Material Witnesses: The Exploitation of Garment Workers in America

Celia J. Elder

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DOI: 10.2190/LVN5-YCGM-45YH-WF06

Abstract

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was enacted in 1938 to eliminate low wages and long hours and child labor. The purposes behind the Act, however, are not being fulfilled in the U.S. garment industry due to inaction by the executive and legislative branches of the government. As a result, American clothing manufacturers have knowingly contracted their sewing work out to American contractors who regularly violate the FLSA. Although contractors are the actual violators of the Act, in reality, it is the manufacturers who control the production methods used by their contractors; therefore, the manufacturers should be considered either as the joint employers of those who work for the contractors, or as the employers of the contractors themselves, and thus, liable under the Act. As the courts have consistently recognized the goals of various types of social legislation and worked to enforce them in the past, it is time to ask the judiciary branch to apply and enforce the FLSA with regard to the practices within the garment industry.

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