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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: 202-219-8211
Saying the "hot goods" provision has been a valuable weapon
in the U.S. Labor Department's battle against sweatshops, Labor Secretary
Robert B. Reich today congratulated the New York legislature and Gov. George
Pataki for passing similar legislation that will help state law enforcement
better protect garment workers.
Under hot goods,' federal inspectors can prevent the
shipment of merchandise made in violation of minimum wage or overtime laws. The
measure also allows the government to pursue back wages and fines against
manufacturers when it can be demonstrated they profited from the use of illegal
labor.
"Our investigators know from experience that this is a
powerful weapon in the battle against sweatshops," Reich said. "The hot goods'
provision of federal law allows us to hold accountable manufacturers who seek
to profit from the abuse of vulnerable American workers."
Pataki is scheduled to sign the legislation today in
Albany. Reich said granting the "hot goods" enforcement authority to state
labor inspectors will allow for better and tougher coordinated enforcement
efforts. Reich urged the state to use the new measure as aggressively as has
his agency.
Since beginning to use the law aggressively when he became
labor secretary in 1993, Reich said the hot goods' measure has been a major
factor in his department's efforts collection of $7.3 million in back wages for
more than 25,000 garment workers.
The measure has also been instrumental in the department's
efforts to encourage the industry to better police itself by monitoring the
labor law compliance of the nation's 22,000 garment contractors.
Since 1993, nearly 50 manufacturers have signed Wage and
Hour's Compliance Monitoring Agreement, committing them to regularly monitor
their contractors. Dozens of other manufacturers have voluntarily adopted their
own compliance monitoring programs. Twelve large manufacturers established the
Los Angeles Compliance Alliance to monitor their contractors.
A recent survey of randomly selected contractors earlier
this year in Southern California showed almost half were being monitored by
manufacturers for labor law compliance, a significant improvement from just two
years ago. The survey also showed that contracting firms being monitored had
significantly lower violation rates.
"We look forward to continuing our strong coordinated
enforcement efforts with New York State," Reich said. "The governor and the
legislature deserve considerable credit for working in such a bipartisan
fashion to protect the interests of hard-working Americans."
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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