First Published: Unity, Vol. 5, No. 12, July 2-15, 1982.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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The morning of June 24 found 500 garment factories in Chinatown empty and silent as 15,000 Chinese garment workers staged a historic outdoor rally. The workers and their union, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) Local 23-25 rallied to protest the Chinese Garment Manufacturers Association’s (CGMA) refusal to sign the new citywide contract.
Other New York City garment shops signed the union contract effective June 1, but the Chinese owners refused. The CGMA said that the white manufacturers of the Greater Blouse Association (GBA) discriminate against the Chinese owners, making it economically difficult for the Chinese owners to meet the union contract. The Chinese owners raised 15 demands, but the union and the workers opposed these as takeaways. They included demands to eliminate the 35-hour workweek, cuts in benefits, and attacks on the arbitration machinery.
While recognizing that the larger, white-owned companies do discriminate against the Chinese manufacturers, workers didn’t think they had to take the blame.
A. Tse, who sews in a Chinatown shop, told the rally, “We should not accept any treatment that is inferior. Chinese workers are people, too. We should receive equal treatment.... This is the true spirit of nationalism. Long live the workers! Long live the union!”
The rally culminated an unprecedented and militant campaign by the Chinese garment workers to defend their rights. The union and workers set up the Committee to Defend the Union Contract, involving more than 5,000 members of Local 23-25. They leafletted on street corners, manned phone banks and sent delegations to lobby for press coverage. The June 24 rally was the largest Chinese workers’ rally in New York history.
Due to this strong pressure from the union membership, the CGMA made a commitment to sign the citywide contract, pending a full meeting of their members on July 1. If the contract goes through as planned, the workers will have eliminated the takeaways and won a significant victory.
Chinese garment workers are among the most exploited in the industry. Although the ILGWU has organized Chinatown shops for some time, many workers complain that the contract is poorly enforced. Workers sometimes get less than union scale, are denied overtime pay and work under harsh conditions.
These “sweatshop” conditions are caused by the discriminatory system of the garment industry. The large apparel companies Contract much of their work out to the smaller shops of the Greater Blouse Association. Although Chinese-owned shops comprise a majority of the 850-member GBA, the non-Chinese owners control the GBA.
Chinese-owned shops are not allowed to bid for the higher paying contracts with the brand name companies because they are considered “substandard,” despite their union status.
Because the non-Chinese shops are larger and more established, they are better able to underbid the smaller Chinese contractors. This results in fierce underbidding among the Chinese shops for the few remaining contracts.
As a result, the workers suffer from job insecurity, poor working conditions and low pay. The extraordinary profits made from this situation go into the pockets of the big, white-owned apparel companies.
Many Chinese workers can sympathize with the CGMA’s fight against the discrimination of the GBA, but firmly resisted attempts to attack the union and their contract.
One member of the ILGWU committee summed up the sentiments of many workers, “The Chinese owners are using their struggle, with the GBA as an excuse to attack the contract and the union. We don’t doubt that there is discrimination faced by the Chinese owners. But you cannot use that issue to attack our hard-earned rights and benefits. We really have to question their motives and defend ourselves.”
A new spirit of militancy among Chinese workers has grown out of this struggle. The workers are still prepared to strike, if the CGMA does not ratify the citywide contract. They are also prepared to continue the struggle for the rights of Chinese workers within the ILGWU. At the same time, the workers and the union will have to address the problem of discrimination against the Chinese contractors in order to effectively win equal rights and better conditions for Chinese garment workers.