[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 25, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1508-H1509]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    H.R. 23, THE STOP SWEATSHOPS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of 
my colleagues a tragic event of yesterday and raise a call to action on 
a serious problem of today.
  Today marks the 87th anniversary of what was, by many accounts, the 
worst factory fire in the history of our Nation, a fire that by the 
time it was finally quenched, had taken the lives of 146 women, many of 
whom would better be described as young ladies, girls as young as 13 
years of age. The fact that 146 innocent lives were lost make the 
events of March 25, 1911, horrible, but it is the reason why these 
lives were lost that makes it a very tragic, a serious tragedy and a 
crime.
  The fire occurred in the factory at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, 
a woman's clothing manufacturer. The factory was little more than 500 
women crammed together at sewing machines in a small building which now 
houses part of New York University, forced to stay at the machines for 
long hours at little pay. The tragedy was fostered by the fact that the 
room was packed well beyond its capacity and the doors were locked by 
the owners to keep the women at their machines.
  Mr. Speaker, this is history being repeated today, a setting which 
led to the loss of 146 lives in 15 minutes. As great a tragedy as the 
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was, the bigger tragedy is that the 
very conditions that led to it 87 years ago still exist. Despite what 
many think, sweatshops are not a thing of the past nor are they the 
domain of Third World nations. They exist right here in this greatest 
of all democracies.
  Mr. Speaker, a 1994 General Accounting Office study estimated that 
New York City's famed garment industry may be populated by as many as 
2,000 sweatshops. In Los Angeles and Miami, 90 percent, 80 percent of 
all garment shops are sweatshops; the Department of Labor officials 
have determined that in my own State of New Jersey, in the northern 
part of the State, 300 sweatshops, a figure that is actually on the 
rise as more and more sweatshops are migrating across the river from 
New York to New Jersey to take advantage of less expensive rents.
  The continued proliferation of sweatshops is one of the greatest 
threats to the continued vitality of our economy and the rights of 
hard-working Americans. The honorable businesses that observe the Fair 
Labor Standards Act

[[Page H1509]]

and the other laws of this Nation that govern the workplace are put at 
serious competitive disadvantage when they are forced to compete with 
sweatshops that ignore all the laws, and then we have stars go on 
television and smile and say of their sponsored products, they know 
nothing about it.
  How can we reasonably expect a company that pays its workers a 
livable wage and provides a safe workplace to compete with sweatshops? 
Such a notion is absurd. If we continue to allow these sweatshops to 
operate, who are the real losers? Our workers, the millions of hard-
working Americans who will see their wages artificially repressed and 
their jobs lost as legitimate businesses are forced out of business by 
sweatshops.
  Mr. Speaker, what does it say about us as a society if we are willing 
to allow sweatshops that treat humans worse than we would treat animals 
to continue to operate; sweatshops where children and women are forced 
to work 14 hours a day, overcrowded rooms at a fraction of the minimum 
wage? Mr. Speaker, if we are going to save jobs, especially those in 
the manufacturing industry, and ensure our workers appropriate 
conditions and pay, we must crack down on these illegal sweatshops.

  I have joined with several of my colleagues to send a strong message 
by cosponsoring H.R. 23, the Stop Sweatshops Act. This important 
measure would hold any manufacturer legally responsible if it or one of 
its contractors operates a sweatshop.
  Simply increasing the penalties is not enough. It is time for the 
Department of Labor to get off their fannies, to begin addressing the 
problem with the seriousness that this warrants. It is time for the 
Department to make exposing and putting sweatshops out of business a 
real priority.
  Mr. Speaker, 87 years ago 146 young women died in what amounts to a 
senseless tragedy motivated by greed. We owe it to their memory to rid 
our Nation of sweatshops and those who endorse them, and fight against 
those who smile and say they know nothing about it when they endorse 
those products.

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