Garment Worker Center rally by Ross Dress for Less store in downtown Los Angeles. Picture courtesy of Garment Worker Center.
Garment Workers Group March in Downtown Los Angeles
The Garment Worker Center held a march and rally Oct. 25 through Pico Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles’ Fashion District, where many of the center’s members work, up to the Ross Dress for Less store on 719 S. Broadway and eventually to City Hall.
Mariela Martinez, the Garment Worker Center’s organizing coordinator, said that 100 people participated in the march. In front of the Ross location, they chanted “Alto Robo de Salario” or “Stop Wage Theft” in Spanish. At City Hall, Martinez and her colleagues dropped off a letter to Mayor Eric Garcetti requesting a meeting to discuss their concerns on wage theft and alleged health and safety violations at garment factories.
The Garment Worker Center hopes that Garcetti and the city council can start a task force on working conditions for garment workers and charges of wage theft. “There has been real negligence,” Martinez said. “There’s a lot of laws in place protecting garment workers, the problem is that there is no enforcement.”
Another march and rally is planned for Nov. 19, Martinez said.
