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FEATURE

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History repeats itself in the garme

By ANGELA KENYON

“Little training is required for this work. Moreover, the organization of the work in the shop requires so little supervision by the employer that ignorance of English forms no bar to these women. As pieceworkers they may be trusted to work at top speed to earn the small wage of $4 or $5 a week.”

Those are the words of a union organizer in the garment industry in 1909. But if you were to change the wage rate from $4 or $5a week to $4 or $5 an hour, they could easily have been spoken by Phyllis Webb, Van- couver organizer for the International Ladies Garment Worekrs Union (ILGWU) in 1986.

“Organizing today in this industry is not much different that it was in the early 1900s,” Webb says. ““We’re still dealing with immigrant workers, the majority are women, and they still have the same fears — of losing their jobs, of not having their husband approve of the union,” says Webb. She estimates that 10,000 women and men are presently employed in the

. garment manfuacturing industry in Vanco-

vuer and the Lower Mainland.

If union organizing in the garment indus- try has changed little in 80 years, neither have the conditions of work. There’s no more child labor, or spread of disease because of unsanitary conditions, and the women at the sewing machines and presses don’t have to buy their drinking water. But it’s still gruelling piece work from seven in the morning for up to 14 hours a day to earn a wage rarely above the $3.65 minimum.

Webb and Linda Leung, a Cantonese- speaking organizer for the ILGWU, began a major organizing drive for the union last year. And much of that drive has been con- centrated at the Marjorie Hamilton in Van- couver which typifies the problems in the industry.

Webb describes the plant as “one of the most modern in Vancouver,” which in this case means it has flourescent lighting and an air conditioning system that is never used.

Over 200 workers are employed at the plant, all but six of them are women and nearly all are immigrants — Chinese, Viet- namese, East Indian, Italian and Portu- guese. They are paid piece rates and few manage to earn above $4 an hour. Until a few months ago, there were no health and welfare benefits but the employer has now established a plan in an attempt to keep out the union.

The organizing drive began in January 1985 with one contact who provided three telephone numbers but no names of other workers at the plant. A first application for certification was submitted in May but then withdrawn by the union on legal advice. A second application was filed at the end of May and the vote held on June 5. The union lost by three votes.

A succession of hearings at the Labor Relations Board followed as the union sought to reinstate 29 of their workers who had been laid off prior to the vote. Another application for certification was filed on Dec. 30, but lost going to a certification vote. by one. The employer then applied under Section 49 of the Labor Code to have all organizing efforts suspended for six month. This time, the LRB ruled in favor of the union.

On Feb. 10, the ILGWU applied once more for certification and a vote was held on April 3. Results of the vote are still not known as the ballot boxes are sealed pend- ing one more LRB hearing on an appeal filed by the employer on the appropriate- ness of the bargaining unit.

Throughout the organizing drive, Marjo- rie Hamilton has been represented at the LRB hearings by Jordan and Gall, the law

22 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 30, 1986

firm notorious for its legal work on behalf of anti-union companies.

For the women workers at Marjorie Hamilton, signing a union card was a major step forward. Immigrant women, because of their lack of English, are frequently iso- lated from support systems in the commun- ity and are unfamiliar with any labor legislation. Their immigrant status is usually gained by sponsorship from either a hus- band or relative, and they are therefore ineligible for social service payments. Many of them are the sole earner in the family, and even if the husband is working, it is usually at minimum wage and two incomes are necessary to support the family.

“‘When we went to visit these women at their homes, it was clear that I was the first English-speaking person to enter their home,” says Webb. “They were so afraid of losing their job because they were talking to us that they would look up and down the street to be sure no one saw us going in.”

“Most of them had no idea that they didn’t have to work 14 hour days just because the employer wanted them to. Those who were aware of some of their rights had no idea who to talk to about their difficulties,” she adds.

Leung cites federal and provincial cut- backs as contributing to the women’s lack of knowledge of their rights. “When I first came to this country, the Employment Standards Act, the UI regulations, that sort of thing were all available in the Chinese language, but now they are just not avail- able anywhere.” And the Socred restraint policies have also “reduced the number of English-as a second language courses avail- able in the community.”

During the organizing drive, Webb and Leung met a group of women, mostly in

‘their 50s, who had recently been laid off

from Majorie Hamilton. They had been “laid off due to a shortage of work” at the same time that the employer was advertis- ing the job vacancies in the daily press. “One women was laid off at her coffee break,” says Webb. “By the time she got back to her machine to pick up her belong- ings, her replacement was already at work. They would bring in 10 new people a day, mostly young women. They’d keep the top four producers and the rest they just let go.”

All of the women that were laid off were replaced within one or two days by younger immigrant women, who could possibly maintain a higher piece-work rate and bols- ter the wage of their superviser.

These women were unaware that they could appeal what was in effect their being fired on the grounds of age discrimination. They were also unaware that they were entitled to apply for severance pay after 13 weeks of lay off.

_So far, the ILGWU has filed 13 human rights cases on age discrimination for them, although none of them has yet been heard. But four of the women have been awarded severance pay from Marjorie Hamilton, demonstrating clearly that the union’s mes- sage is getting through.

On Sept. 18 last year, the union in co- operation with the Canadian Labor Con- gress, the B.C. Federation of Labor and the Vancouver and District Labor Council, organized “Garment Awareness Day” to advise workers in the garment industry of their employee rights.

An information picket and support rally

nt industry

n was set up at Clark and Venables, the cenllé i! an area which houses a substantial num” |

of garment manufacturers. Members 0 a ILGWU from three union manufacture”

for the workers at Marjorie Hamilto

Koret, together with other trade unionists, a out information leaflets to garment trad tN workers. , e:

“Tt.was a very successful effort. Somed pr the workers are really afraid of just thew”, | ‘union’ but seeing us out there helped Ke | th take away some of that fear,” says Webb She notes, however, that management # 18 Marjorie Hamilton heard about the ye | fe advance and for the time first time evl™ | &€

Jantzen and Surrey onl

_ the workers home with pay at 2:30 P| m

two hours before the support rally was set | in begin. n Over the last two years the gar by manufacturing industry in this provint aa seen unprecedented growth. Establis

firms are expanding, taking over adit’. : floor space in their buildings in VancoU al f

Downtown Eastside, or moving out t0® 6 plants in Surrey. And new manufac h are moving into the city. The provi : Ministry of Small Industry and Busi 6} 2 Development listed some 60 manufactul ; in 1984. The 1985 figures show a grow! off over 60 per cent, and estimates for | al indicate that there will be over 200 gar” manufacturing firms in the province:

The B.C. Fashion and Needletrade AS ciation, which represents employers Py) ducing 90 per cent of the total prove : output, estimated sales for 1985 at ish million. “B.C. and the garment trades | | the focus of one of the Socreds’ “Partnels ‘4 Enterprise” publicly-funded pre-electiO” ads on local television.

But the companies moving in are typi of the low-wage, non-union indust# | sought after by the Socreds. "

The growth in the industry has prompt ; the re-emergence of contractors — SY’) that produce garments for other desig? of manufacturer outlets — and sweatsh ;, conditions. The competition between ony ; tractors forces prices and subsequer | wages and working conditions down, | 5 “appalling” level. Some women take 8" 10 | machines home, paying a rental fee © ‘ch contractor, and work for piece rates W are far below the minimum wage. ;

The ILGWU and the two other unio | b the trades, the Amalgamated Clothing ee kt Textile Workers Union and the Unt al ‘ Garment Workers of America, repres we total of some 2,000 workers in the L®”, Mainland, only 20 per cent of the estim”” | work force. i

Some workers in ILGWU._ shop’ _ work for piece rates, but when it 1S es verted to an hourly rate, the average W4? | $13.50 an hour. They work 35 to 372 a weeks. They have job security — the is seasonal but lay off and call back wat seniority, and they have health and W® benefit plans. They have won dignity?” workplace.

With the union they have also gait an opportunity to work together to m some of the social problems that 4 women immigrant workers. They ca \a0" i towards ending the isolation through 4 guage by union-sponsored English ot second language courses, and changing «| & legislation which denies sponsored ims) grants the right to welfare and other ©" ~ : services. ql

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Seven out of 10 working women 1? oy country are unorganized. A large num 7 of them are immigrant women workine | ‘ maids, cleaners, farmworkers and se is machine operators in the garment indus Phyllis Webb, Linda Leung and ILGWU are seeking to improve the liv, some of these women. But if they 4 succeed they will need the support of whole trade union movement.