Byline: Merle Linda Wolin; 1981-01-18; Los Angeles Herald-Examiner; pages A1, A10
Report: "Sweatshop" - Merle Linda Wolin - Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
Tags: garment industry, homework, labor, Los Angeles, posed as, sweat shops, undercover, worked as
No one seemed to know how much garment industry homework is done in Los Angeles. And I had no idea how work illegally filters down to homes from the contractors or manufacturers. So at the end of May, I decided to find out on the streets. I had a few preconcieved notions about homework. In the Mendoza shop where I worked in early May, I witnessed trusted sewing machine operators carry out unfinished blouses stuffed in large, green plastic garbage bags, presumably to be finished later at home. For nine days, from 8 AM to 5 PM, I walked the residential streets of the city, from Central Los Angeles to Sunland in the north, to Wilmington, the "Heart of the Harbor," to El Monte on the east. I chose streets where it seemed working-class and poor people lived; man neighborhoods were largely Spanish-speaking.
Description:The third chapter of Wolin's undercover work in the garment industry. Here, the reporter examines garment "homeworkers," who are often undocumented workers.
Rights: No known rights restrictions.
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