get punished.

One

part of

me

was

it's

I

want

true, the

justice

and

I

would be

I

like

first

me

is

only said

It

my picture came saying

I

w hat was T

employers won't be too happy

They're not going to

the

didn't true.

when

to

it's

When

like that in school.

hated the pain of waiting.

I

the newspaper. But the other part of

thing wrong.

the

something that had

It's

worried that

is

[at

There's a Korean saying that

everyone in the group was getting scolded,

though

jus-

to be a

it.

didn't take long for

one came to our house

to

can be

justice

one

was

out in

do any-

But even

they see

it.

it.

My family in San Diego doesn't know about the hearing yet. My in LA kind of joked and said, "Hey, that's how you be-

husband here

come

a star!" [laughs]

fired?"

and he

[That's so!] actly

My

said to

I

asked him, "What

go

to the labor

daughters, ahhh!

know because

scared, but

we chanted in

I

going to do

if I

At

But

first

I

get

sue. Karucbi!

The younger daughter doesn't

she's too small.

ters to the picket lines before.

am

commission and

have brought

my

ex-

daugh-

they were very hesitant and

English and people explained things to

older daughter so she has a better sense of

what

is

my

going on. After

Korean Immigrant

the rally she plains

would

say,

how it's unfair

Christmas.

171

"That was a very bad owner." She also com-

for

me not to get time

off for Thanksgiving or

My older daughter is very proud that I

Ommajalhaet dako. [She

ing.

Women— Interview

said,

"Mom, you

"Who's got the power?

[Chants:]

We

spoke

at the hear-

did well."]

got the power!" Some-

times the two of them play by chanting.

My husband also works in the restaurant business, but not here in

Koreatown.

working

He

hates Koreatown. He's Korean, but he's tired of

for Koreans.

year, after

.

.

.

My children came to live with me again this

two years of being separated from them.

I

have paid

all

my

my credit cards. Now I even make $20,000 a year, My husband helps me a lot and I've got my own money.

debts and for [laughs]

In the beginning when think time chest]

for

it

I first left

the medicine.

is

It's

my children I

better

cried everyday.

now. Kasum sokeh

about the two years that

really hurts to think

I

[inside

I

my

wasn't there

my children. Kunyang [that's how it is]. I'm satisfied now; my chil-

dren are with me.

Whenever I come to KIWA, they are always busy; they need help. They don't complain, [laughs] But I feel someone needs to donate a lot of money to them. Right now KIWA is looking into health insurance plans that workers can join.

away from cancer. sive.

Once

a year

It's

One of the workers

hard to go to the doctor because

women

need to go for

a checkup.

I

it's

passed

so expen-

think

KIWA

does good work, not only on our individual cases, but also by helping us to deal with other issues. Life things besides being waitresses

The media coverage about paign

[in

1998 was]

from the ones

in

all

is

day,

hard so all

we need

of our

do other

the restaurant workers' justice cam-

Korean newspapers here

terrible.

to

lives.

are different

Korea. They run the papers through advertise-

ments. Since the restaurant owners advertise, they have a bigger

The media should be less,

but

vember picture.

that's

in the

say.

middle or give more say to the power-

not the way it is.

I

was upset

16, 1998] Korea Times article

The coverage was not

fair,

after reading today's

about the hearing with

my

not objective. All of the news

coverage, even the Radio Korea interview, concludes that the one creating the problem.

[No-

What I want to

say to the

KIWA

media

is

is

that

Sweatshop Warriors

172

thev should go

work

that situation to

dia

tell

the story right.

I

how it really

don't get the

work in sense that the mefeels to

even knows where we are coming from. For example,

go inside a mine you don't know what ter

they are talking about for at

at the restaurants

week. They must go experience

least a

you go

lungs,

you

in

and sweat and breathe

will

know how it

feels to

it's

all

like to

be

down

better situation than the workers.

who

there.

Af-

be there.

It's

don't have as much.

you

of that black dust into your

Even when the business is not doing well, employers people

until

are

still

in a

very important to share with

It's

something that employers

should remember, that must become a part of their thinking.

—Los Angeles, November

16,

1998

Notes to Korean Immigrant

1

Han Hee

Jin,

Angeles, June

2

Speech delivered 6,

Women

173

of Shogun Sushi, Koreatown, Los

in front

1998.

Called the "Four Dragons," "Four Tigers," or the East Asian Industrialized Countries (NICs), South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore,

Kong

Newly

and

Hong

experienced rapid economic growth since the 1960s based on their

United States and Japan, and a system of development (Bello, Walden and Rosenfeld,

special relationship with the

state-directed

capitalist

1990:1-16).

3

Tieszen, 1977:50.

4

Kim, El-Hannah, 1998:23-33. Scholars assert that Yi dynasty (1392-1910) rulers in Korea promulgated a brand of neo-Confucianism that even outdid China in severity. A woman's own name was not entered into her husband's family register, nor could she take her husband's name. She was often referred to instead as "so-and-so's mother," "so-and-so's wife," or "third

daughter,"

etc.

(Kim, Yung-Chung, 1976:85). See Kim, El-Hannah, 1998 for

a lively feminist critique

of Confucius "the Man."

Young Hee, March

5

Interview with Paek

6

Spence, 1990:530-531; Associated Press, 2000. For role in Korea's division

27,

1

997. critical

views of the

US

and the Korean War see Stone, 1988; Burchett, 1968;

and Cumings, 1981 and 1990; Spence, 1990:530-531; Associated Press, 2000. 7

South Korea

is often promoted as a model for developing nations. But its "economic miracle" was created within a particular historical juncture during the Cold War. South Korea's chaebol [family-run corporations] benefited from US "favored nation" status, contracts during the Vietnam War, preferential treatment proffered the South government, by Korean and super-exploitation of its workers, backed by the Park, Chun, and Roh

regimes. In the post-Cold

War

era these conditions are not so easy to

duplicate for developing nations as

competition to

sell their

8

Koo, 1987:105.

9

Kim, Seung-Kyung,

10 11

Kim, Seung-Kyung, 1997.

12 13 14

Interview with

15

more and more

countries flood the global

exports on the world market.

1997:2-9.

South Korea's rapid industrialization under the Park government was called the "miracle on the Han River." The Han runs through the heart of Seoul and out into the West Sea. Ogle, 1990. Cumings, 1997

Interview with

Kim Chong Ok, November Kim Chong Ok, November

17, 1998. 17, 1998.

from the Comfort Women," www.hk.co.kr/event/jeonshin/w2/e_jsd_l.htm; and Puente, 2000. See

Howard,

1995;

"The

Stories

See Howard, 1995; Lie, 1991; Louie, Miriam, 1995a. Some 40 US bases remain on Korean soil. An average of 2,000 altercations between local Koreans and US military personnel occur each year, often involving Korean

women

(Interview with Lee

Yeung Hee,

Seoul,

May

27, 1992).

South Korea

has the world's third highest rate of sexual assault according to a 1989 study

by the Korea Criminal Policy

Institute

(Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center,

1991:11).

16

Interview with

Cho

Ailee, Seoul,

May

23,

1

992.

Sweatshop Warriors

174

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Haruhi, 1985; Lie, 1991; Louie, Miriam, 1989.

See Chang Pil-wha 1986:255-281. Interview with

Interview with

Kim Seung Kim Seung

Min, Min,

November November

16, 1998. 16, 1998.

Ogle, 1990:86-92.

Ogle, 1990:72-75.

See

Committee

Women

Asian

for

and

Korean

Women

Workers

Associations, 1992:6-7.

24

During the 1970s,

women

workers also fought for their rights

at

the

Bando Songsa, Pangrim, Hankook Mobang, Dongsu, and Yanghaing companies. See Committee for Asian Women and Korean Women Workers Associations, 1992; and Korean Women Workers Associations United and Korean Women's Trade Union, 2000. Sygnetics,

25

Y.H. Trading Company had closed down when its president ran off assets, throwing 500 women out of work. Police clubbed and arrested protesting workers, killing Kim Kyong Suk, one of the strikers. On October 26, 1979, while discussing ways to handle the riots, KCIA head Kim Chae Gyu assassinated dictator Park Chung Hee, and on December 12, 1979, the military regime of Generals Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo took power (Ogle, 1990:92; and Cumings, 1997:374-390). Seoul's

to the

26

United States with the company's

For an eye witness account of the Kwangju Uprising and subsequent massacre, see Lee, Jae-eiu, 1999. For a critique of

US

complicity in the

massacre see Shorrick, 1996.

27

Chun Doo Hwan

dissolved the union in January 1981, just before he was

received as newly elected President Ronald Reagan's

first

foreign dignitary

(Cumings, 1997:379).

28 29 30 31 32

Bello and Rosenfeld,

33 34 35

Interview with

Interview with

1

990:25

Yoon Hae

Ryun, Seoul,

May

28,

1

992.

See http://www. nodong.org/english/index. htm. Interview with

Kim Seung

Min,

November

Interview with Lee Jung Hee, February

1,

16, 1998.

2001. See Asian Migrant Centre,

1996b:30andVarona, 1998.

36 37

Kim Seung

Min,

November

16, 1998.

Cumings, 1997:386-391.

ToBak Yi Theater Company (of Kwangju), "Kumhi's May," Program Booklet, performed May 31,1996, Wilshire Ebell Theater, Los Angeles. Interview with Paek Young Hee, March 27, 1997. Committee

for

Asian

Women,

1993:12;

Liem and Kim, 1992: Ogle,

1990:172-175.

38

South Korean chaebol are also exploring investment prospects in free trade zones in North Korea. The collapse of the economy after the fall of the Soviet camp trading partners in 1989, followed by a series of floods and draughts since 1995, led to widespread famine in North Korea. North

Kim Jong II and South Korea's Kim Dae Jung met during a historic summit in June 2000, and family and other exchanges between the two nauons were slowly increasing before George W. Bush's administration.

Korea's

Notes to Korean Immigrant

Women

175

Perhaps in the future, North Korean workers may provide yet another source of low-waged labor for South Korean chaebol and subcontractors. Korean migrants from Chinese provinces bordering North Korea already make up a large proportion of South Korea's undocumented migrant workers.

39 40 41 42 43

Committee

for Asian

1995b.

SeeLeeJaiYun, 1998:17-19. Varona, 1998:10-11. Interview with Maria Choi Soon Rhie, Korean office, Seoul,

44 45 46 47 48

Women,

See Asia Monitor Resource Center, 1997:1-6.

May

Women Workers Association

24, 1999.

Lee, 1998:19.

Varona, 1998:11-12. Interview with Maria Choi

Soon

Rhie, February 9, 2001.

Choi, 1997:7.

APEC is a ministerial forum involving 1 8 countries and territories around the Pacific

Ocean, from Asia

APEC's mission

is

to Australia, Latin

America, and the United

States.

reduction of trade barriers, promotion of investment

between members, and borderless trade within the region by the year 2020. See APEC Labor Rights Monitor, 1996.

49 50 51

See for example, Greenhouse, 2001. Interview with Maria Choi

Soon

Rhie, February 9, 2001.

See Kyeyoung Park's insights on the complexities olmiguk byong and cultural colonialism, 1997:29-33.

The

interpenetration of the South

Korean and US

economies, military structures, and cultures since the country's division in 1

945 forms the basis for migukyoL For example, one of South Korea's main

TV

American Forces in Korea Networks (AFKN), which shows and tips for US military personnel and an opportunity to listen to English spoken by "native speakers." During the 1970s and 1980s, many brand name "American" products were actually manufactured by Korean workers. channels

the

is

features popular "stateside"

52 53 54 55 56 57 58

Chu Mi Hee, March

Interview with

25, 1997.

Hurh, 1998:33.

Kim, Warren,

1971:4; Hurh, 1998:37; Chai, 1988:51-63.

Hurh and Kim,

1

984, cited in

Hurh

1

998:35.

See Sturdevant and Stoltzfus, 1992. See Lee, Daniel, 1991:304-316. Lee, Daniel, 1991:301. Despite stigmatization and ostracism,

of

US

Korean wives

servicemen helped sustain extended families and communities

in

Lee says the women's human services in supporting immigration and setdement are immeasurable, and that it is easy to find kinship groups of 30 to 40 relatives, including parents, siblings, and their in-laws, in many US cities all connected back to one woman who came as the wife of an American serviceman. Yet many wives of US servicemen have a tough time isolated on military bases, facing language and

Korea and the United

States.

acculturation barriers, and domestic violence and spousal abuse, while bereft

of the support of Korean family and

59

Mm,

1996:3.

friends.

See also Kim, Bok-Lim, 1981.

.

Sweatshop Warriors

176

60

Kim, Ilsoo, 1981:52-53 and Light and Bonacich, 1988:103 Kyeyoung, 1997:15 footnote.

61 62

Min and Song,

cited in Park,

1998:52.

South Korea exported tens of thousands of orphans, principally with through church agencies after US christians Harry and Bertha Holt initiated the process in 1955, campaigned Congress to pass the Holt bill on

and launched the Holt International Children's South Korea became the largest supplier of children to the developed world. The South Korean government began to take steps to slow the sending of orphans after massive criticism of the practice, which had

international adoptions, Services.

persisted decades after the war.

Many Korean

adoptees have worked to

develop a distinct sense of identity, community, and support networks. couples also adopted children from Vietnam, and especially in

US

from China, the wake of the one-child policy and preferences for boys over

Deann Borshay,

girls.

See Liem,

63

Ishi,

1988:36, cited in Park, 1997:15

64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

Min and Song,

73

Korea Times Chicago, 1994; and

recently

2000.

1998:55.

Park, Kyeyoung, 1997:15. Park, Kyeyoung, 1997:15, 25-34. Park, Kyeyoung, 1997:31, 94-138.

Young Hee, March 27, 1 997. Kyung Park, November 16, 1998. Interview with Kim Chong Ok, November 17, 1998. Interview with Lee Jung Hee, November 16,1 998. Interview with Paek Interview with

Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates, 1998a: 13.

1

New York Times, 1995, both cited in Hurh, Korean community, people hotly debated whether to 1992 "Sa-I-Gu" response to the Rodney King verdict a

998:46-47. Within the

call

the April 29,

"riot" or "rebellion."

74

more

KIWA uses

the middle-ground term "civil unrest."

Seventy-two percent of US-born Korean- American married women, in

US-born white women, worked in the paid labor 61 percent of Korean immigrant married women and 52 percent of Euro- American immigrants worked for pay (US Commission on Civil Rights, 1988. The Economic Status of Americans of Asian contrast to 61 percent of force.

75 76 77

Among immigrants,

Descent:

An Exploratory Investigation,

Moon,

1998:43.

p. 37, cited in Paik, 1991:256).

Urn, 1996.

Kadeskey, 1993b:517. See also presentation by Lenny Siegal of the Pacific Studies Center to Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice Network's High-Tech Core Group Committee and Asian Immigrant Women Advocates, Oakland, California, May 5, 1996; Kadesky, 1993a; Ewell

and Oanh Ha, 1999a; and EweD and Oanh

78 79

Pacific Studies Center,

1990

80

Ha

Interview with Jennifer Jihye Chun, February

US Census

US

1999b.

8,

2001

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,

cited in Abate, 1993.

Interview with Jennifer Jihye Chun, February 8, 2001. Asian Immigrant Advocates (AIWA) organizes Korean electronics assemblers and

Women

. .

Notes to Korean Immigrant

Women

offers workplace literacy classes, a Peer Health

immigrant

women

workers health

clinic.

177

Promoter Network, and an

See Asian Immigrant

Women

Advocates, 2000a.

81

Interview with Paul Lee, February

Chicago,

1,

2001. Other

cities

with large Korean

New

populations include

Philadelphia,

York, San Francisco, San Jose, Washington, Honolulu, Baltimore, and Dallas. Seattle,

DC, See

www.asianmediaguide.com/korean/k_p.html.

82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

91 92 93 94

Hurh, 1998:118-120. Interview with Lee Jung Hee, February SeeMin, 1996: 59-61.

Yu, Eui-Young 1993, cited

in

1

,

2001

Hurh, 1998:120.

Interview with Lee Jung Hee, February

1

,

2001

Chu Mi Hee, March 25, 1997. Interview with Paek Young Hee, March 27, 1997. Interview with Kim Seung Min, November 16, 1998. Interviews with Chu Mi Hee, March 25, 1997; Paek Young Hee, March 1997; and Kim Chong Ok, November 17, 1998. Interview with Paek Young Hee, March 27, 1997. Interview with Paek Young Hee, March 27, 1997. Interview with Choi Kee Young, November 16, 1998. Interview with

27,

Interviews with Helen Kim, April 25, 1994, and Jennifer Jihye Chun,

February

8,

Kim

2001.

says that over 2,000 chemicals are used in the

electronics industry.

95 96

Interview with Lee

Kyu Hee, September 21, 1989. November 16, 1998. She

Interview with Lee Jung Hee,

employer

in

filed a suit against

1997 and says that such cases usually take about

her

five years to

resolve.

Interview with Kyung Park, November 16, 1998. Interview with Lee Jung Hee, November 16,1 998. 98 99 Interview with Kyung Park, November 16, 1998. 100 Speech delivered by Han Hee Jin in front of Shogun

97

Angeles, June

6,

Sushi,

Koreatown, Los

1998.

101 Interview with Lee Jung Hee, November 16,1 998. 102 Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates, 1998b:3 103 At first facing 1 1 years in prison, Du was sentenced

to five years probation,

fine for killing Harlins.

See

Chang and Leong, 1994; and Abelmann and

Lie,

400 hours of community

service,

and

a

$500

Garcia, Robert, 1990.

104

See

Kwong,

Peter, 1992;

1995.

105 Min,

1996:90 cited in Hurh, 1998:133. Forty percent of the damaged

businesses were Latino-owned. Pastor, 1993:1 cited in Navarro, 1994.

people arrested,

2% were 106 107 108

51% were

Latinos,

38% were

black,

9%

Asian Americans or "other" (Garcia, Robert, 1990.)

November 16, 1998. November 16, 1998. Lee Jung Hee, November 16, 1998.

Interview with Lee Jung Hee,

Interview with Interview with

Kim Seung

Min,

Of the

were Anglos, and

.

Sweatshop Warriors

178

109 110 111 112

Interview with Lee Jung Hee,

Interview with

Kim Seung

November 16, 1998. November 16, 1998.

Min,

Interview with Lee Jung Hee, February Interviews with Peter Olney, May and Roy Hong, March 26, 199'.

1,

1

,

2001

199"; Arnoldo Garcia, April 21, 199 7

;

113 Interview with Lee Jung Hee, February 1, 2001. 114 See Song and Moon, 1998b:l 61-: ? 115 Shimtuh, 2000. See also Korean American Coalition to End Domestic Abuse, 1999; and Song and Moon, 1998b:162-163. Song and Moon's 198" study that found that 60 percent of Korean immigrant having been battered by their spouses.

women

reported

116 Meeting of Koreatown restaurant workers, April 3, 1999. 117 Meeting of Koreatown restaurant workers, April 3, 1999. 118 Popular education is the process through which people process direct experiences as the knowledge base from which to make connections and analvze broader

relations in the societv

and economy. See

lived

with

Freire, 1990;

Bell etal, 1990.

119 Kim, Luke

Kmi-Goh, 1998:230. The cultural sector of the movement helped reclaim and transform the practice of kut

I, 1991, cited in

1980s minjung

and ban pun, Korean shamanistic exorcism and ban release rituals, such as those dedicated to the memory of the Comfort Women and the martyrs of the Kwangju Massacre. Luke Kim says that Korean psychotherapists and theologians have grown more interested in exploring the concept of ban as it sheds light on problems facing their clients and parishioners (Kim, Luke I., 1998:219.)

120 Interview with Chu Mi Hee, March 25, 199". 121 Interview with Chu Mi Hee, March 25, 199". 122 See Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates, 199". 123 Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates, 1996. 124 Interview with Paek Young Hee, March 2", 199". 125 Interview with Paek Young Hee, March 2", 199". 126 Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates, 1998b. 127 The interview took place during the Clinton-Lewinsky

scandal.

Chapter Four

Extended Families Small and spry, Mrs.

women

Yu Sau Kwan is

the

in their twenties. After immigrating

mother of four strong from Hong Kong

in

1972, she toiled in unionized Chinatown factories for over two decades, developing deep pains in her back, hip,

and

fingers

from sew-

ing 900 zippers a day. Neither the union nor her employers

know she was

entitled to

Workers Compensation

work and

After seeing the hard

injuries.

to endure, Mrs. Yu's daughters Betty

gravitating to the Chinese Staff

let

her

for her on-the-job

suffering their

mother had

and Virginia joined

their peers

and Workers Association (CSWA).

Virginia eventually participated in a 7-day hunger strike protesting the Jing

Fong restaurant owners' treatment of the workers in

The

rant workers in turn

drew Mrs.

"What kind of organization ter

want

myself!"

She

1995.

passionate identification of her daughters with the restau-

to fast?' So,

I

is

Yu to CSWA. Yu says,

CSWA that

it

"I

wondered,

would make

my daugh-

decided to go take a look.

I

ended up joining

1

now

organizes her immigrant

women

worker peers

as a

member of CSWA's Board and Coordinating Committee of

its

Brooklyn Center. As a co-founder of the Garment Workers' Health

and Safety Project, she works not only with injured Chinese workers,

but also Latina/o, Caribbean, and Polish workers. Betty and Vir-

work with CSWA as well. 2 Workers' centers draw their organizers and

ginia continue to

different generational pools

activists

from two

of the ethnic immigrant community:

low-wage immigrant workers and

their

179

"extended family members,"

Sweatshop Warriors

180

both figuratively and

members

join the

literally.

movement out of anger over

and health

exploitation,

The women workers' extended

women

risks that the

family

the discrimination,

and

in their families

communities confront. At the same time, these family members have

own

their

of grievances with the power pyramid and

set

their

own dreams of how they want to live individually and in relationship to their elders. And just as in women's families, their movements ofthe

include

ten

Japanese,

stray

Salvadoran,

Filipino,

Afri-

can-American, white, or Puerto Rican "in-laws" and friends in the

some of the family members who work women in their organizations and movements, and ex-

mix. This chapter introduces alongside the

amines the role

tween

women

"We Are the The

this

like

generation plays as translators and the fusion be-

Mrs.

Yu and

Children"

extended family members.

their

3

children and grandchildren of immigrant workers are often

thrust into the role of translators stitutions

and

their elders.

US in-

and intermediaries between

The youth

often feel responsible for re-

paying their families and the broader immigrant community for the sacrifices the older generation

better in this country.

scendants'

made

community

to get jobs with higher

from

1.5,

a range

are

abilities

would

grumble that

and organizing

of

class

backgrounds. Those of working-class origin

sweatshops, doing piece work at

home

or farm

and pop" businesses. Some raised younger

worked

come

or played alongside their immigrant mothers in

work

in the fields.

Others put in long hours of unpaid labor in small family-run

ents

skills

pay and prestige.

second, third, and fourth generation activists

may have worked

fare

proud of their de-

activism; in other cases they

they wish their kids used their bilingual

These

so their children

Sometimes the parents

siblings while their par-

late at electronics factories, restaurants,

sweatshops, or in private

homes

as

"mom

nursing homes,

domestic workers.

spent time working within these industries themselves.

A

number

Some of the

younger generation family members were swept up with the immigrant

women

into labor

and community movements. Had

their

mothers, grandmothers, or great grandmothers stayed in China, Ko-

181

Extended Families

rea,

or Mexico, these working-class leaders, both the youth and their

might well have been swept up in workers', peasants', and

elders,

poor peoples' movements

The

labor

movement

home

in their

sees working-

countries.

and middle-class youth

as a

great resource to be developed. Ethnic workers' centers have put

many youth campaigns, such as CSWA's Youth Group and its AIWA's Youth Build Empowerment Project, youth and student organizing initiatives of the US Commission for Democracy in Mexico, KIWA's Summer Activists Training program, and Fuerza Unida's forth

off-shoot National Mobilization Against Sweatshops,

links

student organizations

to

Estudiantil Chicano de Atzlan),

LASO

(Latin

The younger

generation

family gift shop

mom

at the

gentle

Koreatown

KIWA

nickname

and awesome restaurant

now, we have is

woman

I

power.

Trinh

take power. Julia's

fantastic!

We

My

nick-

fight the

cross the picket

boong!

We

line.

challenge so

young and we look

school kids to them. Especially when

Yeah,

We

machine gun.

who

go boong boong

stereotypes because we're

it.

her

onni [big sister] skills in her

boong-boong-boong! bazooka.

Julia goes da-da-da! and

stand

assists

workers.

owners and sometimes the customers

many

who

dabalchong, the da-da-da-da!

baksapo, the

is

immigrant

work Her "running buddy," immigrant Kim Seung Min said:

respect, laughter,

first-generation

have worked alongside book include women like

on her only day off from KIWA. She shows

Julia Song, a 1.5 generation

name

American Student Or-

women who

the immigrant organizers profiled in this

At

(Movimiento

and La Raza Student Organization.

ganization),

with

MEChA

such as

like

high

women speak up, they can't

4

Duong was born

in

Vietnam and immigrated

to the

United States with her Chinese parents in 1980, when she was years old.

Duong chuckled that when she first tried to join the

six

picket

line in front

of the Jing Fong Restaurant, the

New York's

Chinatown, she was inadvertently swept inside to the

largest restaurant in

owners' tea party, causing workers to suspect her of being

Now

an organizer for

CSWA, Duong

a spy.

and others received death

Sweatshop Warriors

182

threats

from

a

over 100-hour weeks."

ers slaving

Rodriguez

Cecilia

Paso'ico

sweatshop owner angry over the organizing of work-

E

dunng

a

is

am Her

third-generation Chicana born in El

father, a

US

citizen,

was deported

Hoover

the mass deportadons of the

years.

to

Mex-

His family's

land in Arizona was seized and he used to cross the river

illegallv,

mistakenly believing that he was undocumented. Rodriguez says,

"The it

Faiafa strike

was going on while

shook the whole

and

city.

I

was

still

in

middle school and

My parents moved out of the

neighborhood

spent high school watching skirmishes between whites and

I

Mexicans." Joining the Texas Chicana o movement in El Paso, she later

moved

to the

lower Rio Grande Valley and organized auto

workers and community residents around services and health needs.

Rodriguez helped co-found La Mujer Obrera

LMO

initially

,

with support from the US-Mexico Border Program of the American

LMO

Friends Service Committee, before ent organizauon. After serving as

Rodriguez ganizers

left

behind

to

an independ-

many

years,

movements with the National Commission for De-

build

Zapatistas in Chiapas through the

mocracy

as

Director for

of immigrant women worker or-

a strong core

and moved on

spun off

LMO's

sister

in Mexico.'

Kim

is

mother worked

in

Helen

a

1.5-generation immigrant

Chicago for 18 years

principally for Motorola.

from Korea whose

an electronics assembler,

Kim's mother soldered printed

boards that went into radios and the

first

She complained of headaches and came

peenng through

as

the microscope

all

generation of

home

cell

circuit

phones.

with teary eyes from

day, with her clothes smelling of

chemicals, and hair speckled with filament wires and fibers. She

sometimes brought her work home, including different log sheets be completed,

as well as the stresses

tive relations fostered

and

tears triggered

to

by competi-

between the women.

Kim says that she first stumbled into work at AIWA as a volunteer. Kim nurtured national support for AlWA's Garment Workers Justice

Campaign and

the Jessica McClintock boycott. She simulta-

AlWA's

Silicon Yallev workers leadership project, or-

neously built ganizing,

inspiring

breaking

bread

and kimbab [seaweed

183

Extended Families

wrapped

Kim

said the

involvement of

movement warms

mothers' This

with Korean electronics assemblers

rice]

the best thing

is

me

ing point for life

—

as

members' children

in their

her heart. She reflected:

could have stumbled into.

was the

It

start-

of

to put together the different pieces

my

an immigrant, as the daughter of an electronics worker,

regarding the role

of how

I

AIWA

mom.

her

like

could

I

I

should play within the immigrant community,

my

utilize

language

skills.

Geri Almanza was born in the United States to Mexican immigrants,

childhood

Guanajuato, Mexico, eries.

con

An

campesim

families

in

who immigrated to work in Los Angeles' nurs-

Almanza's mother worked

Vallev.

from

sweethearts

organizer for

as

an electronics assembler in

PODER,

an environmental

Sili-

justice

Almanza first enSouthwest Network for En-

organization in San Francisco's Mission District,

countered Fuerza Unida

as

an intern

at

vironmental and Economic Justice SXEEJ).

me so much of my who helped raise me. But then she was born here just like me. I saw how Viola and Petra [Mata] were doing all this work to create this big family that reminded me so much of my o-

Viola [Casares of Fuerza Unida] reminded

aunt Juanita

Yrene Espinoza

who grew up

in

mother assembled find

more

is

had

to

computers and moved to Minnesota

parts for

jobs in the school system.

wanted

go back

and get involved

a hard time as a single mother.

as the assistant to

now

GED

in the

Espinoza ''runs

to

various part-time

at

Her mother got her

to college

Obrera, started volunteering, and

She serves

Rio Grande Valley. Her

in south Texas'

work, while her father worked

stable

[Chicana Texan]

a third-generation Tejana

San Benito

and always

movement, but

visited

with

La Mujer

las mujeres

24/7."

ex-garment worker and La Mujer

Obrera's director, Maria Antonia Flores, whose story was featured in the earlier chapter It

wasn't until

I

on Mexican women workers. Yrene explained:

started

working here

stand what was going on.

background, started to see

it

Even

if

that

I

began

to better under-

you come from

that family

does not necessarily mean that you understand.

what

is

happening to our people.

9

I

Sweatshop Warriors

184

Pamela Chiang's mother worked

Hong Kong,

in

Taiwan before immigrating to San Francisco mother used

to clean

Shanghai and

in 1965. Pamela's grand-

house for the matriarch of the Koret family of

garment industrialists. Once Pamela enrolled in the University of California at Berkeley, she co-founded Nindakin [we are part of the earth],

a students of color environmental justice group,

and discovered

SNEEJ and Fuerza Unida after volunteering at AIWA. Chiang helped develop the campaign that brought

las mujeres

San Francisco headquarters. She

Levi's

now

of Fuerza Unida to

organizes Laotian and

other immigrant communities against toxic polluters.

De

facto

growing up

in

an immigrant family you end up being the

negotiator for your family, like citizen

Wong." All

dumped on my girl

my

bus passes for

days of "Suzie

single

I

go

to get the senior

grandparents?" Hey, those were the that racist

and

sexist stuff I

saw getting

mom felt pretty yucky when I was a young

growing up.

Nellie Casas Levi's workers

unteered

are the daughters

Rosa Casas and Petra Mata,

Fuerza Unida, worked there

at

and served

and Brenda Mata

as Kpromotora [organizer]

Levi's corporate headquarters. Levi's

"Where do

announced the plant

ents sent her to

Delaware

respectively. Nellie vol-

as a

when

of laid-off

SNEEJ

youth intern,

the campaign focused

As

closure.

the youngest child, her par-

to live with her married sister for a year, so

the entire family unit could absorb and weather the immediate

Brenda says

that period

her that she

left as a child

her

mom was

on

Brenda was nine years old when

of her life was

really hard,

and came back

and her

crisis.

mom tells

as a teenager. After that,

always there for her.

Brenda used

to play with the other kids during Fuerza

Unida

meetings and, by the time she was in middle school, she started understanding

more about the

struggle.

She remembers being

San Francisco headquarters, playing the Levi's being the

Grinch

who

role

of an elfin

at Levi's

a skit

about

stole Christmas, and the fear she

felt

when the women and their supporters were driven from the plaza by the police. "Whenever we go to demonstrations, I still ask my mom if

we're going to be arrested.

now;

I

have a baby!'"

I tell

her,

'Mom,

I

can't get arrested

/

185

Extended Families

Growing to

up, Brenda accompanied Petra and the other

San Francisco and on other organizing road

company

at the

Fuerza Unida office after school

late,

and

dren

Amanda and Joseph

same

started speaking at events.

thing.

ter the

Brenda

house the

mother refused

He

But she made him go home and change to college, but

is still

learned so

many

things

what

was born

rights. I

his pants.

own

she worked

in

because he was

you

serious?''

Brenda wants

field

to

of study could

imagination. She says,

from Fuerza Unida,

especially

about

all

know anything about Mexico where men tell the women

the rights you have. Before that

women's

home

asked, "Are

contemplating what

both help her parents and kindle her I

when

Casares' grandchil-

to let her boyfriend en-

time she brought him

wearing Levi's brand Dockers pants.

go

mom

Benitez and Stacy Olivares are doing the

says her

first

Now Viola

women

kept her

trips,

I

didn't

my family was never like that. I learned When they talked about the supposedly great

to do, although

about

US

history.

history of the Levi's

ten to this," so

I

company at school I

got sent home.

I

don't have to

said, "I

learned to speak up

when

None of my friends wear They don't want to get me started! 11

ple are not treated equally.

Dockers.

These

are just a

few of the talented young

graced the movement. They have

lis-

peo-

Levi's or

women who

wisdom beyond

have

their years be-

cause of the responsibilities they shouldered in their families and organizations.

Talented Tenth and Working-Class Youth

Some

W.E.B. DuBois dubbed these mid-

dle-class educated activists in the

"talented tenth."

young

12

The

radical

African-American community the

movement

radicals "patriotic intellectuals."

their lot with the

common

in

China

Having chosen

people minjungl lao pai

young people stand in

stark contrast to the

ethnic intermediaries

who

the

movement come from

organizers and activists in the

privileged class backgrounds.

to

throw

in

bsing/gente, these

"comprador class," those of the outside

elites:

minorities," or in

more

act in the interests

"good Hispanics," the "Asian model

called these

Sweatshop Warriors

186

pungent community parlance, the "vende patrias" "sellouts," "running dogs," "bananas," or "coconuts." In the United States the ranks of the "talented tenth"

among

hopes raised

—of

all

racial

victories that

housing.

the

groups, female and male, expanded with

civil rights

ended legal segregation in education, employment, and

At the same time

tion in 1965

—and

the other, under acknowledged "nine-tenths"

the removal of racist quotas

and the change

on immigra-

encourage greater mi-

in preferences to

gration of skilled workers, professionals, and business people, also

broadened the ranks of the educated middle and upper

classes

of im-

migrants. Additionally, due to reasons of history, policy, and geogra-

phy, the East and South Asian immigrant populations in the United States

now have a relatively larger proportion of the "talented tenth"

than the Filipino, Southeast Asian, Mexican, Central American, and

Caribbean immigrant groups.

During the

social upheavals

of the 1960s and early 70s, many

working- and middle-class youth got swept up in the social move-

ments for change.

13

Some promoted grassroots

struggles.

Some,

like

the Black Panther Party for example, also romanticized the "out-

laws" from the system.

14

Other middle-class youth responded to the

hypocrisy of what President Dwight Eisenhower called the "military-industrial

drop-out."

By

complex" by choosing

to "tune in, turn on,

the mid-1970s the gains of the

movements encountered

a period of backlash

activists either retreated to

civil rights

climb the corporate ladder or retrenched their

ganizations. In contrast, working-class youth

were

who

who

split

between

have had to endure decreasing access to

quality education, declining wages,

and

movement or-

scrambled for a good education, stable job, and upward

mobility and those

tion

and other

and many middle-class

by starting nonprofits in order to institutionalize

those

and

and increasing

slave labor in the globalized

rates

of incarcera-

economy.

These United States-based immigrant workers and workingand middle-class youth have counterparts their

homelands. For example,

in

in the

movements back in

Korea, the April 19th student

movement toppled dictator Syngman Rhee in 1960 and helped oust General Chun Doo Hwan in 1987. Enraged at the repression of

187

Extended Families

pro-democracy student demonstrators, workers constituted the majority

of those who took to the

and were cut down by govern-

streets

ment troops during 1980 Kwangju and 1989 Tiananmen uprisings. In Mexico, after the army massacred students protesting in 1968 in Tlatelolco Plaza, survivors

fanned out into various

poor, and indigenous movements. Thirty years

later,

left,

labor,

the offspring

of Tlatelolco can be seen in the strength of the anti-globalization activism initiated by the independent labor group

FAT in 1991, the in-

digenous Zaptista rebellion in Chiapas beginning in 1994, and the historic electoral defeat

of the PRI in 2000.

Youth Spice Up Movements Maria Rhie of Korean said, is

Women

Workers Associations United

relation to the workers' movement [MSG/monosodium glutamate] adding a little en15 flavor of the dish; too much ruins it." At the same time,

"The student movement's

like

—

mi-won

hances the

students in the United States and the class stratified,

community

between those based

colleges

women's homelands in elite schools

and vocational schools.

with

US

institutions,

immigrant

in

of

fa-

16

Because of the language barriers they face and miliarity

are also

and those

their lack

women workers

often rely

on English-speaking, sometimes younger generation co-organizers to help develop the workers' movement. These co-organizers struggle

hard to not take short cuts and substitute themselves and their

own

partial

knowledge, experience, and position for the immigrant

workers' consciousness, leadership, base building, and experience organizing against the sweatshop structure.

How to skillfully manage the tension between the different generations

and

classes that

make up

the workers'

movement remains

an ongoing challenge not only for workers' centers, but also for unions and

community

organizations. In the 1990s,

many AFL-CIO

unions and community groups started hiring organizers straight out

of elite colleges, while

failing to invest in the leadership

development

of rank-and-file workers, grassroots community people, and working-class youth.

The

politics

of privilege in a complex

movement

with members hailing from varying combinations of generations,

Sweatshop Warriors

188

classes, races, genders, sexual orientations, nations, citizenship sta-

tuses,

and language groups must be consciously confronted

these inequities will be mirrored in the

—

or

movement and can end up

hurting movements, organizations, and individuals.

Code Switchers, Bridge

Builders, Border Crossers

While the children and grandchildren of immigrant workers ten play the role of translators for

their elders, this function

performed under duress. Being forced

is

often

from an

to play this role

of-

early

age shapes the particular challenges that confront these 1.5 and

US-born generation organizers and

activists.

In a powerful piece

about the role of child translators within the social history of Tejana

farm workers, historian Antonia

What

I.

Castaneda asks:

cultural issues are at stake for child translators?

How

do

they interpret for themselves the cultures they must translate for others?

What

are the politics they confront each time they trans-

How do they negotiate their culture of origin, which

late cultures?

cannot protect them and in which the roles of parent and child are inverted as children

become

the tongues, the

lifeline,

the public

voice of parents, family, and sometimes communities.

How

do

they negotiate the culture they must translate for their parents: the culture that assaults and violates them, their families, and their

communities with well as with all

its

its

assumptions and attitudes about them as

language and other lethal weapons?.

.

.

[T]hey and

children in the United States are steeped in lessons about rug-

ged individualism, democracy, "American" nationalism, justice, merit,

farmworker

and

fair play.

families,

What do

children of color, children of

and other working

daily experiences belie the national myths,

about these myths?

equality,

class children,

whose

understand and

know

17

The challenges facing the extended family members who join the women's movements expand from acting as the translator for one's immediate family to playing that role for many workers and families. lary

This broadening of consciousness and action

of the transformation

women

described

is

the corol-

—from looking out

only for their individual families to accepting responsibility for other

workers and families within

their

own and

sister

communities. This

189

Extended Families

leads to the

mixed response immigrant parents sometimes have

their children's

to

involvement in the labor and community move-

ments.

Those

families

who

have not yet decided to join the movement

themselves have often invested in their children the advancement of their

of their plans, some are

own

family.

fiercely

all

their

While angered

proud of their

hopes for

at the derailing

kids for their ethics in

valuing people over profits in their work. In contrast, for those chil-

who

have grown up on the picket

line

holding on for dear life to the protective arms of the women and

rid-

dren of immigrant workers

ing

on

the broad shoulders of the

may be having bristling,

ents

exactly

Of

the right to decide for themselves

when, where, how, and whether they want

movement

the

same

to partici-

they can claim and fashion as their own.

course, joining the

dle-class

—with

hard-headed independence of their parents and grandpar-

—

pate in a

men in their families, the challenge

movement does not

require that mid-

youth drop out of school and take low-waged jobs or that

working-class youth

make their way through college. Down through many radicalized youth the world over de-

the decades, however,

cided to

jump off the

track

and gain

a

world of experience by walk-

ing a different path. Whatever the case, being part of the

means

linking

countability, ever

up with other people

to fight for justice, exercising ac-

and challenging pyramids of power and

one works,

studies,

and

movement

privilege wher-

lives.

As Castaneda indicates above,

translation

demands not only

lingual language fluency, but also the acquisition

bi-

of different ways of

thinking and knowing, of speaking and listening between different ethnicities, nations, genders,

to control

and oppress

and

classes.

particular sets

Because borders are used

of people,

a crossing

can be

some while no more than a tourist shopping What the child translators value in their families and communities may be despised when they cross into the outside world. While a worker may lack English fluency or formal educafraught with danger for

junket for others.

tion, that tells

tion

skills,

one nothing about her

organizing capacity, and

in the other direction, a college

actual

life

knowledge, communica-

experience.

To bend

the stick

and professional education may

also

Sweatshop Warriors

190

not

tell

much about a person's knowledge, communication skills, or-

ganizing capacity, and

life

experience.

Of course, one type of experi-

ence, knowledge, and training is derided, while the other

The lemma:

is

valued.

children of workers are confronted with the polarized di-

either destruction, mutilation,

and trauma via dropping out

of school, dead-end jobs, unemployment, drugs, incarceration, and violence, or a definitely

more comfortable form of mutilation

in the

form of escape from the ghetto/barrio/Chinatown/Koreatown the corporate or nonprofit professional ladder, during

work like, and

learn to think like,

talk like

those already in the upper

echelons of the power pyramid. Those who,

come before them, have experienced the myth,

who have glimpsed

that

like the activists

labor and other resistance movements,

moment of rupture from

still

face the continual strug-

and corporatization of the labor and

community movements. The reproduction of hierarchy and

movement

hazard of working

is

—

power or personal

failing

are

is

of the beast."

particularly difficult

weak and have not

positive alternative vision, participation of workers

trate

from turning into

yet

when

been able

the re-

to build a

method, and infrastructure based in the

and grassroots people. The movements

must develop strong counter-measures lators

will-

simply an occupational health

is

it

''inside the belly

movements

stratifi-

not just a matter of individual

Combating these tendencies sistance

who've

the big picture and decided to join the

gle against professionalization

cation within the

via

which they

elite

that prevent workers' trans-

professional organizers

who

orches-

workers' struggles top-down and use grassroots people to

leverage their

own

positioning within the

power pyramid. In

the

worse case scenario, within some labor unions and community organizations, these spokespeople,

rank-and-file

who may have even started out in the

and were democratically elected

acting like internal colonial police

to "represent," start

who get pissed

off when the base

threatens to jeopardize their well-paid buffer negotiating gigs with the

elite.

At the same

time, the workers

and grassroots community

organizations are crying out for the kind of programs that build the leadership

skills

necessary for poor people to defend themselves

from violation of

their rights

by well-heeled and well-connected

191

Extended Families

elites,

and

to create alternative visions, viable programs,

movements for self-determination. The role of translator and bridge

builder

gual and English-speaking extended family right in the laps

of the

women

is

and sturdy

not limited to

members, but

bilin-

also lands

themselves. These working-class or-

ganizers are themselves the translators and bridges between the or-

ganizations and

movements they

are building

and the broader base

of unorganized workers and community people that they are trying to convince to join them.

the

women were

As seen in their stories, at certain moments

confronted with ruptures that forced them to see

the big picture of the pyramid they were working

moments front this

power

ment

was sure

that

in.

During those

they had to decide whether they wanted to see more, con-

and subject themselves to the punish-

structure,

to

come

and do more depended on

for their actions. Their ability to their

own

know

resources and those of their

co-workers, extended families, communities, organizations, and

movements. The

women who

were not immediately rebuffed, ex-

hausted, or crushed had to keep remaking the decision about

what

they were prepared to do and the price they were prepared to pay.

But were

women tell us, their experiences in the movement not just doom and gloom. The women got animated talk-

as the

also

ing about what energized them, nourished their

them.

And

part of

what they were

spirits,

thirsty to learn,

and schooled even

as they

sighed and shook their heads in frustration, was the primary lan-

guage of the land where they worked and decided to

raise their chil-

dren and grandchildren. They are learning and transforming the English language

upon

this

sion.

The women

guage, food,

And

like the

country the

gift

African Americans

are enriching this polyglot

style, labor, culture,

as the

who

women build

and

rainbow nation's

and learning

races bring to their

their organizations together

communities. The

and

are challenged to not get sepa-

rated from, but stay closely connected with the

home

with their

new ways of work-

that the other generations, classes,

movements, they

lan-

identity.

extended family members and get exposed to the ing, thinking,

have bestowed

of Black English, a vibrant example of fu-

elites in their industries

women

in their

and communities

Sweatshop Warriors

192

women

have warned the other

women

shun and

to

silence them.

But the

continue to organize and build the power with their peers,

and help these

women translate

their life experiences into the analy-

and action

that will include

even more of

sis

and neighbors.

children,

The

their peers, partners,

fusion of different generations and classes within the immi-

grant workers'

movement is

a

complex, ongoing process of tension

and mutual interaction between these different sectors of the community.

and transformadon across both

requires a struggle

It

sides

of language, culture, and generation borders to produce a new, more durable entity.

When workers

and

their children

break through the

deadening constraints of poverty, overwork, alcoholism, substance abuse, violence, and

the other oppressive

all

mechanisms through

which the system entraps poor people, they may not use the guage of the "talented tenth" and the potential

intellectual class,

power of the "neglected

Workers have

their

own

life

lan-

but they show

nine-tenths."

experience, knowledge,

skills,

and

language through which they can access the broader analysis and build the

power

to liberate themselves

alongside and above

them

— from

the

and the broader society

bottom of the sweatshop pyr-

amid. If the radicalized "talented tenth" can refuse to be bought off,

and neutralized by

intoxicated, suffocated,

stead cast their lot with the workers

many

skills

that privilege

their privilege,

in-

and the poor, they can bring the

and access have given them

the people" and help reshape

and

power relations. And

to really "serve

this call to

bridge

generations and classes reaches far beyond the borders of the immigrant community, to include those

have lived in

this

youth, and children

and

intellectuals

The

who made up

of the

—

in the service

this role

sheer

have spoken English and

civil rights

like the

Black elders,

the rank-and-file leaders, workers,

movement. 18

challenge facing these translators and fusion artists

ing to code-switch and ders

who

country for generations,

move smoothly back and

learn-

forth across bor-

of the people. The delight and danger in honing

with sharper consciousness and

numbers and

is

collective finesse

skill is in

multiplying the

of ever more border crossers,

bridge builders, translators, code switchers, and leader-organizers.

.,

193

Extended Families

Fusion has produced some bumpin' music, screamin' food,

knockout fashions, and kick-butt movements that can invigorate

one and slaves,

all.

Fusion

mented with

Now

is

a creative art

immigrant laborers, and

that

members,

since they

let

us look

that indigenous peoples,

were thrown together on

we have met some of

movements

form

their descendants,

more

the

closely at

that these fusion artists

women

have experi-

this continent.

and extended family

some of the have created.

organizations and

.

.

Sweatshop Warriors

194

1

Chinese Staff and Workers Association, 1997.

2

Chinese Staff and Worker Association, 1998.

3 4

Ijima and Miyamoto, 1970.

5

Interview with Trinh Duong, October 21, 1997.

6

Interview with Cecilia Rodriguez, February 21 2001

7

Interview with Helen Kim,

8

Interview with Geri Almanza, April 24, 2000.

9

Interview with Yrene Espinoza, June

10 11 12 13 14

Interview with Pamela Chiang, April 24, 2000.

Interview with

Min,

November

16, 1998.

,

March

17, 2001.

4,

2000.

Interview with Brenda Mata, March 28, 2001

DuBois, 1903.

Elbaum,2001.

The Panthers and

a number of other revolutionary youth organizations lumpen proletariat, rather than the overall Black working class would lead the struggle. See Lusane, 1997. His insightful chapter "Thug Life: The Rap on Capitalism" analyzes this perspective as it has resurfaced and been commodified and globalized within gangsta rap.

debated

15

Kim Seung

how

the

Interview with Maria Choi Soon Rhie, January 25, 1991.

Some US

trade

unions also use the term "salting," or sending in organizers to "spice up"

workers organizing to get a union

16 17 18

at their

shop.

Omatsu, 1999. Castaiieda, 1997.

Carson, 1981; Grant, 1998; and Branch, 1989 and 1998.

Chapter Five

Movement Roots The Ysleta-Zaragoza

international bridge just southeast of El

Paso, Texas, and the Mexican city of Juarez artery

pumping products,

trade, cultures,

is

the mainline

and people

in

NAFTA

both direc-

some many of whom commute to jobs in El Paso. But on a blistering summer day in 1997, the teeming flow of traffic came tions.

Juarez houses a huge concentration of maquilas and

300,000 workers,

to a screeching halt as

NAFTA-displaced workers

seized control of

the bridge. Facing the pending cut-off of job training

money

for

Mexican immigrant and Chicana/o workers whose jobs had run across the border to Mexico, the workers' action served notice that

business as usual was unacceptable.

whelmed,

arrested,

and hauled off

The workers were soon overby SWAT commandos. While

the workers were not unionized, they belonged to

and

its

fraternal

La Mujer Obrera

organization, the Asociacion de Trabajadores

Fronterizos [Association of Border Workers].

1

These two groups

represent modern-day descendants of the mutualistas [mutual aid organizations]

formed by

earlier generations

of Mexicans

as they

fanned out across the Southwest border region and along the seasonal migrant worker

By

trails.

linking the mutualistas and other ethnically based independ-

ent labor organizations of yesteryear with those of today, the "big picture" expands from a single frame shot of a current struggle to a rolling

documentary

film that also

encompasses the ethnic- and gen-

der-based labor organizing that preceded today's movement. Reclaiming and elaborating this work-in-progress

195

is

important for

all

Sweatshop Warriors

196

groups, but especially for immigrants, due to the compression of historical time

one crosses

when

ture

and confusion of

a border.

their life-

meaning

social

that occurs

when

Immigrants experience tremendous disjunc-

and movement-related experiences prior to mi-

gration are invisible to the non-immigrants and other ethnic groups

with

whom

immigrants class,

work and

they

who do

and gender

ambush without

not

live.

relations can

so

Another aspect of

this split is that

know about the history of US

much

walk

race, national,

middle of an

straight into the

warning.

as a

This break in historical continuity impacts immigrants of classes

and people of all

who work

migrants

For example,

races.

skilled professional

in glass ceiling jobs in corporations, live in the

may

suburbs, and send their children to ivy league schools enly believe that their access to the

dream" history

is is

"good

life"

largely told

hide from

and the "American

by the conquerors and not the vanquished, na-

as "the

United States

communal knowledge not

is

a meritocracy" serve to

only the memories of the

hounding and beatings of economic miracle workers

home

mistak-

only a result of their individual talents and struggles. Since

myths such

tional

all

im-

in immigrants'

countries, but also the genocide, enslavement, criminalization,

and murder of indigenous, Black, and other not "risen" within Fortunately,

this illusion

new

ethnic-

told.

of color

This chapter

much

will

of prior movements, especially

featured in this

book

have

histories are

labor history, old and new, re-

touch on

how immigrant women

workers' ethnic- and gender-based labor organizing his ton:

who

equality.

and race-conscious labor

beginning to be produced. Yet

mains to be

of

folks

how the

five

is

rooted in the

workers' centers

are rooted in particular sections

of sweatshop

industry workers' struggles and in earlier stages of the Mexican/Chi-

cano, Chinese, and

Korean

radical labor

and community move-

ments. Earlier

Stages of Immigrant Organizing

Today's workers' centers are being built on the foundation of the

two prominent periods

nizing

—

the 30s and the 60s

in 20th-century

—

US

social

change orga-

as well as the preceding labor history.

Movement Roots

197

Before immigration from Europe was restricted in the 1920s, many Jewish, Italian, German, Irish, and other European immigrant workers organized

themselves along ethnic

Immigrant workers' or-

lines.

ganizations often fused radical political traditions from

new

home

with

organizing currents in the United States. Anti-racism was not

necessarily

one of those

traditions

and some of the

craft-oriented,

European immigrant-based unions attacked workers of color whom they saw as competitors, for example spearheading campaigns to exclude Chinese immigrant and newly emancipated Black workers.

Most mainstream

2

labor organizations mirrored the American

Federation of Labor's (AFL) racist exclusion of immigrants of color

and African Americans. Left

to fend for themselves, these

formed ethnic-based organizations such the Chinese Seamen's

as the

Mexican

workers

mutualistas,

Union formed in 191 1, and the Chinese Hand

Laundry Alliance formed

in the 30s. In order to revive business

and

reduce widespread unemployment stemming from the Depression, the Roosevelt administration enacted legislation that guaranteed

workers the right to organize, join unions of their

and bargain organizing.

3

own

collectively with employers, leading to a

The

choosing,

wave of labor

creation of the Congress of Industrial Organiza-

tions (CIO) in 1935 ushered in another

wave of rank-and-file orga-

nizing that began to break with the practice of racist exclusion.

Unskilled

first-

and second-generation immigrants from south-

ern and eastern Europe, as well as Mexicans and Asians in the

Southwest and West, and Blacks in the South became the core of industrial

unionism

in the 1930s.

grants predominated

during

this

Second-generation children of immi-

among CIO

activists.

4

Many

Black workers

period were racialized internal migrants, joining the

Great Migration to urban centers within the South and to the North spurred by the increased in

demand

for labor

and grinding conditions

Southern agriculture during the World Wars. 3 Puerto Rican and

Cuban immigrant cigar rolling workers

own unions,

as did

in

New York organized their

other Latin American, Asian-American, and Af-

rican-American workers. 6 By 1945 unionized labor had reached a high of 35.5 percent of

all

US

workers.

7

Sweatshop Warriors

198

Labor organizing during the 1930s and 1940s looked different

among

Latina/o and Asian workers depending

position of the particular

on

the gender

wave of immigrant workers

com-

at the time.

For example, given the focused recruitment of Chinese male laborers,

the Chinese Exclusion Act, and

female

men

to

fighting for their rights practically alone within a racially segre-

gated environment.

8

the immigration of

women

grew

nity

skewed composition of male

Chinese worker organizations consisted of immigrant

ratios,

Once immigration

policy changed to permit

workers, a multi-generational

women

In contrast, given the higher proportion of

Mexican-American communities,

women

Mexican and Chicana

that period also

saw

within the

historian Zaragosa Vargas, Tejana

Mexicano workers. According worker leaders

Minnie Rendon, Juana Sanchez, and

Manuela

like

time young and single Tejanas

emerged

cigar,

cluded over 10,000

made up 79 percent of

strikers,

Solis

At

the

that city's

and pecan-shelling workers. Tenayuca

of the 1938 pecan-shellers'

as the leader

to

Emma Tenayuca played

leading roles in Depression Era organizing in San Antonio.

low-waged garment,

by

struggles

food packing workers, and extended

family support for the struggles of

Sager,

commu-

to reinforce the workers' organizations.

and was the

strike,

which

largest labor strike in

in-

San

Antonio's history and biggest community-based labor struggle

among

the

Mexican population

nation's

Mexicanas and Chicanas, the wives of male role in the strike

Empire Zinc

in

Grant County,

ber 1950 to January 1952 tory.

10

the

1930s.

played a pivotal

by 1400 members (90 percent Mexican) of Local

890 of the International Union of Mine, against

during

strikers,

—

Mill,

and Smelter Workers

New Mexico between OctoNew Mexico's his-

the longest strike in

This struggle inspired the production of Salt

of the Earth, the

internationally

known

can

tears to the eyes of those who borrow it from their lo-

cal

still

brings

film that

Chicano or Labor Studies Social

McCarthy

was banned

in the

library.

unionism 11 severely threatened big

tamed labor and

capital,

government and right-wing

era the

center-left alliance a

United States but

and purged

leftists

but during the

elites

smashed the

from the labor movement.

A

chastened capital both endorsed a social pact

Movement Roots

promising ongoing

raises in

199

some workers' standard of living

in ex-

change for worker compliance. Under the new "business unionism,"

workers

exhibited

more

passivity

toward

and

bosses

supported the government's chauvinistic foreign policy. This period coincided with an extended interval of US economic growth following the country's rise to superpower status during

World War

II.

"Young, Gifted, and Brown"

US

Since the 1960s, three demographic explosions rocked the

workforce: massive Asian and Latina/o migration after the removal

of racially discriminatory quotas; growing paid labor force participation of women of all races, including

reverberations of the

and education

civil rights

children;

and the

employment

practices.

The workers' centers to sections

women with

revolution through

of the

book all have linkages back Asian and Latina/o radical movements that featured in this

erupted in the United States and internationally in the early 1970s. In those adrenaline- filled days,

color (the equivalent of singer

Black") connected with

first

late 1

many young

Nina Simone's "young,

960s and folks

gifted,

of

and

generation immigrant workers and

other grassroots community people to develop "serve the people"

programs and organizing drives within the key and gender

justice battles

12

racial, national, class

of the period. The struggles of immigrant

farm, garment, and restaurant workers inspired and galvanized that

generation of Latina/o and Asian-American sweatshop industry

la-

bor organizers. For example, the Filipino independent Agricultural

Workers Organizing Committee kicked off the 1965 Delano, fornia grape strike and

teamed up with the Mexican National Farm

Workers Association (NFWA) Organizing Committee.

movements

Cali-

later joined

to

form the United Farm Workers

13

Some organizers who emerged in these AFL-CIO unions, while others co-founded

workers' centers and other grassroots community organizations.

Many of the workers and youth those who got jobs working in

active in these struggles, including

unions and community organiza-

tions, eventually returned to "civilian life" after

victories

14

both winning some

and getting trounced by the reactionary backlash during the

Sweatshop Warriors

200

Reagan/Bush administrations. The mustered out troops continued to use their movement-acquired consciousness and skills at work and school, and

and communities.

in their families

Battered by the rupture of the social pact and economic decline

of the 70s, and the subsequent deindustrialization, economic structuring,

and globalization, the proportion of unionized workers

US workforce by 2000. 13

shrank to a mere 13.5 percent of the some 86 percent of

US

workers are not unionised.

the neoliberal assault grants,

re-

women,

on workers,

lesbians,

Today

During the mid-1970s

the poor, people of color, immi-

and gays shifted into high gear leading

the founding of workers' centers.

Many movement

to

organizations

dissolved and those that continued were forced to adjust to a harsh

new

political climate.

Today's workers' centers emerged in response to

By

this

vacuum.

economy and workforce transformed by immigrant workers and globalization, some sections of the broader labor movement had begun to raise many similar questions and experiment with new approaches. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, new organizing initiatives among immigrant the 1990s, in grappling with an

workers from Asia, Latin America, and Europe flagged major in the

US economy and new

stages in the

broader labor movement. In the

late

independent, ethnic-based organizing

shifts

development of the

20th and early 21st centuries,

among immigrant sweatshop

industry workers provided an early warning signal both of the deleterious effects

able workers

of global economic restructuring on the most vulner-

and of the means through which these workers can

organize to defend themselves.

Below ters, in

are brief

"work visa" snapshots of the

terms of their

initial origins;

ethnic community- base and

The

ties;

five

workers' cen-

worker and intergenerational

and victories and accomplishments.

centers are listed by order of their founding year.

Chinese Staff and Workers Association: Organizing Sewing Women and Kitchen

CSWA was workers met

born

at a

in

Men

1979 "when a group of Chinese restaurant

hamburger

joint in

Chinatown and discussed

their

Movement Roots

desire for rights

and dignity

201

in the workplace."

16

Some of CSWA's

founding members had accumulated experience in various mass struggles including the

residents in 1974 rights; the

marches of tens of thousands of Chinatown

and 1975 voicing support for low-income tenants'

campaign

to break racist hiring practices in the construc-

and campaigns against police

tion industry;

brutality, for quality

health care and nutrition programs, and for normalization of US relations with China.

17

CSWA

and

reflects the radical perspectives

methods of workers and youth from across the Chinese diaspora. Chinese immigrant

men

in

New York

have tended to take

low- waged jobs in the restaurant industry. In 1980, after being

spurned by the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders

Union, Local 69, former workers from the Silver Palace Restaurant

formed

their

own union with

the support of CSWA.

the 318 Restaurant Workers' Union, in

on which they had been

honor of the

They named day,

March

it

18,

fired for protesting against the restaurant's

management. In the 70s and

after,

Chinese immigrant

women

well-beaten path to garment sweatshops, revitalizing

followed a

New

York's

then sagging rag trade, and yielding profits and start-up capital for

Chinese and other entrepreneurs and majority of Chinese garment workers national Ladies

The

Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), Local

23-25,

union reached agreements with the manufacturers and con-

after the

tractors

real estate developers.

became members of the Inter-

top-down in 1974. Chinese immigrant women hit the

streets

20,000 strong to defend their contract against the machinations of the

Chinatown bosses

failed to harness their

many

turned to

CSWA cessfully

has

in 1982.

When ILGWU

UNITE)

energy or adequately support their interests,

CSWA. 18 won many

precedent-setting victories.

brought shorter working hours to many

Chinatown

restaurants

and garment

factories.

ernment and

social institutions to allocate

for child care

programs

1985,

(and later

critical to

New

They York

suc-

City

They've forced gov-

more space and support Chinatown's working women. In

CSWA led the Concerned Committee of the Chung Park Pro-

ject to call for

community

space, including a day-care center.

That

Sweatshop Warriors

202

year ers

also

it

on

began organizing the

the

Lower East

low-income co-op

CSWA

project),

Side,

first

group of Chinese homestead-

who won

units, the Latino

a building that

Workers' Center

houses 12

(originally a

and the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence

(CAAAV). In 1989

CSWA

helped Chinese workers

at the

China-

town Planning Council (CPC) and African- American construction workers protest underpayment of workers under a federally funded

CPC

These workers

training program.

won

a $2.15 million

CSWA helped workers send employers to prison

settlement in 1994.

when

finally

they failed to pay.

They have organized

injured workers and

fought for safer working conditions, and for workers to have more control over their time and

lives.

19

La Mujer Obrera: \La Unidad Nos Hara Fuertes! [Unity Will

A

Make Us Strong!]

"handful of

women, tempered by

the painful experience"

with the Amalgamated Clothing and Texdle Workers' Union

(ACTUW) and Nine years

La Mujer Obrera

in 1981.

some 4,000 workers had walked out on

strike at

the Farah strike founded

earlier

Farah demanding to be represented by the

ACTWU. 20

In those days [the Farah workers] sought out the tool best to

them

in order to

known

defend themselves: the labor union. After

many months of struggle they learned that the union, especially when it was governed by laws which favored big business and which allowed

it

solution for

their

all

to

be controlled by corrupt leaders, was not the problems.

Then

they sought to preserve their

struggle through a workers' center, an independent organization

where they could not only defend themselves against the bosses, but also defend their right to be organized, a right which the "union" continued to deny them. This right to be organized was even

more important crimination: the

labor force.

for a sector

which suffered

women who made up

a great deal

of

dis-

80 percent of the garment

21

Additionally

some of

Obrera had worked

the founding

in the Rio

members of La Mujer

Grande Valley

in

South Texas, which

served as a focal of point for organizing by the Texas

Farm Workers

Movement Roots

Union;

in

community

203

der Patrol assaults; and for decent housing, public

and health

tion, education,

care.

Chicana/o movement, Tejana/o across the region.

With the

activists

La Raza Unida Party

utilities, sanita-

of the modern

birth

organized in border

registered

and

cities

rallied voters,

Chicano movement, and "pissed off red necks," when

electrified the it

INS, and Bor-

struggles against racism, police,

swept the Board of Education and Crystal City and county

tions in 1970.

elec-

22

Given the

special bi-national character

Mexican and Chicana/o

activists

of the border region,

have created

"sister

movements"

and organized against the negative impacts of neoliberalism. The

army and death squads' massacre of students Tlatelolco Plaza

on October

2,

in

on both

the Olympics, shocked and radicalized Mexicans the border. Organizing spread

Mexico

City's

1968, ten days before the opening of

among

sides

of

the urban and rural poor, in-

digenous peoples, and within the church, via liberation theology. La

Mujer Obrera taps into these Chicana/Tejana/Mexicana bor, community, and indigenous

Over

its

movement

radical la-

roots.

20-year history, La Mujer Obrera has enabled immi-

grant workers to organize themselves to both win

and develop programs

to

meet

sive deindustrialization. In

to their sewing

1990

their basic

derground sweatshop system and

flight

strike,

outing the un-

of large companies. In 1991

the organization unionized three factories and

one laundry

(Sonia,

Conditioners Corp.), helping workers win

and mini-

collective bargaining agreements, including pay, vacation,

mal health package

disputes

LMO members chained themselves

machines and staged a hunger

DCB, H&R, and Apparel

many

needs in the face of mas-

increases.

The nine-month

strike,

which

in-

cluded a hunger strike during which a 60-year-old garment worker fasted for 23 days,

church groups,

won

broad support from labor, community, and

as well as elected officials. It also

prompted

El Paso's state legislators to immediately draft, lobby bill

that established criminal penalties including

non-payment of wages. LMO's

efforts also

for,

all

five

of

and win

a

imprisonment, for

convinced Texas' Attor-

ney General to prosecute various subcontractors, efforts which eventually recouped over $200,000 in back wages

owed

to

women

Sweatshop Warriors

204

garment workers.

23

La Mujer persuaded the El Paso government

invest $367,000 in expanding child-care services portunities for

low-income

women workers.

to

and economic op-

It also

took part in

lo-

tri-national mobilizations against

NAFTA

and organized workers facing impending plant closures to

fight for

national,

cal, state,

and

severance pay, benefits, and job retraining. In 1997 with the help of

LMO, NAFTA-displaced government funded

won

workers

a $3 million extension in

training for laid-off workers in addition to the

original $4.2 million allocated. In addition to lar

School and women's organizing projects,

running

its

own Popu-

LMO has generated in-

dependent organizations, including the Asociacion de Trabajadores Fronterizos.

Another

development projects nity,

spin-off, El

that create

Puente

[the Bridge], focuses

an economic base for the

on

commu-

such as the Rayito del Sol Daycare Center, Cafe Mayapan Res-

taurant, projects.

and other low-cost housing and job training and creation 24

Asian Immigrant Women Advocates: Community Transformational and Organizing Strategy In 1983, Asian Immigrant Women Advocates in

(AIWA) emerged

Oakland, California from discussions between Korean hotel

room cleaners; first and second generation Korean-American activists Young Shin and Elaine Kim of the Korean Community Center of the East Bay (KCCEB), a Korean community-oriented social service organization; Patricia Lee.

and Chinese-American Local 2 union organizer

KCCEB, AIWA's

co-founder, was the local Korean

version of the "serve the people" programs that young progressives

co-founded with immigrant elders to deal with pressing language, social,

and economic needs of

other ethnic communities,

community ple shift],

their

women

emerging communities. As

service organizations, as part of their "trvplzjornada"

of labor on the

in

played a central role in these

job, in the family,

[tri-

and in the community'.

In the 1970s and 80s, San Francisco's hotel industry was under-

going a tremendous change, with growing numbers of "back of the

house" Asian and Latino immigrant workers and "front of the house" college-educated waitresses, waiters, and receptionists. De-

Movement Roots

spite this influx

205

of non-English speakers, the Hotel and Restaurant

Employees and Bartenders Union (HERE) Local ers at the exclusive

although

2,

employed no

Korean language. Thus Korean hotel work-

organizers fluent in the

Fairmont Hotel atop

Nob

Hill in

San Francisco,

members of the union, could neither understand

contract nor participate in union

the union

activities.

After unseating the local's 35-year entrenched leadership, hotel

workers went on

strike in

1

980 for better wages and improved work-

ing conditions. Local 2 emerged as San Francisco's largest union and a

hotbed of radical organizing, with

comprising some 95 percent of

Filipina

and Latina hotel maids

strike picketers.

2:)

AIWA began organizing Asian garment workers in Oakland

As

and Korean hotel room cleaners

San Francisco, the Asian Law

in

Caucus argued the cases of garment workers and worked with Rev-

Norman Fong

erend

Church

in

Chinatown

center that, like

of Cameron House and the Presbyterian to develop a

AIWA,

San Francisco garment workers

offered English classes, information

on

la-

bor, housing, and immigration law to workers, and social activities

women and their families. 26 Many of the young people active in immigrant worker organizing, including at AIWA, had also been for the

politicized

grams

at

and influenced by the 1968

strikes for ethnic studies pro-

San Francisco State College and the University of Califor-

nia at Berkeley; the fight to defend the International Hotel,

had

many low-income

housed

residents

Manilatown/ Chinatown before they were gust

4,

1977;

27

the activities of the

of San

which

Francisco's

brutally evicted

on Au-

Chinatown Workers Sewing

Coop, housed

in the I-Hotel storefront

of the Asian Community

Center (ACC);

28

garment workers and Lee

Mah

the struggles of Jung Sai

electronics workers

who worked under ILGWU and Teamster

contracts for Esprit and Faranon respectively;

29

and the Filipino

farm workers

who invited young Filipina/os and other Asians

them

United Farm Workers Organizing Committee fight

in the

to join

against the growers.

In October 1990 set

AIWA also launched a project targeting a new

of sweatshop industry workers

—

electronics assemblers in Santa

Clara County's Silicon Valley. Tens of thousands of immigrant

Sweatshop Warriors

206

women from Asia and Latin America worked in shops, ranging from large factories to small fly-by-night

contractors.

The women

shops

set

up

in garages

by sub-

often worked up to 14-hour days handling

hazardous chemicals and inhaling toxic fumes

as they

assembled,

cleaned, and tested printed circuit boards for "everything

watches to warheads."

from

30

AIWA is strongly committed to developing grassroots women's leadership.

The group's many accomplishments

workplace

literacy

and

citizenship classes for

include providing

immigrant

women

workers in Oakland's Chinatown and in Silicon Valley; organizing worker-led leadership development institutes and peer trainings

around workers'

rights;

and leadership and organizing training for

the children of garment and electronics workers. initiated

In 1990,

AIWA

an environmental health and safety project for Silicon Val-

ley electronics workers, to help

toxic chemicals

the

31

workers protect themselves from

and other industry hazards. In 1992, they launched

Garment Workers

Justice

Campaign, which resulted

in

an un-

precedented setdement holding manufacturers accountable to their

women

workers and community. In 1997,

more manufacturers

to

hotlines

rights in the workplace. In 2000,

Asian Immigrant

pressured three

and

garment workers to report violations of

toll-free

women's

for

AIWA

establish multilingual, confidential,

Women

Workers

AIWA co-sponsored the

Clinic to address the health

needs of electronics workers. Their work has developed concrete strategies for advancing immigrant

and

women

workers' leadership in the struggles for economic

social jusdce,

and has catapulted

women

workers into various

networks of workers' centers and grassroots organizations fighting for environmental

and economic

justice.

32

Fuerza Unida: La Mujer Luchando Fuerza Unida was founded in 1990 by "early victims of

NAFTA,"

non-unionized workers

laid

off by Levi Strauss and Co.'s

on January 1 6. The laid-off workers first met at Our Lady of Angels Church on January 30, then launched the organization on February 6. Within a month the organization began

plant in San Antonio, Texas

Movement Roots

By May

negotiating for the workers. rated a detailed

about the

207

1990, Fuerza Unida had elabo-

of 15 demands ranging from a statewide study

list

feasibility

of re-opening the plant to transferring owner-

ship of the facility to laid-off workers, providing a specific severance

package, and offering retraining programs. Marta Martinez, one of the laid-off workers recalled back in 1991 First

we

organized 15

been getting

They have

larger.

women, then

After

1

8

and then each month

30,

it's

months we now have 650 members.

regular meetings, committees taking

sponsibilities, a general council

small coordinating committee.

where decisions It

doesn't

we're learning a lot about democracy as

up

work

we go

different re-

are

made and

perfectly,

along.

a

and

33

Fuerza Unida launched a national boycott of Levi's labels and carried out

hunger

against the

company, one

strikes

and

The group

pickets.

two

lawsuits

fund violations, work

in-

syndrome, and the other,

ra-

alleging pension

jury claims, especially for carpal tunnel

filed

discriminatory layoff practices towards the primarily Latina

cially

women

The work

workers.

injury

suit

was denied by the

right-to-work state of Texas and the discrimination suit by the federal district court,

which discouraged many of the workers.

Many Ladna/o and some legal

advocates offered

Levi's first

initial

announced the

white labor, community, church, and

support to the laid-off workers.

Southwest Public Workers

layoffs, the

Union (SPWU) demonstrated

When

at the factory

and met with workers.

SPWU represents custodians, school cafeteria, hotel, and restaurant workers.

SPWU's founding members Ruben

Lopez had been involved

in

the

Centro

Solis

de

and Chavel

Accion

Social

Autonoma-Hermandad General de Trabajadores (CASA-HGT), a mass-based undocumented workers' rights organization active dur34 ing the 1970s. CASA-HGT served as basic training camp for many labor, immigrant,

1980s

at the

and

civil rights

leaders

and organizers. During the

height of US intervention in Central America,

and other Tejana/o tion in Latin

activists

worked

in

ex-CASA

Chicanos Against Interven-

America (CAMILA), an organization

that fused the

Chicana/o support for national liberation struggles with a critique of the racial blind spots of the white-dominated, anti-intervention

Sweatshop Warriors

208

movement. 33 During

movement

tervention

of

tion

the 1990s,

women

shifted

much of the

from

energy of the anti-in-

military issues to the exploita-

inside proliferating maquiladoras in

Central America and the impending passage of

NAFTA.

whom

the

Tejana/o

women women shared

Unida

anti-interventionist activists introduced Fuerza

workers networks in those regions, with

Mexico and

to

language, cultural, religious, and class commonalities.

Fuerza Unida enjoyed support from the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, the

American Friends Service Committee, the South-

west Network for Environmental and Economic Justice, and the

MEChA, many of whose members

had organized against

US

inter-

vention in Central America. Each of these organizations in turn

is

rooted in different sections of the Mexican, Chicana/o, and Latina/o

women's, mental

lesbian, cultural, anti-intervention, solidarity, environ-

justice,

and student movements. Organizations

like

Mexican

American Legal Education and Defense Fund, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and elected officials like zales

Henry

B.

Gon-

and Ciro Rodriguez also endorsed Fuerza Unida's campaign,

then became the object of intense lobbying by the corporation seek-

dampen their support for the women. The women of Fuerza Unida are recognized

ing to

leaders of the national

and against

NAFTA

campaign for

and corporate

as early grassroots

garment industry

justice in the

globalization. Their organizing

has scored impressive victories including the creation of a

women

workers' resource center for low-income residents of San Antonio's

South and Westside leadership through a

barrios.

women

They've developed

workers'

Promotora Leadership Development Cam-

paign and peer group trainings. In 1996, they worked with other local organizations to

legislation

and

force the city council to adopt pro-worker

legislation that requires

companies

pay taxes for job training and other programs.

been heard worldwide through

ment packages

36

their success in

to support

and

Fuerza's voice has

improving

settle-

for laid-off workers in the United States, Canada,

Belgium, and France. While the group was born fighting against the world's largest garment corporation, Puerto Rican feminist activist

Luz Guerra

says that the

group

"is

now engaged

in

what may be

Movement Roots

their

biggest battle yet:

nity-based organization dedicated to supporting and

women

the poor and worldng-class

terms."

37

Reflecting

on how

ing and Texdie Workers

commu-

themselves as a

establish

to

209

empowering

of San Antonio, on

the refusal of the

Union (ACTUW)

own

their

Amalgamated Cloth-

to help the laid-off Levi's

workers may have been a blessing in disguise, Fuerza Unida's Petra

Mata explained,

We have to be independent to be happy. We don't want people to tell

do and what not

us what to

to do.

can speak out and say whatever hearts.

A

lot

we

of people go where the

Through Fuerza Unida we want, whatever

money helps. But money is not everything. sion and

what you have

strong and

your mind.

in

we know how

to struggle.

is

money and power

in is.

our Yes,

It

depends on your vi-

We

have learned to be

38

Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates: Organizing Minjung Diaspora Founded in 1 992, one month before the Rodney King civil unrest, Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates (KIWA) in Los Angeles,

California,

organizes

restaurant,

construction,

janitorial,

garment, and other low-waged Korean and Ladno immigrants

work

for

who

Korean employers.

KIWA grew out of the Korean progressive community that had spawned, a decade

earlier,

such Korean- American organizing as the

intergeneradonal community campaign to free Choi Soo Lee, the inidadves launched by

first

by the Kwangju Uprising, such

39

and

generadon immigrant youth shaped as

Young Koreans United. 40 The leg-

acy of these early efforts of the Korean progressive

community

in-

clude an ongoing idendficadon with the history of progressive

organizing in South Korea, support for peaceful reunification with

North Korea, and opposidon

to

US

neocolonial policies

rean peninsula.

KIWA

members of

Korean Labor Associadon

the

had previously organized

wage claims and

also received early support

in

in

on

the

Ko-

from former

Los Angeles, which

support of immigrant garment workers'

against the South

Korean

military regime.

Sweatshop Warriors

210

KIWA had inside experience with the strengths and weaknesses of different grants,

AFL-CIO

unions' approaches to the rights of immi-

women, and people of color.

KIWA founders Roy Hong and

Danny Park had organized Korean janitors and

port,

Union (SEIU),

at

both the local and international

SEIU launched 1 1

and

in

air-

an organizer for Service Employees

Los Angeles cal

San Francisco

as

International els.

at the

Hong had worked its

in 1988.

41

lev-

innovative Justice for Janitors campaign in

Hong and

Park had also assisted

HERE Lo-

Los Angeles when Korean owners bought the Hilton Hotel

tried to fire

its

worker

leaders. After

workers succeeded in keeping

their jobs

an 11 -month campaign,

and winning a

collective

bargaining agreement.

Los Angeles has been been repeatedly rocked and resegregated through race and nizing

all

bellion

the

class conflicts,

making KIWA's cross-race orga-

more important and noteworthy. The 1965 Watts

was followed by

deindustrialization

re-

and massive labor

migration from Latin America and Asia. Ongoing racial and class

Rodney King

tensions were manifested in the 1992 first

"multi-racial riot."

Through

its

many

civil

victories,

unrest, the

KIWA

has

served as a cutting-edge example of cross-racial worker organizing, building coalitions between

Korean workers and other communities

of color, including fighting to

raise the state

bus rates for the poor, maintain the

minimum wage, lower

state's affirmative action

pro-

grams, and in solidarity with hotel workers and janitors fighting for jobs and dignity.

KIWA is also known for its role in co-organizing a campaign in defense of 78 Thai and 55 Latino workers from the El

shop" where workers

One of its

Monte

"slave

a $4 million settlement with retailers.

successes was in organizing 45 workers displaced by

first

the April 1992

won

civil unrest,

demanding inclusion of workers

in relief

fund distribution and winning $109,000 from conservative business owners. tion

and

KIWA

members

to join the California

participate in creating a

to resolve

Owners AssociaWorkers Compensation Fund

pressured the Korean Restaurant

community mediation-arbitration board

workers disputes with employers.

$30,000 for North Korean famine

relief;

KIWA also raised over

supported the independent

Movement Roots

211

workers' movements in South Korea and Mexico; and organized

Korean immigrant voters color to impact

to collaborate with other

communities of

electoral politics.

In sum, the women's struggles and workers' centers are rooted

both

in resistance to

sweatshop industry exploitation and in the ac-

cumulated experience of prior labor and community movements.

The workers'

centers represent a fusion of the different generations

of workers and

their

expanded family members. The

women in this

book described how they were often compelled by the sheer force of anger and crisis to join or help create such organizations and take on leadership roles with the help of extended family members, often the descendants of prior generations of immigrant workers. In these positions, they took

developed

skills

on powerful, well-entrenched

they never dreamed they could.

institutions,

and

They have won

thousands of dollars in back wages, slowed the pace of layoffs,

se-

cured better settlement packages, strengthened legislation demanding

greater

corporate

communities, increased

programmatic

accountability visibility

alternatives

to

to

risk-takers

and

anti-corporate spectives

how nities

for.

largely

that

change

is

in the age

and experiences constitute

just society.

edge of

of globalization. Their per-

a treasure trove

most disenfranchised

chest of organizing lessons and

possible

unsung heroines, these

their organizations constitute the bleeding

and create a more

their

about industry abuses, and offered

Although

movements

to organize the

chapter.

and

employer greed. By example, the

women showed their peers and communities and worth fighting

workers

of lessons on

sectors of their

We will unpack more

movement

commufrom

this

building in the next

Sweatshop Warriors

212

Dominguez Glen,

1

Interview with GuiUermo

2

Saxton, 1971 and Douglass, 1892 (1962 revised edition).

3

Gomez-Quinones, 1994:105

4

In terms of European ethnic immigrant workers see Cohen,

April

3,

2001.

1990:324-25

and Friendlander, 1975 both cited in Milkman, 2000:4-5. For more on Mexican, Asian, and Black workers organizing linked to CIO unions see

Gomez-Quinones, 1994; Ruiz, Vicki

L.,

1984; Vargas, 1997; Acufia, 1988;

Yu, Renqiu, 1992; Kwong, Peter, 1979; Scharlin and Villanueva, 1994; Yoneda, 1983; and Kelley, 1990 and 1994.

5

6

CIO and

Kelley, 1990

and 1994. Kelley analyzes

among Black

sharecroppers and steelworkers.

left-related organizing

Vega, 1984; Yoneda, 1983; Scharlin and Villanueva, 1994; and Kelley, 1990

and 1994. 7

Gomez-Quinones, 1994:333.

8

Yu, Renqiu, 1992:51-52. In the case of the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance of New York, the workers hired progressive lawyer, Julius Louis Bezozo, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, to represent the workers' in legal cases. He was assisted by CHLA's English Language Secretary, the only CHLA official to receive a regular salary ($40/month in the 1930s). Yu says that the function of the English Secretary was to deal with city authorities and serve as spokesman of the CHLA to the English-speaking world. He also translated the regulations and ordinances related to the business and their lawyer's explanations of these documents to members, served as the lawyer's interpreter, and accompanied members to court. The CHLA's Chinese Language Secretary coordinated the CHLA's intervention in the fractious class politics within the Chinese community. Many immigrant workers' centers still carry out the dual functions of the CHLA's English and Chinese Secretaries, though with a broader infrastructure of support than did these early male pioneers. 7

9

Vargas, 1997:553-580. See also Ruiz, Vicki

L.,

1987; and Calderon and

Zamora, 1990.

10 11

Acuna, 1988:278-279. unionism addresses both the connections between workers and their as part of the broader fight for social and economic justice. In contrast, business unions often engage in winnable fights to improve the terms of the deal workers get from bosses, build up the financial assets of the union, and lobby, finance, and influence politicians and other institutions, without regard to the interests of their mass members, unorganized workers, and the broader community. In alliances between labor and community organizations, social unionism and social justice community organizing builds relations on the basis of mutual respect and solidarity to advance the overlapping interests of Social

broader communities, and the process of labor organizing

all

partners within the

movement

against corporate control, etc.

business unionism and narrow self-interest party organizes

on the

basis

of

its

own

community

direct self-interest

with others in order to use the other party to advance

its

Under

organizing, each

and only

own

links

up

agenda.

With the suppression of the left within the labor and other movements and fragmentation between movements, an elite form of professionalization

.

.

.

Notes to Movement Roots

213

come to dominate many sections of the movement. The distinctions between the terms "organizer," "leader," and "activist" represent this type of has

professionalization:

"organizer"

come

has

to

mean

middle-class, professional organizer; "leader" signifies a

college-educated,

worker or grassroots

person being cultivated and trained by organizers; and "activist" applies to other random people who volunteer their time in these movements. In another indication of the purge of the

left in

the resistance

movements, the

terms "ally" and "supporter" have replaced what used to be called "sisters

and brothers

in the struggle."

someone who acted it

is

Where

in the past

as

now

who can be used to leverage single-issue and "support" sometimes mean nothing more

often reduced to those

tit-for-tat.

Now

"solidarity"

than "charity" to help "victims" somewhere

12

an "ally" was seen

in "solidarity" in shared battles against oppression,

else.

The concept of "serve the people" was advocated by revolutionaries in China. Young radicals of color identified with Third World national liberation movements in the 1960s and 70s, such as the Black Panther Party, Young Lords, I Wor Kuen, Wei Min Sei, Katipunan Ng Demokratic, and others developed

US

inner city versions of serve-the-people-style free

breakfast, health clinics, low-cost housing,

and other programs. For example,

see Louie, Steve.

13

Gomez-Quifiones,

1994:47-59;

Yu,

Renqiu,

Kwong,

1992;

Peter,

1979:116-130; Scharlin and Villanueva, 1992:27-42; and Acuna, 1988.

14

15 16 17

hope that more Asian and Latina/o AFL-CIO union organizers will document the history in that section of the labor movement, including the stories of low-waged immigrant union members. I

Bureau of Labor

Statistics,

2000, cited in Moberg, 2001

Chinese Staff and Workers Association,

Kwong,

Peter, 1987:137-173;

1

999a: 1

Ho, Fred, 2000; and Louie,

Steve, et al., 2001

(forthcoming)

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28

Kwong,

Peter, 1987:137-159.

Chinese Staff and Workers Association, 1999a.

La Mujer Obrera, 1996a:3. La Mujer Obrera, 1996a:2-3. Acuna, 1988:339 and 387, Gutierrez, 1998.

La Mujer Obrera, 1991:1 and

7;

and Marquez, 1995: 68-78.

La Mujer Obrera, 1996a; author interviews with Maria Antonia Flores and Cindy Arnold, December 9, 1997 and Guillermo Dominguez Glenn, May 5, 2000; presentation by Jena Camp and Yrene Espinoza, June 4, 2000; White Polk, 2000; La Mujer Obrera, 2001. Interview with Lora Jo Foo, April 11, 1997. Wells, 2000:109-129. Interview with Lora Jo Foo, April 11, 1997. Toribio, Helen, 2000; and Habal, Stella, 2000.

Interview with Bea Tarn and Harvey Dong,

Coop's

first

May

4,

1997. Ironically, the

contract was with garment manufacturer Jessica McClintock; in

.

Sweatshop Warriors

214

English classes,

Coop members

during negotiations over piece

29 30 31 32 33 34

practiced

how

Interview with Bea Tarn and Harvey Dong,

Asian Immigrant

to say, "You're too cheap!"

rates.

Women Advocates,

May

4,

1997.

1993.

Shin, 1995:48-50; and Louie, Miriam, 1992.

AIWA,

1998:5-6; see also Shin, 1997.

Canadian Tribune, 1991.

CASA sought to develop a general bermanidad [brotherhood] of Mexican workers sin jronteras [without borders]. CASA combined two demographic pools: immigrant workers and young Chicana/o radical students, activists, and professionals

who

used their newly acquired

organization's service programs.

skills

to

manage

the

CASA was particularly strong in California,

Illinois, and Washington, i.e., states with large Mexican immigrant worker populations during that period. See Garcia, Mario, 1994:286-320. Interviews with Arnoldo Garcia, April 21, 1997 and May 6, 1997; and Ruben Solis, October 8, 1997. See also Ruiz, 1998:99-126 about Chicanas' roles in the movement and struggles against sexism, particularly within CASA and La Raza Unida Party.

Texas,

35 36 37 38 39

40 41

Interview with Antonio Diaz,

December

7,

1999. See also Guerra, 1990.

Fuerza Unida, 1998:5-6. Guerra, Luz. 1997:2. Interview with Petra Mata, March 20, 2001

Choi Soo Lee was on San Quentin's death row, convicted of a Chinatown murder he did not commit, and a killing while in prison. With the help of Korean community elders lawyer Jay Kun Yoo and newspaper man Kyung Won Lee, his case served as a rallying point for the Korean-American community during the late 1970s and early 80s. See Jay Kun Yoo's story in Kim and Yu, 1996:282-293. Sim, 2000. Acuria, 1996:184-188; and Fisk, Mitchell, and Erickson. 2000.

Chapter Six

"Just-in-Time" Guerrilla Warriors Immigrant Workers' Centers Rojana "Na" Cheunchujit delivered an impassioned speech to

some 20,000 workers who jammed the Los Angeles Sports Arena at an AFL-CIO rally on June 10, 2000, demanding the end of employer sanctions and unconditional amnesty for undocumented workers. In March 1999, she testified before the California Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment in support of a bill to crack down on sweatshop abuses in California's 530 billion garment industry. The sports stadium and state legislature halls are a long way from the El Monte sweatshop where Cheunchujit and her Thai co-workers were imprisoned behind razor wire

—

a

long way,

also,

from the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS] detention center where the workers were reincarcerated after their "liberation"

by government agents. They are half

kok garment the village

factories

a

world away from the Bang-

where Cheunchujit sewed

where she was born and planted

as a teenager

rice seedlings

and

with her

parents as a child.

Cheunchujit was one of the 72 Thai workers impnsoned ing slaves in a sweatshop in El Monte, California which had in 1988. 2,

1

rr

\\

hen government agents stormed

1995, the workers' terrified faces

prime-time

TV

news across the

made

the factor}-

sew-

on August

front-page headlines and

nation. Their case

215

as

opened

shocked many

Sweatshop Warriors

216

who seas

thought that sweatshops were something that existed over-

—not

US

within

borders.

The workers' subsequent campaign

provoked scrutiny of brand name

retailers

and manufacturers and

helped spur the creadon, in August 1996, of a presidential task force to

reform the garment industry. 2

When

asked whether workers feared demonstrating against

re-

tailers after their release,

Cheunchujit laughed. "Participating in the

campaign was not

not after what we'd been through!.

scary,

campaign might help

to redistribute the wealth."

participated in a strike as a

young garment worker

found her bearings amidst the confusion

at the

INS

.

This

.

Cheunchujit had in Thailand.

She

detention center

and threw in her lot with the Thai Community Development Center, 7

American Legal Center, and

the Asian Pacific

get the workers out of

jail.

KIWA who

She says the groups

"really

came

to

helped us to

we went through. We felt like we were part of a larger family of people who really cared for us, people who loved us, whom we could trust." 3 The ethnic-based workers' centers reach, organize, and defend the immigrant, low-waged, ethnic minority women workers who are not protected by the trade union movement. During moments of criovercome the

sis,

workers

slaveshop,

terrible things

like

the

Cheunchujit and her co-workers

Korean and Latino

restaurant workers

Koreatown, the Mexicana garment workers nio,

at the

in El

El

Monte

in

LA's

Paso and San Anto-

and the Chinese garment and restaurant workers

in

New York,

Oakland, and San Francisco reached out to these centers.

"Justin-Time" Methods

The transformation

that the

women make from

dustry workers to sweatshop warriors

ment and maturation of their batdes. Like the

is

sweatshop

in-

expressed in the develop-

the organizations they build to carry out

women's

lives, their

organizations are shaped

by the contradictions and tensions unfolding within the sweatshop industries

where they

tom of

where the live

women work

with their families.

and the ethnic communities

The women's

the sweatshop pyramid frames the

culture, look,

and

feel

position at the bot-

demands, methodology,

of their organizations and movements. Even

217

"Just in Time" Guerrilla Warriors

the

modest storefronts and community centers

ters often

women In

that

house

their cen-

resemble the hole-in-the-wall garment shops where the

toil

or the shuttered factories where they used to work.

many ways,

nizations are the

the low- waged immigrant

flip side

women workers' orga-

of the "just-in-time" production methods

pursued by corporate management. Based on the successes of Japan's auto industry since the 1980s, just-in-time production meth-

ods reduce inventory and workforce

on

"small batches" of goods, based tion of

consumer

tastes as "special

and

subcontracting out

and categoriza-

niche" or "micro markets," and

The

quick response to customers trends. ucts

size via

closer tracking

successfully tested prod-

services of small business innovators are often copied or

absorbed by big businesses,

who may buy

out-compete the small

Employers extol these methods with

such code words as versification

ods

of

and "right

risks,"

spell increased

fry.

"flexibility," "lean

out, subcontract to, or

and mean production,"

sizing."

"di-

For workers, these meth-

competition with and between subcontracted

workers, plummeting wages, shrinking benefits, runaway shops, offs, ries,

temporary work, loss of job

and heightened discrimination. 4 In

workers act

as on-call

lay-

security, speed-ups, increased inju-

short,

subcontracted

shock absorbers for the just-in-time system.

Mirroring and intersecting with

this restructuring

of produc-

tion within the sweatshop pyramid, the workers' centers respond

with just-in-time methods to organize "small batches" and "micro

markets" of immigrant, women, and ethnic minority workers segregated at the bottom of the

"new economy." These workers

are

fragmented and divided through the subcontracting system, by ethnicity, gender,

and immigrant

globalization of their industries. are joined by workers

restructuring

where they

from

who end up

status,

manage

at times, also

larger facilities

by the

industry workers

"downsized" through

scrambling for sweatshop-type jobs

invariably get paid lower

they can even

and

The sweatshop

to land a job.

wages with

The women

less benefits live in

—

if

poor com-

munities with other people of color. These "niche markets" of

low-waged immigrant

women

over by the broader labor

workers have often been passed

movement

— but not by

the

"brown

Sweatshop Warriors

218

bomber"

who recognize these women as

barrio organizations

fam-

ily.

management

Just as corporate

extols "lean

and mean" busi-

nesses with the "flexibility" to quickly adapt to changing "market

conditions" and "environments," so do the sweatshop industry

workers' organizations learn to maximize scarce resources and "use

what they got zations

to get

what they need." 5 Low-waged workers' organi-

do not have much room

for error or to squander resources.

Like small business innovators within the corporate setting, the workers' centers within the broader labor to understand their

and

movement have

to hustle

anticipate changing conditions, while developing

long-term perspective, strategy, and infrastructure to ride out

the bust and

on the In

boom of capitalist business

cycles

and "keep

their eyes

prize." this respect

riors fighting a

workers' centers are a

more

small, lack resources,

heavily

and

bit like small guerrilla

armed opponent. They

fight class forces

firepower to both punish those

who

who

are relatively

with considerably more

challenge the status

ward the "good Hispanics," "Asian model "team players"

quo and

minorities,"

move

quickly,

maximize limited

resources, organize "outside of the box," and utilize tactics

based on their ethnic backgrounds

tai chijujitsu, habkido,

Zaptistas

—

—

like

"war of the

and

flea,"

and the ideas of Gandhi, Cesar Chavez, and the

more powerful opthem. Sometimes Korean and Chinese

techniques that deflect and toss their

ponents' weight back at

groups have also been tics

re-

and other

rush to the bosses' defense. These sweatshop

warrior organizations are flexible,

strategies

war-

known

where both opponents

to use tae

just

kwon do and gung-fu-X&jz

kick and punch each other

until

tac-

one

goes down. 6

From

inside the ethnic enclaves, the centers "give props" to

workers to take on large

US

their co-ethnic bosses as well as the

corporations.

that enables

them

The

to take advantage

of the experiences and expertise

accumulated in prior struggles, develop leadership, connect with other workers

part of a broader

hegemony of

centers offer workers an infrastructure

movement, and begin

their

consciousness and

and organizations,

to alter the

power

act as

relations

219

"Just in Time" Guerrilla Warriors

work and live. 7 swimming in the sea,"

within the industries and communities where they

The women's sharing the

organizations operate like "fish

common

language, culture, history, and interests of the

broader base of workers and

The

their

communities.

just-in-time organizations defend workers' rights through

different stages of industrial restructuring while simultaneously pur-

suing independent strategies and alternatives that enable workers to stabilize their lives

and movements through the

vicissitudes

of the

market and profit-oriented economy. Because the centers are based within particular ethnic communities, they stick with the workers

through thick and

panding

They follow immigrant workers

thin.

labor organizing

runaway shops, and

demands

them

accompany

and

industries

deindustrialization,

through

Community-based

layoffs.

commitment

a long-term

into ex-

to the

workers

and community, an accurate grasp of shifting conditions, and devel-

opment of independent

strategies

build their organizations and

and

enable workers to

tactics that

power not

defensive/ reactive,

just in

but also in offensive/proactive ways. Successfully organizing the growing proportion of female

workers requires bringing gender consciousness to labor organiz-

Gender oppression

ing.

plays a

huge

role in shaping the lives

of

low- waged immigrant women workers, and the problems they face as

women are compounded by their class, race,

tus.

Immigrant workers' organizations are

and nationality

either

sta-

women's groups

or have gender-specific initiatives within a mixed-gender organiza-

Thrust into positions of major responsibility the

tion. this

7

,

book fought

velop their

skills

uphill battles individually

and

difficult decisions, racist, classist,

Like

women

assert their leadership.

and male chauvinist

assaults

to providing child care

ment,

among

these

struggles

They learned

to

on

their

in

make

personhood.

movements, they often encountered

practices that devalued their opinions

sponsibilities that

women

collectively to de-

run their organizations, and not be stymied by

in other

commitment

and

impact

and contributions, a lack of and negotiating family

their participation,

other challenges. Those often

had

to

deal

sexist

and sexual harass-

women who

with

re-

shouldered

defensiveness,

guilt,

Sweatshop Warriors

220

and charges of divisiveness for outing sup-

trivialization, backlash,

posedly taboo topics. Nevertheless, through their centers and com-

women's more of their sisters can

mittees, these battle-scarred working-class pioneers for liberation

have knocked

down doors

so that

movements. 8

enter and stay in these

Cross-Fertilization within the Labor

Movement

The concurrent reemergence of ethnic-based mutualistas and of sweatshops is happening during a stage when some of the labor movement's "standing army battalions" in the process rilla

large trade unions

—

are

When the guercommon perspective and strat-

of massive rethinking and retooling.

and standing army

egy, they

—

units share a

can compliment and increase each others' effectiveness in

organizing workers across race, gender, industry, and nationality divisions. In today's tion,

world of subcontracting, labor market re-segrega-

and global economic restructuring, workers

will

continue to

need community-based workers' centers and independent unions. 9 Today's workers' centers represent an updated version of the com-

munity labor linkages and

social

unionism that characterized the

waves of immigrant workers and the birth of

struggles of the earlier

industrial unionism. Just as the

more diverse ethnicities,

AFL-CIO

eventually incorporated

the innovations of ethnic workers are often

adopted by industry unions, which are always on the lookout for

new dues-paying members. The global economic restructuring composition of the

US

process and shifts in the

workforce since the mid-1960s

built

up un-

derground, geyser-like pressures that sporadically erupted on the surface of the broader labor

movement. Labor radicals have debated

and written thoughtfully and persuasively about the need and for

change

in the trade

innovative organizing ers,

basis

union movement and provided examples of

among

including immigrants. 10

particular sectors

They analyzed

of unionized work-

the significance of the

1995 victory of John Sweeney, Richard Trumka, and Linda

Chavez-Thompson;

the dismantling of the cold

can Institute for Free Labor Development; the radical labor activists into the

AFL-CIO's

war vintage Ameri-

movement of many

national organizing, edu-

221

"Just in Time" Guerrilla Warriors

and women's departments;

cation,

defeat of

NAFTA

World Trade Organization

Seattle protests against the spite

in

1999 de-

tremendous pressure from the Democratic Party not to embar-

rass the

2000

labor's role in the Congressional

fast tracking in 1997; labor's participation in the

moderate presidential candidate Al Gore; and the February

AFL-CIO

oppose employer sanctions and

shift to

conditional amnesty for

undocumented workers.

call for

Immigrants make up a growing proportion of the force and

movement,

un-

11

US

especially in states like California, Texas,

labor

New

York, and Florida. According to the 2000 Census, Latinos have

grown

12

California

is

population, and 32 percent of Cali-

make up 4 percent and 12 percent

fornia's, while Asians tively.

US

to 12 percent of the

returning to

its

respec-

pre-Mexico annexation, and

pre-anti-Asian exclusion acts demographic mix. 13 According to the

New York labor

Times labor reporter Steven Greenhouse, the Los Angeles

movement, by focusing on organizing immigrant workers,

bringing in

new members

country. In 1999, 74,000

were Latina/os, voted

faster

LA home

The

care workers,

most of

to unionize in the largest successful

nizing drive since the 1930s.

whom

US

orga-

14

just-in-time guerrilla groups have influenced segments

the trade union

movement,

is

than unions anywhere else in the

especially in those industries

and

of

cities

where the workers' centers operate. The relationship between the centers and unions depends principally lar

union, including

fight for the rights

cation, training

on

the politics of the particu-

stance towards employers;

of workers; the weight

it

its

willingness to

gives to organizing, edu-

and promotion of rank-and-file leadership; and

relationship with

many of

its

community and other

social

its

movements. Since

the unions themselves are highly fractured internally, at

times the relationship between the workers' centers and unions also

depends on the stance of key leaders and organizers representing different political perspectives

some cases the relationship more cooperative. 16

In

and constituencies within the unions. is

more

contentious, 15 but in others,

Collective bargaining agreements, workers' centers, and unions,

whether independent or AFL-CIO, are

all

tools that workers

Sweatshop Warriors

222

must hone

to sharpness.

ronment or

When a tool grows dull, or when the envi-

task changes, tools can cease to be useful.

AFL-CIO

veterans inside and outside of the

Many

labor

critique organized la-

women, and

bor's stagnation; indifference toward immigrants,

people of color; and degeneration into profit-making institutions investing and managing workers' pensions, benefit funds, and fixed assets.

Like

AFL-CIO

unions, workers' centers can also

tious, service-oriented, toothless

groups

if

they do not develop

workers' leadership, link up with other campaigns for

power

ter

centers tures

justice,

and

al-

sweatshop pyramid. The workers'

relations within the

must

into cau-

fall

also struggle against accepting the premises

and

struc-

of ghettoization and segregation imposed on immigrant,

women, and racial minority workers from the bosses ten, accommodated by other institutions inside and

and,

all

too of-

outside the

la-

bor movement. In an effort to define the methodology that would enable workers'

groups to maintain a

acter,

CSWA

La

and

militant, worker-oriented,

Mujer

Consortium of Workers' Centers build a

"new

labor

Obrera in 1994,

bottom-up char-

initiated

National

the

which invited workers

movement." The consortium

principles called

for organizing workers across trade lines; bringing together nity

and workplace

struggles; building leadership

up; raising workers' capacities,

communication through the service agencies;

The

skills,

commu-

from the bottom

consciousness, leadership, and

fight for basic necessities;

not being

and fighting sexism, racism, and discrimination. 17

following campaigns highlight

tions of these

to

some of the organizing innova-

immigrant workers' groups.

Anti-Corporate Campaigns

Much

of the day-to-day work of the centers

in fighting disputes

is

assisting

workers

with employers around violation of their wage,

hour, and safety rights. But

when

large corporations

have shrugged

off responsibility, the centers have launched anti-corporate campaigns to force to

many

them

to the bargaining table.

corporate "hired guns"

Employers have access

—management

consultants, finan-

223

"Just in Time" Guerrilla Warriors

government agencies, elected

officials,

academic

and mainstream media advocates

to assist

them

cial institutions,

sociations,

ning their businesses, including "handling labor problems." fectively deal with employers,

own

set

common

as bridges

and other sections of the

workers

at the

ing to treat their employees facturers

and

US

whom

between the sweatshop war-

population, as well as other

bottom of the sweatshop pyramid. In some

workers' campaigns have even

ef-

Often, immigrants' children and

interests.

subsequent generations act riors

To

workers also need to develop their

of relations with other groups and institutions with

they share

as-

in run-

won

fairly

over employers

and

also felt

cases,

who were

try-

squeezed by manu-

retailers.

The use of boycotts,

sit-ins,

freedom

rides,

obedience, and mass mobilization by the

non- violent

civil rights

civil dis-

movement

in

the 1960s provided valuable lessons for immigrant workers of color.

The United Farm Workers Union (UFW) launched grape boycott in the

1

its

national

960s to broaden the front pressuring the grow-

Mexican and

ers to negotiate with the

Filipino

farm workers. The

campaign trained farmworkers and youth "on-the-job" by dispatching

them

to cities

around the nation to seed and grow boycott com-

mittees in diverse communities to support

la

causa}*

A

young

generation of Chicana/o and Filipina/o activists cut their teeth on this struggle.

During the 1970s, Chicana/o and Chinese

activists also

developed anti-corporate campaigns in support of striking Farah

and Jung

Sai workers.

In 1990, Fuerza Unida was the tured in this

book

of the workers' centers

to launch a nationwide boycott.

the Jessica McClintock boycott and

paign in 1992;

first

fea-

AIWA launched

Garment Workers Justice Cam-

KIWA and their Sweatshop Watch partners launched Campaign in 1995; and CSWA and

the Retailers Accountability

NMASS merits

its

Levi's,

initiated the

own

DKNY

book, but

Button Your

will

Fly:

"girl"cott in 1999.

Each campaign

be briefly spotlighted below.

Your Greed

Is

Showing

Fuerza Unida's campaign against Levi's represented one of the

major fightbacks by laid-off workers against deindustrialization and

Sweatshop Warriors

224

runaway shops during the 1990s. This campaign was organized and led

by

non-unionized,

Mexicana and Chicana garment workers, with

help from a small, local independent union, the Southwest Public

Workers Union. Hundreds of thousands of electronics, plasties,

auto, garment, shoe,

and other manufacturing workers had

lost their

jobs by the time of the 1990 San Antonio layoffs. Fuerza

Unida

movement of the anti-corporate movement

helped create a bridge linking the plant closures 1970s and 1980s with the anti-sweatshop, it

helped bring into prominence in the 1990s.

Beginning with emergency mass meetings

at

Our Lady of

the

Angels Church in San Antonio's Southside barrio, Fuerza Unida

went on

to launch a national boycott that garnered solidarity

community,

labor,

economic

religious,

justice, student,

organizations around the country and overseas. porters sent sheared off Levi's labels to

Haas.

19

Thousands of sup-

CEO

company

Robert

Workers organized community tribunals in San Antonio and

San Francisco and the to bring the

campaign

cluded the

first

Heights

hunger

from

and youth

women took turns

traveling to

San Francisco

to Levi's corporate headquarters. Actions in-

protest at the exclusive San Francisco Pacific

home of Levi's strikes in front

corporate family patriarch and protests and

of Levi's outlets in

cities

across the nation.

While the company continued to stonewall San Antonio workers, its

second round of layoffs in 1997-1999 revealed

how many

"goodies" Fuerza Unida's "pinata-busters" had knocked loose from

When Levi's announced plans to lay-off some 6,400 workers at 1 1 US plants in 1997, the supposed generosity of its

corporate coffers.

severance package was heralded by

UNITE

"by

as

far the best sev-

erance settlement apparel workers have ever gotten." 20 Levi's

acknowledged

no denying

that "There's

had something

to

do with the development

1997," and that Levi's had failed to anticipate

would

San Antonio

that

in

1990

of these benefits in

how much

criticism

it

21 receive from the San Antonio community.

Fuerza Unida's struggle may have also delayed the layoff of thousands of workers by several years. Levi's had

US workers—in

1

982,

San Antonio workers

1

984,

1

in 1990.

985, 1986,1 988,

1

fired

thousands of

989, before

it

hit the

A seven-year lull followed before the

225

"Just in Time" Guerrilla Warriors

company resumed its

US

layoffs in 1997, 1998,

and 1999, dumping half of

and Canadian workers and 20 percent of its European

Simultaneously,

management announced

staff.

plans to expand produc-

and the Caribbean. 22

tion in China, Mexico,

Fuerza Unida's campaign also caused the image-conscious cor-

more money Change diversity

community organizations

poration to dole out

to

through

initiative, ironically

its

Project

located in

communities where Levi's plant closures disproportionately ple

of

color.

23

may

Unida

Fuerza

have

ACTWU /UNITE get into Levi's plants, since "team

it

was

hit

peo-

also

helped

likely

seen as a

union that would cooperate with

player," business-oriented

ACTUW

the company. In 1994 during the merger between

and

ILGWU, and the negotiations with Levi's to gain the company's voluntary recognition of the union's card check agreement, cut a deal with the

management

supporting Fuerza Unida. 24

hunger

to get other local unions' to stop

Two

days into Fuerza Unida's 21 -day

strike at corporate headquarters, Levi's

nounced

their joint partnership.

ILGWU

25

and

ACTWU

an-

Yet the company soon dumped

many UNITE members during its 1997-1999

layoffs.

According

to

Labor Notes, a progressive labor magazine:

UNITE

The new

closings

ACTWU)

entered a labor-management partnership with Levi

come

just three years

Strauss in 1994 to prevent plant closings. that while

it

after

UNITE,

(then

however, says

agreed to the partnership as a job-saving measure, the

current plant closings are a different issue.

"We

don't think that

ship," said

UNITE

it

has anything to do with the partner-

spokesperson Jo-Ann Mort.

nership started, she said, the union

would have

to

when

Levi Strauss'

compared

is

saying

little

beyond

that.

the layoffs were announced,

"commitment

the

When

the part-

that business decisions

be made."

But the union issued

"knew

company

to a high road

favorably to

its

In [the] statement

UNITE

highlighted

of management" and

competitors

in its treat-

ment of workers. 26 Fuerza Unida continues to serve

as

an information and counsel-

ing center for injured and laid-off workers from Texas to Tennessee,

Sweatshop Warriors

226

including workers in the remaining San Antonio Levi's plant, as well as

El Paso workers

into a job re-entry

who

successfully sued Levi's for forcing

program

exposed them to

that

them

ridicule, humilia-

and harassment from managers and other factory workers. 27

tion

Sharing their experiences as "early vicdms of

NAFTA"

Fuerza

Unida co-coordinators Petra Mata and Viola Casares joined protesters in the tear gas filled streets

the

Summit of

of Quebec, Canada in April 2001 for

The Summit's

the Americas.

goal, the Free

Trade

Area of the Americas agreement (FTAA), would extend the North

American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) sphere.

Like

other

hemi-

against the bosses, Fuerza

development

sustainability as

Antonio's

Unida struggled

work with

the distinct

necessary

to balance their anti-cor-

membership and organiza-

for

barrios.

This

long-term

group's

the

an organization rooted among the

working-class

campaigns

spearheading intense

organizations

porate campaign tional

to the entire

28

women

Mexicana

of San

mutualista

"multi-tasked" as an independent union, a displaced and injured

workers' organization, an education and leadership training center, a cooperative, and a grassroots

women's support group.

Garment Workers Justice Campaign Predating the Nike, Gap, El Monte, Kathie Lee Gifford, Guess,

and other anti-sweatshop campaigns, AIWA's 1992-1996 Garment

Workers Justice Campaign (GWJC) served as a watershed not only for Asian immigrant women workers, but also for the broader anti-corporate

—

movement

especially the

youth and student sectors

of the movement. While Fuerza Unida's campaign targeted a run-

away industry Goliath, AIWA's structure of the for domestic

sweatshop abuses

El Paso, 29 San Antonio, 30 and large

GWJC

spotlighted the pyramid

garment industry and manufacturers' responsibility in

subcontracted shops. Similar to

New York City,

San Francisco-based manufacturers

31

by the

like Levi's, Esprit,

Gap, and Banana Republic had already sent much of tion overseas.

Koret,

Fritzi,

Medium-sized companies

and Byer subcontracted out

early 1990s,

like Jessica

their

the

produc-

McClintock,

to local sweatshops,

and

227

"Just in Time" Guerrilla Warriors

some began

AIWA

work

to send

launched the

who approached

to overseas contractors as well. 32

GWJC

in support

back wages. The sweatshop they worked closed

down

cade of base-building work seamstresses

ese

for, the

after the manufacturer, Jessica

contract. Prior to initiating the

and

Lucky Sewing Co.,

McClintock, pulled

GWJC, AIWA had conducted

among Chinese and

Korean

its

a de-

Chinese- Vietnam-

and

maids

hotel

Campaign opponents included

assemblers.

women

of 12 Chinese

the organization after being stiffed out of their

electronics

the manufacturer and

its

various agents: the manufacturers' association, the contractor that violated the

women workers'

from sweatshop

rights,

and

retailers that also profited

labor. Institutions that stood

between the employer

and workers during the campaign and played contradictory

roles in-

cluded the Chinese subcontractors' association, the Department of Labor, and

ILGWU. The

campaign's core included the former

Lucky workers; AIWA's Worker Board, membership, and the national campaign committees in several principally

US

cities

of Asian labor, community, and student

staff;

and

composed

activists,

with

support from community, women's, labor, religious, and student organizations inside and outside the Asian community.

The campaign used a consumer boycott,

pickets, public actions,

supporter mobilization, media coverage, work with elected and gov-

ernment

officials,

and other

tactics to

bring the

company

to the ne-

gotiating table. Similar to the anti-sweatshop campaigns of other

workers' centers, the

ods reflecting the

These

GWJC evolved through several different peri-

level

of contention between the principal

stages can be delineated:

talk to the

players.

from McClintock's 1992 refusal to

women and the launching of the GWJC

"charitable donations" to workers if they

would

until her offer

of

sign papers saying

the manufacturer was not responsible; from a declaration of partial victory for the "charitable donations" until McClintock escalated attacks

on the GWJC, AIWA, and KIWA; from McClintock's

tion of attacks until the manufacturer closed

down

escala-

the flagship San

Francisco boutique; from broadening the campaign to include ers'

retail-

accountability for sweatshop conditions and pickets at Macy's

until the

Department of Labor blunder of including McClintock

Sweatshop Warriors

228

(and Levi's) on ufacturers;

its

"Fashion Trendsetter" holiday season

list

and from the Department of Labor's mistake

of man-

to negotia-

and wrap-up of the boycott and campaign

tions, settlement,

in

1996. 33

Immigrant

women

workers

won

an undisclosed cash setde-

ment, an education fund for garment workers to learn about their rights, a scholarship

fund for workers and

their children, a bilingual

hotline for workers to report any violations of their rights in shops

contracted with McClintock, and an agreement from both sides to

work to improve conditions within the industry. 34 The campaign developed workers' leadership, broke the facade of manufacturers' lack of responsibility- for sweatshop abuses,

and support

for

won

greater visibility

7

immigrant workers, consolidated AIWA's base

among low-income

workers, and, together with Fuerza Unida,

helped kick-start the broader anti-sweatshop movement.

The

GWJC

enabled

AIWA to

refine

its

educational, leadership

development, and organizing methodology and brought another generation of Asian youth and students into community-based struggles for corporate

transformed

its

and governmental accountability.

and other low-waged immigrant 1990s the ing

AIWA

youth project to one led by the children of garment

women

workers. During the early

GWJC served as a cutting-edge nationwide campaign link-

many activists and organizations within the Asian and other eco-

nomic and environmental and infrastructure

built

justice

movements. 33

through the

Monte workers. Eventually

the

GWJC

in

KIWA used lessons its

work with

ILGWU/UNITE,

the El

the National La-

bor Committee, and Global Exchange used what they observed of

AIWA's campaign

in their anti-corporate

campaigns against Gap,

Nike, and Guess, and in organizing students through Union

mer and United Students Against Sweatshops. Retailers Accountability

Sum-

36

Campaign

Just as the Jessica McClintock campaign threw a spotlight

on

the role of manufacturers in the garment industry, so did the El

Monte

case

on

the increasingly powerful role of retailers in setting

wages and working conditions. The case marked

a

major turning

229

"Just in Time" Guerrilla Warriors

point in the development and

visibility

of immigrant sweatshop

in-

dustry workers struggles, with ripple effects within the industry,

government enforcement

agencies,

and the broader anti-sweatshop

movement. In August 1995, Chanchanit "Chancee" Martorell, director of the Thai Community Development Center (Thai CDC) in Los Angeles, got to

a call

accompany and

Monte,

California,

from the

raid,

Labor Commissioner's

translate for agents raiding a

gates. Martorell

would not be

office

sweatshop in El

where Thai and other immigrant workers

behind razor wire and locked tion that workers

State

toiled

agreed on the condi-

sent to the INS. After the

August 2

however, the INS re-incarcerated the El Monte workers in de-

tention centers for interrogation and possible deportation.

KIWA, which

shares office space with Thai

had accumulated some

Pilipino Workers' Center,

CDC

and the

guerrilla tactics

GWJC that proved very helpful KIWA organizer Paul Lee said when the

and infrastructure from the AIWA's to the El

INS

Monte workers.

when the roller coaster CDC, KIWA, and other groups quickly cobbled to-

re-incarcerated the workers, "That's

started." 37

Thai

gether the Sweatshop hectic

Watch

coalition to respond.

months of the campaign, Thai

ers' survival,

social service,

CDC

and translation needs; Asian

American Legal Center (APALC), the workers'

KIWA,

Throughout the

took on the Thai workPacific

legal issues;

and

the campaign organizing for retailers' accountability.

According

to Lee, the

days after the raid

when

enormity of the case came to

the

light five

government made public the major

brand name manufacturers and

retailers

the shop over the previous five years.

who had

contracted with

KIWA launched the Retailers

Accountability Campaign (RAC) after retailers denied responsibility for the abuses.

KIWA

organized holiday shopping season actions

such as Sears, Robinson's May, Bull-

against targeted retailers

Neiman Marcus, Target/Dayton HudMontgomery Ward, pressuring some to the negotiating

ocks/Macy's, Nordstrom, son, and table.

38

Twenty-four Latina/o workers approached ber 1995, describing

owners.

KIWA

how

KIWA

in

Decem-

they had also been exploited by the same

ultimately represented 55 Latina/os in a lawsuit

Sweatshop Warriors

230

employed the sweatshop subcontractor,

against the retailers that

APALC

while

Thai workers. Thai

filed the lawsuit for the

KIWA, and APALC

CDC,

organized monthly general meetings of the

Thai and Latino workers to exchange information, analyze developments,

map

out

strategies,

and plan

actions. 39

The El Monte campaign demonstrates how solidarity between different ethnic workers can be built and how community organizations with relatively more developed infrastructures (like the 1.5 genKorean-American organizers

eration

newer emergent communities Activist Training

and works

gins

program

(like

for

in

KIWA)

the Thai).

can help support

KIWA runs a Summer

young Asians of diverse national

in partnership with Central

ori-

American and Mexican

immigrant worker organizers of the Coalition for

Humane Immi-

grant Rights of Los Angeles. In January 2001, various Asian, Chi-

cano, and ethnically mixed groups jointly opened the

Workers Center

in the heart

of LA's fashion

Garment

district.

In July 1999, nearly four years after the government raid on the

El Monte sweatshop, the workers

companies post,

—

including

won

over $4 million from major

Montgomery Ward, Mervyn's,

B.U.M. Equipment, and Tomato,

Inc.

—

all

of

Miller's

whom

Out-

initially

denied responsibility for the sweatshop conditions of their subcontractor.

40

The campaigns of

the Thai and Latina/o workers in Los

Angeles and the Chinese workers in Oakland spurred passage of a California state legislative

bill,

AB 633, which imposed a "wage guar-

antee" in the garment industry so that manufacturers and retailers

who manufacture their own private label clothing must pay workers their minimum wage and overtime compensation when the contractors they use

fail

to

do

so, as well as other

measures. 41

National Mobilization to End Sweatshops and the "Ain't

I

a

Woman?!" Campaign

While organizing Jing Fong restaurant workers and garment workers in different shops in 1995, CSWA experienced a big influx of Chinese high school and college students.

work

in

CSWA's Youth Group and

in a

in the organization, creating a process

Many

stayed

number of other

on

to

capacities

of fusion between genera-

231

"Just in Time" Guerrilla Warriors

tions

and the launching of the National Mobilization Against Sweat-

As CSWA's positive assertion of how to mass anti-sweatshop movement from the bottom up, seeks to build a "new civil rights movement" among all

(NMASS)

shops

build a

NMASS

who

those

in 1996.

are hit

NMASS calls

by the spread of sweatshop-like conditions.

for class, race,

and gender

solidarity

between

all

those

oppressed by the corporate system, instead of asking for consumers'

sympathy for sweatshop victims. ingly attracted

NMASS

campaigns have increas-

immigrant workers from the Caribbean and Eastern

Europe in other industries seeking support in disputes with employers

and government agencies. 42

NMASS workers

at a

took on the defense of Chinese and Latina garment

Donna Karan subcontracted, unionized shop and I a Woman?!" Campaign in 1999. That organiz-

launched the "Ain't

ing effort propelled workers from other shops to step forward and led to a class action lawsuit against the manufacturer filed

by the

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund on behalf of all

Donna Karan garment workers

DKNY workers

had

in

toiled 70- to

New York

City. Since

1992 the

80-hour work weeks and were

never paid overtime wages; some did not even earn

minimum

wage. 43 The women's campaign has also drawn endorsements and solidarity

from workers' groups

DKNY's

goods have been outsourced and marketed, and from

in Asia

and Mexico, regions where

where the immigrant women workers who grated.

44

Karan

to correct the

Through

toil in

her shops have mi-

campaign, the workers are pressuring

this

problem of sweatshop labor

City rather than simply shutting

inside

Donna

New York

down, dumping workers, and run-

ning away to other domestic and overseas sweatshops as manufacturers

have done many times in the

past.

Innovator Impacts on Anti-Corporate

Movements

These workers' centers influenced the development of the broader anti-sweatshop and anti-corporate movements. Globalization of the sweatshop

pyramid spurred anti-corporate campaigns

that stressed corporate abuses of immigrant

Ladn America, and

women workers in Asia,

the Caribbean. Small, innovative, guerrilla,

Sweatshop Warriors

232

workers' centers helped play a spark-plug role by reviving the anti-corporate campaign and boycott as a tool to broaden con-

sciousness and support for the struggles of immigrant women workers against deindustrialization

and the spread of sweatshops

inner city stations of the global assembly

line.

US

in

Workers' center cam-

paigns served multiple functions: making sweatshop industry workers inside the

United States

visible to the public, including within

their own communities; opening up the base for workers' support among other sectors, especially young people; training workers and

their organizations

and supporters; winning key concessions from

employers and spurring greater consciousness and organizing

among

the growing

numbers of people grossed out by corporate

greed.

The

giant protests that followed

ganization in 1999, the

—

against the

World Bank and IMF

naled mounting opposition

FTAA

in

Quebec

among youth,

World Trade OrWashington, DC,

convendons

the national Democratic and Republican

Philadelphia in 2000, and the

in

City in

international financial institutions.

new opportunities fronts,

Such

and

workers, environmental-

and other diverse sectors to global corporate

ists,

LA

in

2001— sig-

political

capital

and

its

moments provided

for building cross-class, cross-sector, multi-racial

and episodes of fusion between youth,

fessionals with those sections

intellectuals,

and pro-

of the labor movement most

critical

of free trade and the brutalization of workers, communities, and the planet.

At

the

same

time, the anti- corporate

mained highly segregated along

movement

and national

class, race,

has re-

lines.

Far too often white, middle-class, and First World organizations

have demonstrated

communities hardest

hit

little

accountability to the workers and

by global economic restructuring and cor-

porate greed. 45 Anti-corporate groups that insert themselves into the sweatshop pyramid structure as middle ate

with corporations, governments, and

stitutions

—without

grassroots people cate the

change.

respecting

men in order to

negoti-

international financial in-

the

self-determination

on the bottom of the pyramid

top-down approaches of the very

—

of

invariably repli-

institutions they seek to

233

"Just in Time" Guerrilla Warriors

To

be

effective, anti-corporate

campaigns must be linked to

worker and grassroots community organizing. 46 Regarding the

strat-

egy of boycotts, Sweatshop Watch, a coalition of legal advocates,

workers centers, unions, and anti-sweatshop groups has declared that

in California,

it:

only supports boycotts that are led by workers themselves. Boycotts that are not well organized less

demand

may harm workers by

creating

for products, thus forcing workers out of jobs.

believe that boycotts are effective

have decided that that

is

when

what they need

it is

.

.We

the workers

who

have

their

in order to

voices heard. 47

Taking the lead from those on the bottom of the power pyra-

mid upholds

the finest traditions of solidarity.

anti-apartheid

movement helped reduce

to pariah status at the behest of a liberation

clared

its

The

movement

that de-

willingness to weather a global boycott and sanctions in

order to force

its jailers

to

sit

down at the negotiating table. The

ber challenge staring the labor and anti-corporate the face

international

the South African regime

is

so-

movements

in

the protracted, painful struggle of organizing workers

and grassroots people "glocally"

(globally

^W locally) to force their

oppressors to change their ways, to build people and earth-centered alternatives, and to develop cooperative relations of mutual

respect and solidarity.

In sum, ethnic-based organizing

among sweatshop

industry

workers provided an early warning signal both of the deleterious fects

ers

and the means through which these

women

could organize to

defend themselves. The workers' centers are breathing new labor and

community

characteristics of the ers navigate

new

into

life

organizing. Their guerrilla tactics are tailored

to the specific gender, ethnic, cultural, workplace, national,

and

local

workers they are organizing. They help work-

territory

and negotiate the borders where the

ferent languages, cultures, and institutions of

dif-

women's home and

adopted countries meet. They promote a strong sense of nic,

ef-

of global economic restructuring on the most vulnerable work-

class, eth-

and gender consciousness among women workers by using a va-

riety

of methods to develop their leadership

and organizing

Sweatshop Warriors

234

capacities.

As

the

women

communities where they out and raised waves

have begun to rock the industries and

live

and work,

—and hopes—

their struggles

in the

have rippled

broader labor, anti-sweat-

shop, and and-corporate movements.

Jay

Mendoza of

Cheunchujit, El

the Pilipino

Workers Center; Paul Lee,

Monte workers

Community Development Center

struggle;

at their joint offices.

Photo by Miriam Ching Yoon Louie

(1

997)

KIWA;

Rojana "Na"

and Chancee Martorell of the Thai

Interview— El Monte

235

Rojana "Na" Cheunchujit Former garment worker

in El Monte, California Veteran Leader

The Thai workers got

1993

in the

CDC,

Thai

help from the

wake of two major

which was launched in

1992 Los Angeles

events: the

civil

unrest in

which Thai shops mistaken for Korean businesses were destroyed and the earth-

quake

in Northridge, California that left

Thai

cording to living in

and

CDC's

Chancee Martorell, some 50,000 Thai immigrants

Los Angeles came in

early

many Thai immigrants homeless. Ac-

Thefirst wave came in

three waves.

1960s as students and professionals

get education

to

The second wave came

bring back to Thailand.

Monte

slave-shop workers,

many migratedfrom

Thailand due

ers.

While somefoundjobs working

to industrial

many working

land and mainland China. Thai comers gain survival language

Bangkok,

and

Workers

two

the

others migrated to

United States.

went

who paid

CDC offers a number ofprograms to help new-

Thai

CDC shares

Filipina/o diaspora.

immigration, housing^ job

office

services;

and workers'

space with

K1WA

and

and national liberation

struggles in the

49

26, 1970, in Thailand in the village

My parents worked in the

have one brother and two

children; I

4 defense. *

was born January

I

and north-

Center, which organises Filipino workers in the health indus-

and the

Petchaboon. ing up.

El

and prostituted women from Thai-

skills; access to legal,

solidarity with labor, migrant,

Philippines

I

the

andplacement. Chinese and Vietnamese crime

community economic development, and family

rights training

and in

Like

in indentured servitude to employers

"horses" to arrange theirpassage

try

Thai government.

ruralparts of north

in factories in

rings also operate brothels of sex trafficked

Pilipino

re-

CDC estimates that some 50 percent of the immigrants are undocu-

mented, with

support,

the

to the present.

Middle Last, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and

Thai

training to

and golf course displacement of subsistencefarm-

east

the

1970s

the

and

1950s

1965 immigration

after the

forms and included entrepreneurs and studentsfunded by

The third and largest wave has comefrom

the late

my daughter is

rice fields

sisters

six years

I am the oldest. I have now and my son is five.

and

old

to school in Thailand, but only for nine years,

ished middle school.

I

of

when I was grow-

sewed eight or nine years

and

fin-

in Thailand, starting

Sweatshop Warriors

236

when I was

15 but sometimes would do other things.

introduced

me

Paughs] but

married

I

and

didn't

when I was

my

husband.

want 19.

my

want

didn't

I

A village elder

to get married,

me

parents to worry about

My husband got a job working as

so

an

got

I

electri-

and got paid pretty good wages.

cian

After

got married sometimes

I

I

my

continued to help

parents

work on the farm, but I [also] got sewing jobs to support them. I worked in a big factory in Bangkok, and in many sewing factories before coming to the US. But one place was kind of big and special. My friends told me about the job there. During the two years at work right before coming to the US the pay was pretty good, it was better than

my

other jobs. Before that, the pay and working conditions

were pretty bad. I

came

to the

son came to the

Monte.

He

wanted

to

told

come

US in

1994.

When I was

I

came

would

people to work

at the

me

was very good.

He

that the pay

to the

to the

stay

in Thailand this per-

village to recruit

US, he would be able to arrange

125,000 baht [US$5,000] which

I

still

shop in El

said that if I it

me

for

US with my friends, not with my family. I thought in the US for three years. What happened to

and work

me after I came?

long

[laughs] Well, that's a

the sewing shop by the owners.

They

me in a second jail. As me directly to El Monte

story! I

was locked up

fed us poorly.

Then

ernment put

soon

[where] they basically told

from time been told

to

work

in

as I arrived in this country,

continually, non-stop

to time. This

in

the gov-

they took

would have

for

paid him.

I

and only have

a

me

I

day off

was completely the opposite of what

I

had

Thailand before coming here. In Thailand they told us

we would work from 8am to 6pm every day, five days a week, and that we would have two days off every week. After they told us that

the situation in El

Monte,

I

realized

Before arriving here they said pleased,

go shopping for our own

money we made. But of lowed

to

go

in

course

I

had been duped.

we

could

groceries,

when we

and out of the factory

at

There were over 70 Thai workers

all;

come and go

as

we

and do things with the

got here

we were

at the

shop.

we

weren't

al-

imprisoned.

We

hours a day for the whole one year and four months

worked 20 I

was there

Interview— El Monte

—

day

until the

was

I

liberated.

237

cooked for myself.

I

food from the owners, but they charged us

We

ordered

high prices,

really

at least

twice the amount.

After paying the $5,000 to get here, they told

me I had to pay an

They said they would keep me as long as it took to It didn't matter to them how long they kept

additional $4,800.

pay off the $4,800 debt.

amount of time was calculated. owned the business ran different places, and two of the family members supervised us. The factory was a set of duplex apartments, lettered from A to G. The units are basically on one side and on the other side was the driveway and a little grass area. Each unit had two stories. Some of the owners' family mem-

you; no specific

The

family that

A

bers lived in Unit

and Unit

F,

were spread out between Units

The owners

we

ends, while

we workers

homes of our families on fire if knew where all of us were from, Thailand. Some people actually got pun-

threatened to set the

dared to escape because they

about our ished.

villages

One

him up

back in

person

tried to escape

pretty badly.

the other workers, to It

on both

B and D.

was unbearable

but was unsuccessful; they beat

They took a picture of him and showed it to all tell us what would happen if we tried to escape.

to look at the

worker

who was

beaten; they really

messed him up completely. After the beating you couldn't even ognize him

at

The day

all.

the

on

the door; they

woke

do.

We had been

went

us up and

unsure.

free or if we

this to intimidate us.

government raided the

ing

felt really

They did

to each unit

we were

told

rec-

and banged

so scared that

we

by the owners never to

We didn't know if we were

were going to get

in

more

we

factory,

heard knocking

real hard.

The bang-

know what to open the door so we didn't

finally

going to be

So no one dared

trouble.

set

to

open the door. The doors were locked from the outside

to keep us

we

could have

in.

If there

gotten out;

fact

had ever been

a fire there

we would have been

was no way

that

trapped.

One of the policemen broke down the door and shoved it in. In he hit one of the workers on the forehead my friend Kanit.

—

Her head got swollen where she was hit [causing] a huge knot [to swell up] on her forehead, [shakes her head] We were all told to

Sweatshop Warriors

238

come

out,

sent the

sit

down

INS bus

in the driveway,

to take us

away

and

just wait.

Then

later

they

to the detention center.

Oh, my God! We were all so confused. We were interviewed by everyone, by the Department of Labor, by the INS, by lots and lots of people [including the

office, State

Labor Commis-

and Employment Development Department]. Then

sioner's office,

about two or three days folks

US Attorney's after

CDC

from the Thai

we had been in

detention,

KIWA. But

was

and

that

Counsel General had already come and spoken with

When

the Consul General

came

to see us,

we met

after the

the

Thai

us.

he told us to go back

home to Thailand, that there was no need for us to be here. He said we were here illegally and what we did was wrong. He said it was our fault that we put ourselves in this situation. He said that we were just fighting against a brick wall by staying here, and we were being a burden on the

US

government!

Everybody was confused.

We didn't know what to do. Me too, I CDC Di-

was confused. But I got one idea after I met Chancee [Thai

American Legal Center

rector], Julie [Asian Pacific

Paul

attorney],

and

[KIWA organizer]. I thought, "Okay I need these people." So I

signed up with them.

The INS ing. It

was hard

was nice and

who was in charge of our case was very confusknow what his real intentions were. Although he

agent to

friendly to us, he

was not against the idea of depordng

when the INS tricked us. Chancee, Julie, and come to see us at the INS Terminal Island Detendon Center where we were kept to eat and sleep. But when the INS found out they were coming [again] at seven in the morning, the INS took us to the downtown detention center at five. When Chancee, Julie, and Paul showed up, we weren't there. That's when I began to doubt the

us.

This became clear

Paul had

INS' intentions towards us and whether they were

really trying to

help us. Julie, Paul,

dme

they

numbers

and Chancee gave us

came

to see us.

A

[alien registration

tainee] so that they

asked each of us

lot

their

phone numbers

the

first

of us decided to give them our

number

that

would be allowed

INS

to

A

assigns to every de-

meet with

us.

The INS

who we had called and a lot of people were afraid to

Interview— El Monte

When

say anything so they didn't.

town

office while Julie,

place.

were waiting to meet us.

It

told this

I

INS and asked them

turns out that at the

realized that

I

to

all

tell

to the

the

and threatened

to bring us back.

same dme, Chancee, Julie, and Paul had

finally

how the INS would an-

took us back to Terminal Island.

When we

saw Chancee, Paul, and Julie waiting

so happy.

My

gosh!

They kept

most ten days before they

downtown

When we

let

us

for us there,

on Terminal

us out.

at the stars, to the

buses

all

got

Island for nine,

We kept going back and

got out, Oh! Oh! [laughs] as

our guide.

It

al-

forth

was

being a

like

We could see so many

new things. Wow! We got a big smile. They took us

We

we

center to be processed.

finally

group of tourists with Chancee

land.

and Paul

Thai interpreter working

INS

to call the press to see

swer their questions. They

to the

Julie,

INS. Steve Nutter from the garment workers union also

called the called

at the

us in a cell at the

Terminal Island because that was where Chancee,

for the

down-

to the

we were in the downtown center. Then I door and telling the INS to take us all back to

They put

kept pounding on the

down

they took us

Chancee, and Paul were waiting for us

Terminal Island Detendon Center,

wrong

239

to a place to look

park for a barbecue, to the beach, and to Disney-

got free tickets to Disneyland.

given for

was

free. It

a lot of

We

went there

in three

fun.

we got out, Chancee, Julie, and Paul found us three different shelters to live in for over a month and a half. They had asked the After

Thai temples to take us

in,

but they had

all

refused. That's another

The day that we were liberated from the detendon center, bad some people from the Thai community invited us to a recepdon at a story.

Thai temple to celebrate our freedom, but saster.

They had promised

recepdon

was

filled

at the temple.

us they

it

would not

turned into a media invite the

media

to the

with press people from everywhere with their cameras.

It

we

couldn't

TV cameras was

shelters.

to the

But when our bus arrived the whole place

couldn't get into the temple to worship and pay respects to at the shrine;

eat.

The

and pushing

really terrible!

Then we could

di-

reporters kept pulling us to speak

their

microphones into our

We asked Thai CDC to take us eat

and

We

Buddha

rest. Aiiii!

At

faces.

back to the

that time

we were

Sweatshop Warriors

240

afraid the

owners would punish us and our

my

mother saw

face

on

TV

come out of it and recover

families. In fact

for

when my

She did not

in Thailand, she fainted.

two days because she was

sick

and

worried.

The Thai press did we left on

us an injustice. After the big disaster at the

Thai temple,

from the

shelter.

was taking

the school bus that took us back and forth

Because the Thai press did not know where the bus

us, they reported in the

Thai papers, which also reached

we had disappeared and that no one knew where we we boarded the school bus. So they scared everyone [in-

Thailand, that

went

after

cluding]

A

our family members back home.

all

over a week after being liberated from El Monte, the

little

telephone

company donated phone

cards to so

we

could

call

our

back home; we each got three minutes. After that we made

families

collect calls.

My

mother was

she couldn't stop crying.

I

really sick after

told her

hearing the news, and

what had happened

to

me, every-

thing, everything.

Now my mother is watching my children at home in Thailand. How long will I stay here? Wow! stay until I am no longer afraid I'll

of being punished family and

me

Because

when

I

return

home,

as

long as the safety of my

can be assured.

we had

only been locked up in the factory,

know anything or where

anything was.

thing or that thing, [laughs]

I

didn't

The

first

shop close to

[garment] shop here.

I

is

worked

it's

I

got out was a Thai

for another Thai

are small.

At my

first

first place. It's

much better. At the

first

place

I

day and got paid about $180 a week after taxes. eight or nine hours a day,

shop with

job there were

clean. I think the

worked ten hours

Now I

its

half and

a

work about

sometimes half day on Saturday

about one or two o'clock. Sometimes ican

and Paul took us

Now it's almost 20 people where I work. It's

shop and better than the

okay,

for after

Now I'm working

about 12 or 15 people.

salary

this

shop for food,

and helped us look for work.

Mexican workers. The shops a different

didn't

know how to do

We had to learn how to

find housing, get work, everything. Chancee, Julie, to job interviews

we

half Thai

until

and Mex-

and sometimes there are more Latino workers than Thais. The

241

Interview— El Monte

we sewed in the El Monte shop were Clio, BUM, Tomato, and others. Paul has the whole list. I haven't come across any of the same labels I sewed in El Monte since I've been out. labels

Because of the oppression rect

be

and

assertive. It

less tolerant

of wrongs,

all

of my

Sometimes

life.

Of course,

feeling.

went through

me

[laughs]

whole experience and ordeal rest

I

kind of forced

can

What

I've learned

Thai

CDC and KIWA,

it

from

and this

me for the so much that I get numb and lose

meeting so many caring people

folks involved in this case, like Chancee, Julie, Paul, at

now be very di-

a lesson that will stay with

hurts

it

after

is

I

to express myself more,

really

like the

and the people

helped us to overcome the terrible

we went through. We felt like we were part of a larger family who really cared for us, people who loved us whom we

things

of people could

trust.

For example,

all

of them were very sensitive to our needs,

and concerns. They would always ask us

do anything. They

let

us

first

make our own

and never forced us to

decisions.

believe

I

stronger. In the very beginning, throughout the first year

every time questions

like this

came up from

fears,

and

I

got

a half

reporters or anyone else,

what happened always touched us emotionally and

talking about

made us break down. We were always crying. We've cried so much. The fact that we're able to sit through this and not cry and have to break down kind of shows that we have become stronger. Yes, it's very rare to

through

sit

this

translate for eight or nine

one person would

without crying, [laughs] Chancee would

of us,

start to cry,

like

Kanit and

then

all

all

of our

of us would

friends. First

start to cry

and

everybody would end up crying! Chancee and Julie would be crying too.

We

still

see each other

Chancee keeps always

a

list

and some of the people

live together.

of our addresses and numbers, but everyone

is

moving around.

I like

the Retailers Accountability

and Sweatshop Watch] because

shows we

it's

are not willing to tolerate

conditions.

It

beyond laws

makes

that

Campaign like

[initiated

really

KIWA

an act of resistance that

and accept these poor working

the workers' voices heard and

might not

by

have

much of an

people can hear direcdy from the workers.

known.

It

goes

impact, because

Sweatshop Warriors

242

We have picketed, leafleted, and visited different department stores. We try to go into the department store, meet with the management, and educate the consumers to support the boycott for accountability.

We

get promises

from consumers not

department store again unless they change ing us

some consumers

told us they felt

shop

at the

their policy. After

meet-

to

bad about what happened to

us and promised they wouldn't go back and shop there anymore.

The garment factory owners threaten to go to Mexico to get the work done. But when they do, they have problems. When the clothes are delivered back here, there's repair work that needs to be done. They expect the local factories here to do the repair work because

it

wastes too

much

time sending

it

back

down

to Mexico.

So

this is just a threat.

Participating in the

campaign was not

been through! Maybe others think that cause problems. But

paign makes us ing

among

really, all

feel like

we

where

a

troublemaker out to

are helping develop a better understand-

conditions in the garment industry.

clothing,

am

not after what we'd

of the workers being part of this cam-

the general public about

know about what happens

I

scary,

to the

that clothing

who we

We

are

and about working

are finally letting the people

money

they spend on a piece of

came from, who made it, and how little

they got paid. This campaign might help redistribute the wealth;

might help people understand that workers are not getting share.

it

their fair

We want people to know that the clothes they wear are being

produced by the same kind of people slaves in El

Monte.

as us, the

—Los Angeles,

workers

California,

who were

March

25, 1997

243

Notes to Justin-Time" Guerrilla Warriors '

1

From amended complaint in US District Court Central District of California number 95-5958-ABC (BQRx), October 25, 1995:19, cited in Liebhold

case

and Rubenstein, 1999:63.

2

The

UNITE,

task force, the Apparel Industry Partnership, included

the

National Consumers League, the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Union, the

Center on

Interfaith

Committee

Human

for

manufacturers,

like Liz

Corporate

Rights,

as

Responsibility,

well

as

Claiborne, Nike, Reebok, and L.L. Bean. See Ross,

1997:293. For a critique of the task force and

Kwong,

and the Lawyers from large

representatives

UNITE's

role within

it,

see

Peter, 1997:194-196.

"Na" Cheunchujit, March

3

Interview with Rojana

4 5

See Parker and Slaughter, 1994.

25, 1997.

This was the Black Panther Party's rough translation of North Korea's "juche" ideology of self-reliance. See Cumings, 1997:394-433 for

more on juche.

6

For example, Charles J. Kim, executive director of the Korean American Coalition in Los Angeles says that the stance some Korean restaurant owners have taken towards KIWA's organizing is "nuhjuk-ko, najuk-ja" (You die and I die)." See Kang, Connie, 1998c:A26.

7

Thus,

CSWA exposes how employer appeals for Chinese ethnic unity against

"lofan [outsiders]

who

really

don't understand us"

often nothing but a

is

fig

At the same time the group does not let the manufacturers and retailers who benefit from the whole set up laugh themselves all the way to the bank while "Asians fight Asians" in the enclave. Similarly, the clashes between Koreatown bosses and workers have unfolded "Korean style," i.e., "in your face," "up close and personal," with both sides issuing strong moral appeals and using whatever leverage they could to bolster their positions. The emergence of first-generation immigrant workers as an organized force, supported by "20- and 30-something" Korean-American organizers with ties to outside labor and grassroots movements in other racial communities, is shaking up the class, gender, age, and racial status quo and knocking open a space for workers voices in Koreatown. See also Chinese Staff and Workers Association, 1999:5; Chinese Staff and Workers Association, 1997; Interview with JoAnn Lum, March 1, 2000; Kang, 1998c; Interview with Paul Lee, March 21, 1997; and Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates, 1999:4. leaf for shafting workers.

8

See

API

Force,

1

997; Center for Political Education,

1

999;

Korean American

End Domestic Abuse, 1999; and the Labor Institute, 1994. Committee for Asian Women, 1991; and Martens, Margaret Hosmer and Coalition to

9

Swasti Mitter

10

For example,

SEIU

(ed.),

1994.

in addition to

launching

its

innovative Justice for Janitors drive,

also played the lead role in initiating the

Campaign

for Justice, a

low-waged subcontracted manufacturing jobs, and service jobs in Silicon Valley, San Jose, California. The effort was spearheaded by SEIU Local 1877, and joined by HERE, Communication Workers of America, ACTWU, and the Teamsters. The multi-union

offensive

targeting

janitors,

Sweatshop Warriors

244

campaign provided the inspiration for the formation of the Los Action Project (LAMAP), a multi-union, multi-employer, industry-wide, community-based organizing project that sought to organize workers in the Alameda Corridor in Los Angeles. According to immigrant labor sociologist Hector L. Delgado, this project ran aground because "Few unions were prepared to put aside self-interest, pool resources, and act in concert with one another to develop deeper and broader ties with workers in the communities where they lived and worked." For an excellent summation of LAMAP, see Delgado, 2000: 237. short-lived

Angeles

11

Manufacturing

See for example, Morey, 2001; Bacon, 2000; Moody, 1996; Milkman, 2000; Acuria, 1996; and Labor Notes, 1998.

12 13

14 15

Martinez,

Anne and Edwin

Garcia, 2001.

According to state librarian Kevin Starr, "The Hispanic nature of California has been there all along, and it was temporarily swamped between the 1880's and the 1960's, but that was an aberration. This is a reassertion of the intrinsic demographic D.N.A. of the longer pattern, which is part of the California-Mexico continuum." (Purdum, 2001.) Greenhouse, 2001b.

For example,

work of

ILGWU, ACTWU,

and

later

UNITE observed

the organizing

what the union saw as their most successful organizing tactics. Lifting from the CSWA, La Mujer Obrera, Fuerza Unida, and AIWA models, ILGWU opened its own immigrant garment workers' centers and experimented with offering English classes and associate membership in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. ILGWU, ACTWU, and eventually UNITE, also utilized AIWA, Fuerza Unida, and KIWA's successful anti-corporate campaigns, national boycotts, and organizing among a newly awakened generation of students and youth.

The

the centers and replicated

rub, however,

comes when

UNITE

prioritizes

working with the

manufacturers over fighting for the rights of its members. (See the chapter on

Chinese garment workers.) UNITE's stance as a business union shapes relationship with the workers centers.

The union

workers centers where expedient, but taken

its

has borrowed from the

a hostile stance

toward them

when it feels like the workers' disputes will jeopardize its relationship with the As labor historian Peter Kwong has shown, in New York's Chinatown this problem stems from the top-down manner in which the union works in partnership manufacturers to get jurisdiction over subcontractors and the workers. Kwong says that this top-down method does not require that workers also be organized from the bottom-up, it gives the union divided loyalties, and the highly centralized union "does not appreciate activism from its members." See Kwong, 1987:149-150; and Center for Economic and Social Rights, 1999:3. For coverage of UNITE's controversial use of "liquidated damages" see Henriques, 1998:B3, 1999 and 2000; and Fitch, 1998a, 1998b, 1998c & 2000. When some manufacturers pull work from union shops to send production overseas, they pay the union employers.

penalties called "liquidated damages."

16

For example, the immigrant workers centers in California built mutual SEIU and HERE locals during organizing campaigns among homecare, hotel, garment, healthcare, janitorial, and restaurant workers. Additionally, other union and labor movement affiliated institutions that solidarity with

245

Notes to "Just-in-Time" Guerrilla Warriors

specifically organize

low-waged

women and

Asian, Pacific Islander, and

some of the workers'

Latino workers have shared cooperative relations with centers. 9 to 5, the National Association

of Working

Women,

has been very

number of the women workers' centers. 9 to 5 is the nation's non-profit membership organization of working women which has

supportive of a largest

organized

low-waged workers

in

sex-segregated

jobs

to

end

sexual

harassment and discrimination, and to win better wages, working conditions, and family- friendly policies. Some of the centers have also received solidarity

from the AFL-CIO women's department, the Asian Pacific American Labor and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. Additionally a number of the workers' centers belong to the Southwest Environmental and Economic Justice Network together with workers' centers and independent unions from the northern Mexico border region. Alliance,

17

"Presentacion de los Centros de Trabaj adores en Chicago" provided by

Maria Carmen Dominguez, February 24, 1997.

18

See

Scharlin

and Villanueva,

1994;

Acuna,

1988:324-330;

Martinez,

Elizabeth, 1998:91-99; Rose, Margaret, 1990 and 1995.

19

CEO Bob Haas, who is the great-great-grandnephew of the company's founder, started out life with an inheritance of some $10 million. Haas emerged as the company's chief executive in 1984, presiding over the closure of Levi's plants across the United States, outsourcing of production overseas, and massive layoffs, including in San Antonio where workers were dumped just as the company scored record-making profits. During Haas' tenure stock prices rose from $2.53 to $265 a share, a 105-fold increase, by 1995. In 1996, after a leveraged buyout of $4.3 billion, the company added $3.3 billion to the corporate debt, for which the Levi's workers paid dearly, despite record sales that year of $7.1 billion. With the buyout, Haas transferred and further concentrated control and wealth to a 4-man voting trust: himself, his uncle Peter Haas, Sr., cousin Peter Haas Jr., and a distant relative, Warren Hellman, who is a partner in Hellmann & Friedman, a San Francisco investment banking firm. Haas family members owned 95 percent of the company stock and Bob Haas' personal stake in the company was estimated to be worth more than $900 million in 1997, the year that the company began once again to downsize thousands of its U.S. workers. See Sherman, 1997 and Stehle, 1998.

20 21 22

Johnston, 1997.

Levi's

Baca, 1997.

18,500 jobs were lost

at

28

US and one

Canadian

plant.

The company

also

closed one French and three Belgian plants. Emert, 1999; Colliver, 2000;

Schoenberger, 2000; Associated Press, 1998b; Frost, 1998.

23 24

ZoD, 1998.

Ruben Solis, April 5, 2000 and Pamela Chiang, April 14, members were pressured to break off support for Fuerza Unida

Interviews with

2001. Union

in 1994, but they le-joined the

during the 1997-1999 layoffs.

25

San

Francisco Examiner, 1994.

women

in protesting Levi's firings

of workers

246

26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

Sweatshop Warriors

Labor Notes, 1998:2. Tanaka, 1997a and 1997b; King, 1998; Associated Press, 1998a. Interview with Viola Casares,

3,

2001. Sweatshop Watch, 2001.

Kever, 1990.

Blumenberg and Ong,

1

994:3 13-316.

Testimony of Domingo Gonzalez, Texas Center Immigrant Women Advocates, 1995a: 18-1 9.

for Policy Studies, in

Asian

Louie, Miriam, 1996.

US Department

of Labor, 1996: 96-108.

See Delloro, 2000. See note 15 above. Interview with Paul Lee, March 21, 1997.

Sweatshop Watch and Korean Immigrant Worker Advocates, 1996.

March 21, 1997, Rojana "Na" Cheunchujit, March and Chanchanit Martorell, March 25, 1997. See also Su, 1997.

Interviews with Paul Lee, 25, 1997,

40 41 42

May

La Mujer Obrera, 1990, 1991, 1996b; and Marquez, 1995.

See Sweatshop Watch, 1999:2; Su, 1997; Liebhold and Rubenstein, 1999. See Sweatshop Watch, 1999:1-2.

National Mobilization Against Sweatshops,

1

999. Interview with

Nancy Eng,

April 13, 2001.

43 44

45

Interview with

Nancy Eng,

April 13, 2001.

Although some 60 percent of its annual revenues are earned through sales in the United States, Donna Karan contracted close to 60 percent of its production to Asian facilities, 20 percent to European, and about 20 to 22 percent to US contractors, using between 440 to 500 contractors worldwide. See Donna Karan International, Annual Reports, 1997-1998, cited in Center for Economic and Social Rights, 1999:11. For more on the race and

class blinders within sections

of the anti-corporate

movement see Elizabeth Martinez's much-read and discussed piece, "Where Was the Color in Seattle? Looking for reasons why the Great Battle was so white." 2000. See also how a large proportion of company layoffs takes place overseas, Leonhardt, 2001. For critical views from movements in the global South about proposals from those in the North, see Raghavan, no date; and Khor, 2000. For a critique of corporate codes of conduct by workers' organizations in Asia and Latin America, see Shepherd, no date; and Jeffcott

andYanz, 1998.

46

For examples of worker- and community-based codes of accountability see principles developed at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, 1991; Working Group Meeting on Trade and Globalization, 1996. the

47 48 49

See Sweatshop Watch, "Frequently Asked Questions." Interview with Chanchanit Martorell,

March

Interview with Jay Mendoza, March 27,

1

25, 1997; Martorell, 1994.

997.

Conclusion

Returning to the Source Korea designates those musicians, dancers, ists

who

ries

the collective heritage of the

dramatists,

carry within their bodies, minds, hearts, souls,

jae [Living Cultural Treasures].

Korean people

The pieces

to

and

and

art-

memo-

be inkan munhwa

that they create are recog-

nized as muhyo'ng munhwa jae [Intangible Cultural Assets], a kind of

shared intellectual and spiritual property of the Korean people.

These

living treasures drink from, then pass along, the

cup of what

they have learned from the oppression and resilience of their people

—

to rejuvenate the

has noted,

many have

community, young and

old.

As Ku Hee-Seo

struggled not to be crushed by bitter hardship,

but to maintain their self-respect and dignity. They celebrate the zest

of life, the

human

spirit, earth, sky,

wind, waves, and

all

that lies be-

tween and beyond.

The women who weather

the transformation

from sweatshop

industry workers to sweatshop warriors could be designated the

Living Cultural Treasures of our communities, and their campaigns and creations, Intangible Cultural Assets. In fighting to

maintain their sense of dignity and self worth, they are learning and teaching the fine art of how the people can win justice and release

pent-up

their

—

book

grant workers lessons.

human

suffering and potential. In the heart of this

the stories of Chinese, Mexican, Korean, (and Thai) immi-

They

—

the sweatshop

movement

to

women shared so many precious, hard-learned how they had suffered at the hands of industries, and how they are building a successful the

told us both

change those industries and develop new ways of

247

Sweatshop Warriors

248

working, thinking, and that these First,

women

living. Let's

examine

a

few of the nuggets

unearthed.

many of

women's defensive

the

through the heart of the

dons of workers' most

US

shot straight

battles

sweatshop system and its multiple viola-

basic, legally

guaranteed

rights.

For example,

"Lisa" and the other Streetbeat garment workers incurred the bosses' wrath

no longer

when they protested that their bodies and spirits

tolerate the killing

100-hour work weeks. Getting cheated

out of their hard-earned back pay was the

women like Wu Wan Mei and Bo Yee to Jenny Chen

could

straw that drove

last

stand up and fight for what

"our sweat and blood money." Maria del Carmen

called

Dominguez of La Mujer Obrera went around for a long time angry that she had not known about the law and what women workers could do to defend their rights. Lee Jung Hee was shocked when she first

learned about her rights during a labor law seminar offered by

KIWA

at

her job

frustrated

then

site,

later

and miserable when

about the law that they went to ally said

to

about workers'

rights.

when

sought out the organization

Kim Chong Ok and

she suffered injuries.

her co-workers got so

their boss cheated

and berated them

KIWA to find out what the law actuKim Seung Min cried when she went

KIWA for help and saw the picture of Chun Tae

II,

the

ment worker martyr who had self-immolated holding Korean labor code book in his hand.

a

young gar-

copy of the

The women in the sweatshop segments of the US workforce are fighting defensive battles just to get the

more The laws

most

basic rights that

work-

protected sectors of the working class often take for

ers in

granted.

codify a set of workers' rights

won

through

pitched battles against bosses in previous periods of US history: the right to a exits,

minimum wage,

for the current stage

the

a

40-hour week, overtime pay, no blocked

and other basic standards. Labor laws

ments.

living

wages,

The sweatshop

mally guaranteed rights

manufacturers and

ground

rules

of contention and balance of power between

owning and working

workers

reflect the

classes.

humane

They

fall

far short

hours, and safe working environ-

industries' violation is

of guaranteeing

of the women's mini-

not an aberration, but business as usual, as

retailers are fully aware.

But the law is of little use

249

Returning to the Source

to

workers unless they

ployers to

know

their rights

comply and respect them

as

and organize

human

to force

beings.

em-

The women

stood up to fight when they could no longer tolerate bosses' abuses. As they fought and learned more about what their rights were from their organizations, they got even more angry and energized to fight

and win. Second, in the course of fighting for their most basic

women

also

rights, the

began to challenge the fundamental premises of the

Bo Yee and

sweatshop pyramid. For example,

Company workers

started out fighting for their

the Lucky Sewing

back wages, but

after

learning about the sweatshop industry pyramid and the minuscule

cut that

went

their legally

to their wages, they quickly

guaranteed

rights.

in capitalist relations, the

went beyond demanding

Asserting a higher standard of ethics

women demanded that manufacturers take

responsibility for violations

of workers'

rights inside

subcontracted

shops. Annie Lai both challenged her immediate boss for unjustly firing

her and demanded accountability from

the door for other

women

DKNY,

thus opening

DKNY subcontractors

working for

to

come forward with evidence of violations of their rights. The women of La Mujer Obrera and Fuerza Unida organized

who ran away with their jobs, often US government free trade policies at taxpay-

against irresponsible employers

encouraged to do so by ers

expense, leaving behind a

ternational bridge ers'

jobs through

on

of

trail

Antonia Flores joined her companeras

Mata argued

that the relationship

profits.

in-

"employer mindset" and Jin declared that

between

Kyung Park, Lee Jung

Kim Chong Ok warned that the bosses had start treating

change

their

workers with respect.

Han

to

Korean restaurant workers would no longer

by the bosses,

as

"you waitress bitch." Pathbreakers

Mi Hee stood up

Maria

on an

be 50/50, instead of the bosses

to

hogging 100 percent of the power and

tolerate hate crimes

tears.

and demand government accountability

companies and workers needed

Hee

and

the border to interrupt the trafficking of work-

NAFTA

to the displaced. Petra

Hee, and

injuries

in civil disobedience

when

like

they would

call

women,

Paek Young Hee and Chu

for their rights despite industry blacklisting,

munity censorship, and family members'

fears.

com-

Sweatshop Warriors

250

These poor into question

Through

yet tenacious sweatshop industry workers called

some of the

their

central lynchpins of the

campaigns, the

women

started to

"new economy."

bump up

against

the limits of their legally guaranteed rights and scale the walls that

and

shield manufacturers

retailers

from

responsibility for

sweatshop

abuses and for the injury and dumping of hundreds of thousands of

women demanded

workers in the United States and abroad. The

some of the famous name darlings in the industries and ethnic worked and the ambitious politicians who foisted their pet policies on their backs, start to remember who had made them rich and powerful and upon whose lives and communithat

enclaves where they

they were trampling.

ties

The women's campaigns revealed the need to put caps on corporate greed and institute a more equitable redistribution of wealth within industry pyramids. They demanded that bosses start to modify their behavior, change their master-class ways, and become better human beings by first respecting the human rights of the workers. And when they talked back to their bosses, the women

—

challenged old patterns of control, domination, censorship,

and internalized oppression within and

their industries,

not only what they were fighting

fighting^r. sis

communities,

families.

Third, as they carried out their battles the fine

fear,

against,

women

started to de-

but also what they were

For example, Maria Antonia Flores talked about the

cri-

down

engulfing El Paso workers, even as her organization laid

the building blocks for workers to independently secure their basic

work, housing, nutrition, health, and freedom of

rights to dignified

expression and ated their

own

affiliation.

The former

Levi's

Docker workers

cre-

sewing and food coops, and surrounded by newly

sewn bedding and

The Koreatown

bags, they

dreamed of once again making

pants.

restaurant workers began fashioning their

health, check-cashing,

and child-care systems,

as they

own

organized

around the marriage of labor and community needs. Maria del 7

Carmen Dominguez

reveled in

all

the

skills

she had learned, feats

she had accomplished, and great friends she had ing the

made through

join-

movement. Lee Jung Hee, Lin Cai Fen, Kyung Park, and

251

Returning to the Source

Rojana "Na" Cheunchujit struggled to learn English, declare

own

victories,

and aspire

to

be

fuller

human

their

beings beyond the

sti-

Carmen Ibarra, Maria del Carmen Dominguez, Yu Sau Kwan, Kyung Park, and others testified in word and deed about how their transformation included a revolufling confines

of

their jobs.

tion in gender relations within their families ters

and sons have grown up

Even

as they

women

who

their

daugh-

began to switch to the offense,

experimenting with and creating their

own independent

alternative

and programs. Outside the crushing environment of the

sweatshop, the to

in

continued to fight in defense of their rights within

the sweatshop pyramid, the

visions

and

to be.

women started to envision the basic rights and needs

which every human being should be

these rights, they began brainstorming

co-workers, neighbors, and family

entitled.

how

members

As they

visualized

they could help their

get access to such sim-

ple pleasures as creative labor, a full stomach, education for their kids, a

warm place to

and the company of one's had learned through

freedom

sleep,

friends.

a lifetime

to express oneself without fear,

They

started using the skills they

of labor to hatch their projects, pro-

grams, and mutual support systems. They learned to build a

world through

trial

and

error.

Sometimes they stopped

to laugh

new and

console themselves that they couldn't do any worse than the bosses

and

politicians

had done

in

and then they stood back

running their communities. Evenin

workswomanship of what they

new

amazement and admired

now

the fine

created, the skills they learned, the

consciousness and energy that coursed through their veins, the

sister spirits

they befriended, the communities they harvested.

Fourth, as the battles, as

sions

and

women

conducted

their defensive

and offensive

they dreamed and experimented with their alternative structures, they

began to fashion a

vi-

collective, sharing, bot-

tom-up, group-oriented methodology that enabled them to magnify their consciousness,

wisdom, and

condensed volumes of

strength.

lifetime experience

For example, Bo Yee

and years of grassroots

organizing methodology into two deceptively simple sentences:

"Let the people talk about their broad experiences. Let them pinpoint where the problems are, and from there

how

to organize

Sweatshop Warriors

252

When recounting the

fight for

back wages and against factory closure thrust upon workers

at a sub-

themselves to solve these problems."

contracted shop producing for Kathy Lee Gifford, Jaclyn Smith and

Tracy Evans, Lee Yin

Wah declared with obvious pride, "The work-

how "we stress that problems how immigrant women have to deal with disempowering messages from both their home and adopted lands. Jenny Chu, Annie Lai, and Bo Yee insisted that they ers

were so smart." She talked about

can't just be solved

by oneself," and

were tough enough to stand up for

their rights

translation help in carrying out their battles.

Seung Min described the

struggle for

pressive family and work systems.

—

they could get

if

Wu Wan Mei and Kim

women's autonomy from

re-

Annie Lai talked about the mutual

interdependence between the development of each woman's capacity to fight

and

that

of her organization to back and link her to the

broader workers' movement.

Fuerza Unida members spoke of retraining themselves to work cooperatively, breaking the competitive patterns they

and helping working-class

Levi's

had learned

at

women cross the deep valley of de-

Carmen Ibarra and Viola Casares on how their faith in God steadied their participation in the movement, while the Korean women survivors of domestic abuse drew on shared cultural and spiritual sources to release their sufferpression to get to the other side. reflected

ing and build sisterhood.

Through ers,

their trust

and

these sweatshop warriors are

to share

They

and analyze

wisdom of women workcalling on the power of the people

belief in the

their life experiences

are reaching out to each other

and map the road ahead.

and linking arms to break

through the walls of silence and censorship that matter

who

isolate

erected these barriers. Especially as poor

them, no

women on the

bottom of multiple pyramids of oppression, they recognize their

strength depends on working together and pooling

that their

knowledge and resources. They are fine-tuning the tension between the music they the

make and

risks they take as individuals

combined harmonies of

comadres

when

their

many hued,

with that of

ethnically diverse

they sing, dance, picket, and perform together as fu-

sion artists to rejuvenate their communities.

They

are struggling

253

Returning to the Source

hard to overcome the individualism, competition, and narrow

from

self-interest they learned

tem through

identifying with

their bosses

and the sweatshop

and taking responsibility for

sys-

their

grassroots sisters locally and globally. These Living Cultural Treasures are both channeling ture,

and

spirit

Through

and enriching the

collective

wisdom,

cul-

of the people.

Dear Reader, have

the pages of this book, you,

partici-

pated in a kind of written word "workers' exchange" and "study tour" that poor peoples' groups have organized across the decades for their friends in labor,

human

rights

women's, church, student, community, and

movements. You have accompanied the workers dur-

ing their peripatetic wanderings cities

of

their

homelands

— from

the villages and sprawling

to the factories, sweatshops, restaurants,

hospitals, hotels,

and inner-city barrios of

The women who

clothe, feed,

lead resistance

and care for

on our behalf, have shared

their us,

adopted country.

who

take risks

and

their stories with us so

we

can better understand their movements and join them in their strug-

And they are not alone. They are joined by workers of other industries, races, cultures, communities, and nations. And they have

gles.

you and me. Listening to the

them

ism. Seeing

Listening to the

women

women means

of what today's struggles for the

women

speak cannot be an act of consumer-

fight for their rights

cannot be an act of voyeurism.

returning to the source, to the heart

justice

and dignity are

all

about. Just as

have stepped forward, pushed themselves harder, and

on new challenges with oh-so-scarce resources, so each of us is called upon to do the same, wherever we may work and live, with whomever we consider our sisters and brothers, co-workers, and community. We must ask ourselves individually and collectively what we are doing to challenge the pyramids of oppression we face. Turning down the volume of the elite's chatter, we must train struggled to take

our ears to

listen

harder to hear the vibrant voices and

ship of grassroots folk

on

movements. As we embrace our labors of urgency and ways remember

to

make

lyrical leader-

the bottom, the foundation rock of

mass

love, let us al-

the time to walk those picket lines, send in

Sweatshop Warriors

254

those protest

letters,

mail in those labels, organize those actions, and

extend our unstinting solidarity to grassroots

women

everywhere.

Sewing Sisterhood In sewingfastening trimmingfinal threads of this book Colors textures woof weave of women s stories

Come humming back Viola Casares confides

to

her comadre Petra

Mata

Levi's treats us like we're stupid

Like

only thing we're good enough to do

Ad nauseum Devalue

big shot corporate execs

disrespect

But when we ask

We can

slice

is

sew for them

media moguls policy wonks

immigrants women workers

listen learn cry belly-laugh

with

women

chop cleaver clean through such simplistic stereotypes

Yes, you 'd better believe these

hard working women are "goodfor sewing"

The)' are lightning speed sewers cutters knitters weavers assemblers solderers

Cookers cleaners

cultivators caretakers healers harvesters agronomists

miracle workers

Whose work

spins this world 'round

Kyung Park

declares they go deep

Sweat breathe black dust into

Know how To

it really feels to

down

inside

mines

their lungs

work at pit bottom

tell the story right strike the

pay load rich

Wu Wan Mei insists they make up half the world hold up half the sky Do

double triple shift duty birthing babies families communities movements.

Corporate

As

elites

are dead wrong treating

These dear

Mothers

women

Like

From

—

our very own grandmothers

sisters cousins girlfriends wives lovers

Are smart savvy

—

strong survivors "good"for so

much and more

leading movements to liberate us all sins of runaway corporate greed/globalisation gone

Women who

shelter gently cradled in palms ofgolden

Tough tender tiny

Of homegrown To

women

"stupid" "only good enough" to sew service slave

amuck

brown hands

seeds shoots roots bulbs buds

healing herbs remedies treatments solutions

stop corporate trampling on lives workers communities

Our Pacha Mzma./ Mother Earth/Uri Tang/Huang Tudi

Women

are not powerless victims to be pitied

255

Returning to the Source

Usedfor some fly-by-night sweatshop expose Trod upon

like "this bridge called

my back"

In hot panting pursuit ofprofits positioning careers

Nor are Sky

they

superwomen

to be placed

on pedestal

high above pain pimples of rest of us

We who

have been

known

to

—

suddenly burp fart sob bleed

Break out break down fallflat on ourfaces Sometimes step-by-step

Sometimes flying by the seat of their

Double knit

stretch

pantalones/ba-ji/cheuhngfu

Women

learn on-the-job through school-ofhard-knocks

How to

organise grassroots people

To weave own webs networks demands

visions

Na Cheunchujit says women are finally letting people know What happens

Who made

to

money

they spend on clothing

that clothing

How little workers got paid How women kick-butt campaigns 's

Mightjust help

But witnessing

redistribute the wealth.

these mighty pinata-busters

Swinging away at sweatshop system

Must not

be mere spectator sport

Women

well-aimed blows must kindle ignite activism solidarity

From

's

extendedfamilies

sister

communities

In increasingly multi-colored sweatshop nation/plantation/ reservation

Women's family

Of indigenous

tree roots / branches reach ancestors / descendants

mestizo mulatto peoples ofAmericas

Of coolie/ bitter strength nodongja-nongmin/'worker-peasants

ofAsia

African survivors of Middle Passage

Migrants

Eager

From IJke

refugees

shackles of our colonisers the

women, we each bring our own

Experiences

Like

workers of all colors

to free ourselves

the

interests strengths

women, we must

weaknesses talents challenges

struggle individually collectively

To

recognise confront conquer our oppression

To

decide to focus principally on immediate family survival

Or shoulder added responsibility for community movement society planet

Sweatshop Warriors

256

To determine how high a price we

are willing to pay for speaking out

Orfor our silence To

toil

and sweat together with people

Our own

race gender generation

To both give and

receive

inside outside

sexual orientation

energy/&nimo/chi/ki

class

to

community

our sistahs and bruddahs

i

struggle

To

let

our

shout chant graffiti-tag

spirits sing

drum

beat create

New corridos/minyo/mahngo/jwzgj- of labor love life For this movement Grassroots

Our very

be at its core

—

heartbeat head hands breath soul

Yjet usjoin

Wrap

to survive succeed

women must

our

sister

sweatshop warriors design trace cut

stitch

hem press weave

each other in rainbow banner of our liberation.

Thai garment workers from the El Monte "slaveshop" attending and performing the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations

Japanese Community and Cultural Center,

Annual Fundraiser

Littie Tokyo, Los Angeles. Photo courtesy of Thai Community Development Center.

in

at the

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