LOS ANGELES (By Julia Preston, NYT)
September 30, 2009 — A clothing maker
with a vast garment factory in downtown
Los Angeles is firing about 1,800
immigrant employees in the coming days —
more than a quarter of its work force —
after a federal investigation turned up
irregularities in the identity documents
the workers presented when they were
hired.
The firings at the company, American
Apparel, have become a showcase for the
Obama administration’s effort to reduce
undocumented immigration by forcing
employers to dismiss unauthorized
workers rather than by using workplace
raids. The firings, however, have
divided opinion in California over the
effects of the new approach, especially
at a time of high joblessness in the
state and with a major, well-regarded
employer as a target.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat,
called the dismissals “devastating,” and
his office has insisted the federal
government should focus on employers
that exploit their workers. American
Apparel has been lauded by city
officials and business leaders for
paying well above the garment industry
standard, offering health benefits and
not long ago giving $18 million in stock
to its workers.
But opponents of undocumented
immigration, including Representative
Brian P. Bilbray, a Republican from San
Diego who is chairman of a House caucus
that opposes efforts to extend legal
status to undocumented immigrants, back
the enforcement effort. They say
American Apparel is typical of many
companies that, in Mr. Bilbray’s words,
have “become addicted to undocumented
labor.”
“Of course it’s a good idea,” Mr.
Bilbray said of the crackdown. “They
seem to think somehow the law doesn’t
matter, that crossing the line from
legal to undocumented is not a big
deal.”
In July, the federal Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency, known as
ICE, opened audits of employment records
similar to the one at American Apparel
at 654 companies around the country.
John T. Morton, who, as assistant
secretary of homeland security, runs
ICE, said the audits covered all types
of employers with immigrant workers,
including many like American Apparel
that were not shadowy sweatshops or
serial violators of labor codes.
The investigation at American Apparel
was started 17 months ago, under
President George W. Bush. Obama
administration officials point out they
have not followed the Bush pattern of
concluding such investigations with a
mass roundup of workers. Those raids
drew criticism for damaging businesses
and dividing immigrant families.
Immigration officials said they would
now focus on employers, primarily
wielding the threat of civil complaints
and fines, instead of raids and worker
deportation.
“Now all manner of companies face the
very real possibility the government,
using our basic civil powers, is going
to come knocking on the door,” Mr.
Morton said.
The goal, he said, is to create “a truly
national deterrent” to hiring
unauthorized labor that would “change
the practices of American employers as a
class.”
The employees being fired from American
Apparel could not resolve discrepancies
that investigators discovered in
documents they had presented at hiring
and in federal Social Security or
immigration records — probably because
the documents were fake. Peter Schey, a
lawyer for American Apparel, said ICE
had cited deficiencies in the company’s
record keeping, but the authorities had
not accused it of knowingly hiring
undocumented workers. A fine threatened
by the agency was withdrawn, Mr. Schey
said.
After months of discussions with ICE
officials, the company moved on its own
to terminate the workers because, Mr.
Schey said, federal guidelines for such
cases were “in a shambles.” The Bush
administration proposed rules for
employers to follow when workers’
documents did not match, but a federal
court halted the effort and the Obama
administration decided to abandon it.
With its bright-pink, seven-story sewing
plant in the center of Los Angeles,
American Apparel is one of the biggest
manufacturing employers in the city, and
makes a selling point of the “Made in
U.S.A.” labels in its racy T-shirts and
miniskirts. Dov Charney, the company’s
chief executive, has campaigned, in
T-shirt logos and eye-catching
advertisements, to “legalize L.A.,” by
granting legal status to undocumented
immigrants, a policy President Obama
supports.
Since the audit began, Mr. Charney has
treaded carefully, eager to show his
publicly traded company is obeying the
law, and to reassure investors the loss
of so many workers will not damage the
business, since production has slowed
already with the recession.
But Mr. Charney is also questioning why
federal authorities made a target of his
company. Over the summer he joined his
workers in a street protest against the
firings. Because the immigration
investigation is still under way, Mr.
Charney declined to be interviewed for
this article but did respond in an
e-mail message.
The firings “will not help the economy,
will not make us safer,” he said.
“No matter how we choose to define or
label them,” he said, undocumented
immigrants “are hard-working, taxpaying
workers.”
On a recent visit to American Apparel’s
factory floors here, amid the whirring
of sewing machines and the whooshing of
cooling fans, a murmur of many languages
rose: mostly Spanish, but also Chinese,
Korean, Vietnamese and Portuguese.
Masseurs were offering 20-minute
massages for sewers in need of a break.
But there was also a mood of mourning,
as work was interrupted with farewell
parties. The majority of workers losing
their jobs are women, most of whom are
working to support families. Many
departing workers have been with the
company for a decade or more.
Executives said many workers had learned
skills specific to a proprietary
production system that allows American
Apparel to make 250,000 garments a week
in Los Angeles, while keeping prices
competitive with imports from places
like China.
Some workers who are leaving said the
company had been a close-knit community
for them. Jesús, 30, originally from
Puebla, Mexico, said he was hired 10
years ago as a sewing machine operator,
then worked and studied his way up to an
office job as coordinating manager.
“I learned how to think here,” said
Jesús, who would not reveal his last
name because of his undocumented status.
The company provides health and life
insurance, he said, and he earns about
$900 a week, with taxes deducted from
his paycheck.
Like many others, Jesús said his next
move was to hunt for work in Los
Angeles. He will not return to Mexico,
he said, because he is gay and fears
discrimination.
“There they treat you and judge you
without even knowing you,” Jesús said.
He said several job offers from
mainstream garment makers in this
country had been withdrawn once he was
asked for documents.
“Being realistic,” he said, “I guess I’m
going to have to go to one of those
sweatshop companies where I’m going to
get paid under the table.”
ICE has made no arrests so far at the
factory. But Mr. Morton of ICE said the
agency would not rule out pursuing
workers proven to be undocumented
immigrants.
Mr. Schey said company human resources
managers had added new scrutiny to
hiring procedures. But workers facing
dismissal pointed to the line of job
applicants outside the factory one
recent day, who, like many of them, were
almost all Spanish-speaking immigrants.
“I think the Americans think garment
sewing is demeaning work,” said
Francisco, 38, a Guatemalan with nine
years at the plant who is being forced
to leave.
A top supervisor, he is training new
employees to replace him.
