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Written by Vivian Malauulu
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Sunday, 04 May 2008 |
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It’s a tale as old as time, really. The Haves have forever been screwing the Have Nots in the name of money. American history has written itself through the blood of Indians, against the backs of slaves, in the hands of child laborers, and on the knees of fruit pickers. Time and time again brave men and women have had the courage to stand up to the cruelty of pioneering settlers, the bigotry of slave-owners, the ignorance of merchants, and the prejudice of the wealthy for the sake of humanity.
But that is all history. Right? Wrong! Who would have thought that the
dark side of the labor chapter of contemporary American history
continues to unfold yet today? All at the expense of undocumented
immigrant garment workers slaving away in substandard conditions for
less than minimum wage—right here in Los Angeles?
This shocking
example of modern day worker abuse is the basis for Spanish independent
filmmaker Almudena Carracedo’s most recent documentary, Made in L.A.,
which is being featured at the Los Angeles Harbor International Film
Festival in San Pedro on April 25-27.
This film, more than five
years in the making, culminates with a groundbreaking court battle
spearhead by three courageous women against trendy retail giant,
Forever 21 (F21). In the film, Carracedo follows Los Angeles area
garment workers in their three year battle against F21 in her
unprecedented, award-winning documentary. The film is the first of its
kind in that it shadows these three immigrant women employed in the Los
Angeles garment district across the city, the country, and on to Hong
Kong, as they fight to achieve the basic worker rights guaranteed them
by the California labor law.
Carracedo’s camera accompanies Lupe
Hernandez, Maura Colorado, and Maria Pineda (LMM) along with a host of
other reallife characters in their basic attempt to unionize—even
though no one initially had any idea that is what they were doing.
Against all odds, including language barriers, immigration issues,
distance from native country and family, and even domestic abuse, these
women undauntedly report for picket duty every Saturday in a campaign
against the popular young women’s clothing retailer F21, hoping to gain
a “sit down” with its president to discuss the ill treatment they have
received from manufacturers contracted to mass produce their clothing.
“For
a long time, I felt like a nobody,” said Lupe Hernandez in Spanish. She
is one the three undocumented immigrant women featured in Carracedo’s
film. “I was always depressed, I felt that nothing I did mattered, I
had no voice, no face. All I did was work, and for what? My boss didn’t
care about me.”
Lupe, single and under age, having just arrived
from Mexico City after running away from an abusive father and six
brothers after her mother died, was beaten by her boss for taking a
restroom break. Maura, single and the mother of three boys she has not
seen in 18 years and who are still in the care of her ailing parents in
El Salvador, had a boss who spit on her face and told her that she
“talks too much” when she asked him why her wages were shorted week
after week.
, a mother of three young children who is married to
an abusive alcoholic, was forced to work twelve hour days without a
proper break, and then required to take work home with her which she
completed no sooner than two a.m. every night.
These women
earned an average of $0.19 for a blouse that sold at F21 retail stores
for more than $15.00. In one scene of the movie, Lupe, while picketing
a Beverly Center F21 store, recognizes a blouse on display in the store
window as the one she was sewing when her boss slapped her for
momentarily leaving her sewing machine.
LMMs’ story is just as
common as every other union founder’s. What makes their story so
unique, is that it did not unfold at the turn of the century in a
newborn industrial town, or within the last few decades in a remote and
rural field. Their story reached a legal milestone a mere six months
ago. Carracedo was driven to make this film after reading a story about
sweatshops in Los Angeles. She was appalled by the conditions
described, and even more so that they were happening in such a large
city in this day and age. She was also impacted by the fact that a huge
percentage of the sweatshop workers were immigrant women.
“The
intent of this film is to humanize the issues these immigrant women
face every day at the hands of merchandisers and retailers,” Carracedo
said in a phone interview, en route to Paris. “There is a very big
story unfolding here with the immigrant garment workers. The awareness
of it is the first step in what needs to be done to change this world
for them.”
Carracedo, technically in the US as an exchange
student working on her doctorate degree, has received worldwide acclaim
for Made in LA—her second film. Originally from Madrid, Spain, she
previously studied film in both Madrid and Paris, and worked as a TV
director and producer, before settling on documentary film making.
“I
learned a lot working in television, but I knew I wanted to do
something different,” Carracedo offered. “There is no time in the TV
format to tell a deep story. I wanted to portray more, I had a desire
to explore issues more thoroughly and create deeper messages.”
When asked about any positive changes that have come about as a result of her film, Carracedo describes two.
“The
external change is hard to measure, but as long as we have raised the
awareness of the immigrant garment workers’ issues, we have done our
job. As far as the internal changes – they are very evident. The women
featured in the film have been impacted by their struggle and
transformed from victims to organizers. Their worth as women has grown
tremendously. Their lives have been changed.”
Assisting LMM in
their campaign against F21 was the staff at the Garment Worker Center
(GWC) in downtown Los Angeles. The GWC’s primary responsibility as a
nonprofit organization is to provide garment workers with legal
information, to offer emotional support, and to give them a voice in
the labor movement by helping them organize. The center has become a
safe haven from the arduous conditions of the downtown sweatshops.
Since the film’s debut, another foundation—Sweatshop Watch—has emerged
to further assist garment workers in their effort to organize.
No,
their fight has not been easy, but for now, it has been won. F21 just
happens to be one of the biggest locally based retailers who contracts
manufacturers employing immigrant garment workers. They are not the
only one. There are other LMMs out there struggling against other large
companies, hoping that they too can find a voice to speak out against
their oppressive working conditions. What other choice do they have?
While manufacturers can take the cowardly (and cheaper) road
oft-traveled overseas, immigrant garment workers only have the
alternative of returning to their native land downtrodden and
emptyhanded. So they stay, endure, and press on.
For additional information about the film, visit www.madeinla.com or www.laharborfilmfest.com.
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