Results tagged “sweatshop”

David Yassky is best known in some political circles as the man who was the only white candidate in 2006 for the Congressional seat being vacated by Major Owens, leading some to accuse him of racial carpetbagging. Now he has the unenviable task of trying to pull an upset in Tuesday's comptroller runoff election against John Liu, blocking him from being the first Asian-American elected to citywide office.

City Councilman John Liu is running for Comptroller and, in a TV ad, he says he's worked in a sweat shop with his parents. However, a Daily News reporter wrote yesterday that he never did, based on what Liu's mother told her: Jamy Liu says she never worked in factory, though she did bring home fabric; her sons helped her with and were "paid 25 cents for every ball he spun on a yarn-spinning tool," money that Liu's father Joseph said was "allowance." Liu fired back, with a statement on his website, calling the News piece "gotcha" journalism, "My mom was very reluctant and embarrassed to talk about her experience working in the garment industry," and noted that many sweatshops "including the one my mother worked in - combined factory hours with home-based piece work to maximize the exploitation and squeeze the most out of workers: even after leaving the factory, the work never ends." Today, the News stands firm and wonders why Liu "initially said his mother worked in a sweatshop while her children were 'latchkey' kids. Now he claims she worked at home during the school year, but brought her boys to the factory during the summer." Related: Liu fires shots at Councilman David Yassky when asked by the News to discuss his rivals for the position.

State Labor Department investigators who raided a clothing manufacturer in the garment district Tuesday night say sweatshop workers had been toiling to make dress uniforms for the NYPD. According to NY1, the department doesn't have a contract with the raided company, Forest Uniform Corp., but had been recommending officers privately buy their uniforms from them. Labor Department Commissioner Patricia Smith told reporters yesterday that the company has been cheating its 16 employees out of nearly $500,000 in overtime pay: "While the fake timecards show employees working 35 or 40 hours in a given workweek, the real ones told a much different story. Employees were found to be working 70 to 80 hours a week, sometimes without a day of rest." Investigators also accused a contractor that works with Forest Uniform of violating labor laws. In a statement released yesterday, a combative Smith said other sweatshop owners should take notice: "For too long, this employer and its contractor have flagrantly thumbed their noses at our investigators. Enough is enough. Our patience in this matter is over. Either pay your workers and get in compliance, or we’ll confiscate or tag every last shirt, jacket and sock you produce."

The state Department of Labor closed a garment factory yesterday, citing sweatshop conditions. Jin Shun manufactured clothing for The Gap, Macy's, Banana Republic, The Limited, Victoria's Secret and more in a factory, and officials say mostly Chinese immigrants were working "66-hour, six-day weeks" for $250/week, cheating them out of $5.3 million. Jin Shun allegedly coached workers to lie about their working conditions at the Long Island City factory and made them use two time cards so it was unclear how long they worked each week. Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith described how one worker, while working 60-70 hours/weeks, "was paid 22 cents per garment or 40 cents for more complicated pieces." While the retailers said they had zero tolerance for the conditions, Smith said, "We think with aggressive enforcement they should have known."

Earlier this week, a National Labor Committee report claimed that crosses sold at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trinity Church and other churches were made in Chinese sweatshops. The NLC said that the Singer Company employed young women at 26 cents an hour and forced them to work a 100 hours a week; plus, the woman are docked pay for food and boarding, leaving them with pay of just 9 cents an hour. You can read...