Sweatshop Factories
Sweatshop manufacturing, factories in which employers violate labor laws, is another economic sector that utilizes forced labor in the United States. This report looks at the largest single case of forced labor, in which over two hundred workers were enslave, that arose in a sweatshop garment factory in the U.S. territory of American Samoa. Merchandise produced in U.S. island territories carries a “Made in the U.S.A.” label, yet workers enjoy fewer rights and labor protections than their counterparts on the mainland. Most individuals associate sweatshops with lesser developed countries. But industry pressures, for example, on U.S. textile and clothing manufacturers, encourage employers to locate factories in close proximity to retailers. In some cases this can mean forced labor. Sweatshops are susceptible to forced labor because they frequently operate within the informal economy, frustrating attempts to monitor or enforce labor law regulation. Like agriculture and domestic service, sweatshop manufacturing is a sector in which there are few protections for workers and little monitoring of labor law compliance. Forced labor in U.S. garment factories came to light in
1995 when the group of Thai captive workers in El Monte, California, was freed. Our forced labor case study of Kil-Soo Lee, American Samoan garment manufacturer whose workers produced garments for major U.S. clothing retailers, is an example of how weak labor protections facilitated his forced-labor scheme. Minimum wage standards in American Samoa are lower than in mainland United States. Lack of workplace inspections or labor law enforcement, combined with the workers’ fear of making complaints, create a context in which forced labor could occur. The worker’s fear comes in part from the extensive control exercised by employers. The Samoan immigration board has the power to deport an immigrant worker in response to a request from an employer who wishes to terminate the worker’s employment. According to an official from the Samoan governor’s office, once the immigration board has processed the worker on arrival in American Samoa and issued him or her an identification card, the board has no proactive role and becomes substantially involved in a worker’s affairs only if the worker lodges an objection to a request