1998CRH1508A H.R. 23, THE STOP SWEATSHOPS ACT

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Archive-Name: gov/us/fed/congress/record/1998/mar/25/1998CRH1508A
[Congressional Record: March 25, 1998 (House)]
[Page H1508-H1509]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr25mr98-100]

H.R. 23, THE STOP SWEATSHOPS ACT

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of
my colleagues a tragic event of yesterday and raise a call to action on
a serious problem of today.
Today marks the 87th anniversary of what was, by many accounts, the
worst factory fire in the history of our Nation, a fire that by the
time it was finally quenched, had taken the lives of 146 women, many of
whom would better be described as young ladies, girls as young as 13
years of age. The fact that 146 innocent lives were lost make the
events of March 25, 1911, horrible, but it is the reason why these
lives were lost that makes it a very tragic, a serious tragedy and a
crime.
The fire occurred in the factory at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company,
a woman's clothing manufacturer. The factory was little more than 500
women crammed together at sewing machines in a small building which now
houses part of New York University, forced to stay at the machines for
long hours at little pay. The tragedy was fostered by the fact that the
room was packed well beyond its capacity and the doors were locked by
the owners to keep the women at their machines.
Mr. Speaker, this is history being repeated today, a setting which
led to the loss of 146 lives in 15 minutes. As great a tragedy as the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was, the bigger tragedy is that the
very conditions that led to it 87 years ago still exist. Despite what
many think, sweatshops are not a thing of the past nor are they the
domain of Third World nations. They exist right here in this greatest
of all democracies.
Mr. Speaker, a 1994 General Accounting Office study estimated that
New York City's famed garment industry may be populated by as many as
2,000 sweatshops. In Los Angeles and Miami, 90 percent, 80 percent of
all garment shops are sweatshops; the Department of Labor officials
have determined that in my own State of New Jersey, in the northern
part of the State, 300 sweatshops, a figure that is actually on the
rise as more and more sweatshops are migrating across the river from
New York to New Jersey to take advantage of less expensive rents.
The continued proliferation of sweatshops is one of the greatest
threats to the continued vitality of our economy and the rights of
hard-working Americans. The honorable businesses that observe the Fair
Labor Standards Act

[[Page H1509]]

and the other laws of this Nation that govern the workplace are put at
serious competitive disadvantage when they are forced to compete with
sweatshops that ignore all the laws, and then we have stars go on
television and smile and say of their sponsored products, they know
nothing about it.
How can we reasonably expect a company that pays its workers a
livable wage and provides a safe workplace to compete with sweatshops?
Such a notion is absurd. If we continue to allow these sweatshops to
operate, who are the real losers? Our workers, the millions of hard-
working Americans who will see their wages artificially repressed and
their jobs lost as legitimate businesses are forced out of business by
sweatshops.
Mr. Speaker, what does it say about us as a society if we are willing
to allow sweatshops that treat humans worse than we would treat animals
to continue to operate; sweatshops where children and women are forced
to work 14 hours a day, overcrowded rooms at a fraction of the minimum
wage? Mr. Speaker, if we are going to save jobs, especially those in
the manufacturing industry, and ensure our workers appropriate
conditions and pay, we must crack down on these illegal sweatshops.

I have joined with several of my colleagues to send a strong message
by cosponsoring H.R. 23, the Stop Sweatshops Act. This important
measure would hold any manufacturer legally responsible if it or one of
its contractors operates a sweatshop.
Simply increasing the penalties is not enough. It is time for the
Department of Labor to get off their fannies, to begin addressing the
problem with the seriousness that this warrants. It is time for the
Department to make exposing and putting sweatshops out of business a
real priority.
Mr. Speaker, 87 years ago 146 young women died in what amounts to a
senseless tragedy motivated by greed. We owe it to their memory to rid
our Nation of sweatshops and those who endorse them, and fight against
those who smile and say they know nothing about it when they endorse
those products.

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