By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, June 23, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A01

The strain of trying to regulate the apparel industry in the state and put an end to sweatshops became clear in an unguarded moment Friday, when state Labor Commissioner Raymond Bramucci admitted that even an expected new law isn’t strong enough.
Before retracting that statement, made at a news conference, he added that he did not have enough inspectors to enforce the current law, which expires June 30.
“We have very, very poor means to police this industry,” Bramucci said. “We are trying to make it much more difficult to operate here. It is not easy. . . . We try to do a job with the tools given to us. It took us a whole lot of arguing to get this [the new law] through, and I don’t think it is strong enough.”
Someone asked how many people would be needed to inspect the thousands of sweatshops in the state. He declined to say.
“I want to work this out first,” he said. “I’m sorry I said that. Scratch it. I want to try to enforce this law first, vigorously.
“We have enough people to give a powerful signal. We don’t have to hit every factory, every minute of every day. But if we have means like we’re going to have with this new law, which gives us the right to seize goods and close down factories after repeated violations, we will have the beginning of the tool to have a reasonable control of the industry.”
Bramucci had invited the journalists along for raids Friday by federal and labor officials on two sweatshops. Since the crackdown started on Monday, 23 shops have been cited for violations of the state Apparel Registration Act, and for various federal and state wage, hour, child labor, home work, and records infractions.
Legislation awaiting Governor Florio’s signature would establish an Apparel Industry Unit, which would investigate violations of state laws and exploitation of workers. Starting this fall, the Labor Department will train industry workers at regional technical and vocational schools, Bramucci said.
At the first stop on Friday, state, federal, and city inspectors followed by about 25 journalists entered a garage with red roofing shingles for siding behind 4002 Palisade Ave., Union City. The shop was about 70 feet by 25 feet. Inside was an operation known as Lucy Fashion, with 11 sewing machines and, on several clotheslines, hundreds of blouses and skirts tagged “Made in USA.”
Lucy Fashion was one of the worst examples of the shops inspectors visited in Hudson and Essex counties last week, Bramucci said. A Union City fire inspector also cited the shop for building and fire code violations.
Bramucci said the shop would probably be long gone before the state could make it comply with regulations. Fly-by-night operations are rampant in the industry, making it difficult to keep count of the sweatshops. He estimated that about 10,000 people work in North Jersey sweatshops.
Bramucci blamed the conditions on New York garment manufacturers who farm out work to contractors without paying them enough to adequately compensate workers.
The renewed enforcement would help combat one of the plagues that the legitimate apparel industry faces: low labor costs in the sweatshops, said Aleta Hernandez, assistant political education director in New Jersey for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.
The low labor costs in foreign countries drove the jobs in the industry underground, and made doing business legally difficult for local companies that often have to pay at least minimum wage, health insurance, and other benefits, Hernandez said.
Hernandez also blames greed on the part of the manufacturers because the low costs do not necessarily translate to low prices for consumers. All profits go into the pockets of manufacturers, she said.
Labor lawyer Craig Livingston said he sees at least another culprit in what he called an assault on the American worker: the U.S. government.
“The United States is probably unique in the world in not protecting its basic industries from cheap imports,” Livingston said. “Our basic industries are being crucified on the cross of free trade.”

Keywords: CLOTHING; EMPLOYMENT; LAW; STORE; VIOLATION; NEW JERSEY; UNION CITY

ID: 17347430 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)