Millan Leaves Labor Department
Jose Millan, one of the state government’s most prominent figures in cracking down on sweatshops in California’s garment industry, left his position Jan. 13 to take another job with the state government.
Millan, deputy secretary for enforcement with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency since 2004, is now vice chancellor for the economic and workforce development division of the California Community Colleges system. The system oversees 109 colleges with more than 2.4 million students enrolled around the state.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Millan, 50, to the academic position in late December. Millan, an attorney who grew up in the barrios of East Los Angeles, kept both positions, juggling the jobs until mid-January. His successor as deputy secretary hasn’t been named yet, said Dean Fryer, a spokesman for the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
Millan has a long history of fighting sweatshops. During the El Monte, Calif., sweatshop raids in 1995, Millan led the effort with Victoria Bradshaw, now secretary of the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency. They found 72 Thai nationals who were being held against their will in an apartment complex and forced to sew clothing for a contractor that supplied apparel for local and national labels and retailers.
Millan, a Republican, expressed some regret about leaving his old job. “Needless to say, I’m leaving my position with the state labor agency with mixed feelings,” he said. “But I’m confident in the belief that our agency secretary, Victoria Bradshaw, has a commitment and zeal for enforcement that matches and may even exceed my own.”
—Deborah Belgum
