[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 134 (Wednesday, September 25, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S11306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KENNEDY:
  S. 2127. A bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to 
provide for legal accountability for sweatshop conditions in the 
garment industry, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Labor and 
Human Resources.


                      the stop the sweatshops act

  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, today I am introducing the Stop the 
Sweatshops Act. This needed legislation attacks the exploitation of 
garment industry workers by unscrupulous clothing manufacturers. By 
making clothing manufacturers liable for sweatshop practices by 
contractors, the bill will require manufacturers to exert their 
considerable economic power to ensure fair treatment of garment 
workers.
  Sweatshops continue to plague the garment industry. Of the 22,000 
manufacturers of clothing and accessories in the United States, more 
than half are paying wages substantially below the minimum wage, and a 
third are exposing their workers to serious safety and health risks.
  Sweatshops run by unscrupulous contractors have a long and sordid 
history in this country. In 1911, a tragic fire at the Triangle 
Shirtwaist Co. on Manhattan's Lower East Side killed 146 young 
immigrant women, who suffocated or burned to death because the exits 
had been locked or blocked.
  Eighty-five years later, conditions too often have not improved. In 
August 1996, four Brooklyn garment factories were closed and their 
owners arrested for operating sweatshops. Among the fire code 
violations were locked exit doors, obstructed aisles, and violations of 
sprinkler system requirements. In addition, the contractors maintained 
two sets of accounting records, one showing that workers were being 
paid as little as $2.67 per hour--far less than the minimum wage. The 
workers, all Asian immigrants, were making clothes for K-Mart. A 
similar sweatshop scandal came to light last spring with respect to 
clothing made for Wal-Mart stores.
  In August 1995, Federal investigators raided a sewing factory outside 
Los Angeles. In a compound surrounded by barbed wire, agents found 
dozens of Thai and Mexican immigrant women working 20-hour days for as 
little as $1 per hour. The women were held captive at their sewing 
tables by guards who threatened them if they tried to escape.
  As these examples make clear, current law is not adequate to prevent 
such abuses. The 800 investigators of the Department of Labor who 
monitor compliance with wage and hour laws cannot do the job alone. 
Manufacturers have the economic muscle and market power to end these 
abuses. Instead, under the current system, the market power works in 
the wrong direction--it encourages contractors to inflict sweatshop 
conditions on employees, rather than pay fair wages and maintain proper 
working conditions.
  Many law-abiding manufacturers already recognize the need to stamp 
out sweatshops in the United States. But voluntary codes of conduct and 
monitoring programs cannot eradicate the problem. K-Mart requires its 
garment contractors to identify all subcontractors they employ and make 
regular and surprise inspections of manufacturing operations. But this 
requirement did not prevent the fire code violations, wage violations, 
and other illegal practices of the contractors arrested in Brooklyn 
this summer.
  The most effective way to enlist manufacturers in the battle against 
sweatshops is to make them liable along with their contractors for 
violations of the law. Manufacturers who know they will face liability 
will take the steps necessary to ensure that their contractors comply 
with applicable laws.
  Our Stop the Sweatshops Act does just that. It amends the Fair Labor 
Standards Act to make manufacturers in the garment industry liable with 
contractors for violations of these laws.
  Manufacturers will be liable for injunctive relief and civil 
penalties assessed against a contractor found to have broken the law. 
They will also be liable for back pay owed to employees for such 
violations. Manufacturers will be liable only for violations committed 
on work done for that manufacturer.
  The bill also authorizes the Secretary of Labor to assess a civil 
penalty of up to $1,000 for each employee in cases where contractors 
fail to keep required payroll records. If the records are fraudulent, 
the Secretary can assess penalties up to $10,000 for the first offense 
and $15,000 for further offenses. These penalties will give employers 
an incentive to keep proper records, and will punish contractors who 
attempt to conceal their abuses by maintaining two sets of records.
  The bill sends a clear message to garment industry employers. 
Exploitation of workers will not be tolerated. Sweatshops are 
unacceptable. We intend to do all we can to stamp them out, and this 
legislation will help us achieve that goal.
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