Before tonight's performance of Real Women Have Curves at The Pasadena Playhouse, the theater company is partnering with the Garment Worker Center to launch the "Make LA Sweatfree" campaign.
The anti-sweatshop campaign comes on the heels of the Garment Worker Center's study of the state of LA's garment industry, the results of which will be discussed at a press conference 3:30pm today at The Pasadena Playhouse. The GWC will also present worker testimony about how wage and hour violations have created a negative work environment for LA's garment industry workers.
Later in the evening, The Pasadena Playhouse new production of Real Women Have Curves, a play set in an East Los Angeles sewing factory. The show's director, Seema Sueko, contacted GWC's community organizer Victor Vazquez to learn more about the garment industry in Los Angeles with the goal of making the show as realistic as possible. Obviously the relationship blossomed from there.
During the run of Real Women Have Curves, which is about five fuller-figured women trying to meet an unreasonable deadline in order to keep their sewing factory open, the GWC's timeline of the garment industry's history in Los Angeles will be on display in The Georgia T. McClay Friendship Center at the Playhouse. The production is set to run through October 4.
The campaign announced the following goals in an official statement:
1. End wage theft caused by the piece rate.
2. Extend the power of AB 633 to be able to make big labels and retailers responsible for wage and hour violations on the sweatshop floor.
3. Better indoor health standards that protect workers from dust pollution and heat.
4. Clean and safe workplaces where the right to meals and breaks is respected as will as medical assistance offered when needed.
5. Dignity and respect in the workplace, including the right to collectively bargain for better pay and working conditions, protections for victims of workplace violence, sexual harassment, and discrimination.
6. Demand that brands and retailers pay a just price per piece for the garments they buy so that living wages and good working conditions are possible.
7. Access to quality affordable childcare for garment worker parents.
8. Brands and retailers must make a commitment to make LA sweat free.
9. Monitoring committees of workers and experts.
10. Protections against retaliation when speaking up about a violation or simply speaking the truth.