Work

Gilbreth Stopwatch

The tools, rules, and relationships of the workplace illustrate some of the enduring collaborations and conflicts in the everyday life of the nation. The Museum has more than 5,000 traditional American tools, chests, and simple machines for working wood, stone, metal, and leather. Materials on welding, riveting, and iron and steel construction tell a more industrial version of the story. Computers, industrial robots, and other artifacts represent work in the Information Age.

But work is more than just tools. The collections include a factory gate, the motion-study photographs of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, and more than 3,000 work incentive posters. The rise of the factory system is measured, in part, by time clocks in the collections. More than 9,000 items bring in the story of labor unions, strikes, and demonstrations over trade and economic issues.

Date: 1990s

Time Card

This phony time card was maintained for Hang Ngoc Tan for the week of May 10th, 1996. This time card, along with others seized from El Monte by U.S. Department of Labor investigators, shows an employee working eight hours a day.
Description
This phony time card was maintained for Hang Ngoc Tan for the week of May 10th, 1996. This time card, along with others seized from El Monte by U.S. Department of Labor investigators, shows an employee working eight hours a day. Further investigation revealed that she actually worked much longer hours.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
Late 20th Century
1990s
ID Number
1997.0279.12
catalog number
1997.0279.12
accession number
1997.0279

Trimming fabric

Workers in the famous El Monte sweatshop used this bundle of knit trimming fabric (collars and cuffs) as they sewed Airtime brand shirts. While the sweatshop was located in El Monte, California, Dolphin Trimming Inc.
Description
Workers in the famous El Monte sweatshop used this bundle of knit trimming fabric (collars and cuffs) as they sewed Airtime brand shirts. While the sweatshop was located in El Monte, California, Dolphin Trimming Inc. (where the fabric was cut) was nearly 3,000 miles away in Miami Lakes, Florida. The apparel production business is typified by small shops doing specialization work. Authorities seized the fabric along with other evidence during a well-publicized 1995 raid. The bundle is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
date made
Late 20th Century
1990s
ID Number
1996.0292.05
accession number
1996.0292
catalog number
1996.0292.05

Production Notebook

Yue Jin Wu used this production notebook to record output and compute pay in New York City in 1995.In the garment industry, workers are paid for the actual number of pieces they complete, regardless of how long it takes.
Description
Yue Jin Wu used this production notebook to record output and compute pay in New York City in 1995.
In the garment industry, workers are paid for the actual number of pieces they complete, regardless of how long it takes. Under federal and state law, however, employers are still required to pay the equivalent of the minimum wage. Manufacturers and some workers point out that piecework rewards those who work quickly and stay focused. However, the system can easily be abused. Despite toiling at breakneck speeds, sweatshop workers often earn substantially less than minimum wage.
On August 2, 1995, police arrested eight operators of the clandestine El Monte garment shop and freed seventy-two Thai nationals who had been working in a form of modern slavery. Workers, recruited in Thailand, were promised good pay and good working conditions. After signing an indenture agreement for $5,000 they were smuggled into the United States with fraudulent documents. The workers were paid about $1.60 an hour with sixteen-hour workdays in horrifying conditions. They were held against their will in a razor wire enclosed complex with an armed guard and were jammed into close living quarters. By 1999, eleven companies Mervyn's, Montgomery Ward, Tomato, Bum International, L.F. Sportswear, Millers Outpost, Balmara, Beniko, F-40 California, Ms. Tops, and Topson Downs, agreed to pay more than $3.7 million dollars to the 150 workers who labored in the El Monte sweatshop. As in most cases of sweatshop production, these companies contend that they did not knowingly contract with operators who were violating the law.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1990 - 1997
ID Number
1997.0280.01
accession number
1997.0280
catalog number
1997.0280.01

Airtime shirt, 1990s

This unfinished Airtime brand boys shirt was in production when authorities raided the the infamous El Monte, California sweatshop in 1995.
Description
This unfinished Airtime brand boys shirt was in production when authorities raided the the infamous El Monte, California sweatshop in 1995. It is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1990 - 1995
ID Number
1996.0292.10
catalog number
1996.0292.10
accession number
1996.0292

Spool, 1990s

Workers in the El Monte sweatshop used this spool with the Juki industrial sewing machine seen in object 1996.0292.29a.
Description
Workers in the El Monte sweatshop used this spool with the Juki industrial sewing machine seen in object 1996.0292.29a. The spool was seized during a well-publicized 1995 sweatshop raid and is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
Late 20th Century
1990s
ID Number
1996.0292.26
accession number
1996.0292
catalog number
1996.0292.26

Levi Strauss, 1991 Terms of Engagement (Italian)

Levi Strauss & Co. pioneered supplier workplace codes of conduct with its Terms of Engagement in 1991. This pamphlet was published in Italian.
Description
Levi Strauss & Co. pioneered supplier workplace codes of conduct with its Terms of Engagement in 1991. This pamphlet was published in Italian. Levi’s commitment to workplace responsibility was tested in 1992 when a news report revealed that a supplier in Saipan was abusing its workforce. Mostly immigrants, the workers were working as much as 11 hours a day, seven days a week, for as little as $1.65 an hour with no overtime pay (the minimum wage in Saipan was $2.15 an hour). The story was especially embarrassing because the Northern Mariana Islands, a protectorate of the U.S., was allowed to label the goods Made in the USA. Levi’s canceled their contract. In the late 1990s the practice of workplace codes of conduct became relatively common in the garment industry.
The trend towards offshore production provided the opportunity for large cost savings but at the same time presented new problems of control. Manufacturers and retailers who worried about poor conditions in subcontractors’ factories issued codes of conduct. Enforcement of the codes of conduct was uneven.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1991
ID Number
1998.3024.05
catalog number
1998.3024.05
nonaccession number
1998.3024

Carved Cod-in-a-Coffin

This handmade object—a carved likeness of a miniature cod fish lying in a wooden coffin—was made by fisherman Dan Murphy of Dunville, Newfoundland. Made in response to Canada’s moratorium on cod fishing, Murphy sold these items at local flea markets and from his home.
Description
This handmade object—a carved likeness of a miniature cod fish lying in a wooden coffin—was made by fisherman Dan Murphy of Dunville, Newfoundland. Made in response to Canada’s moratorium on cod fishing, Murphy sold these items at local flea markets and from his home. This folk art cod-in-a-coffin, carved from wood and lined with fabric, represents the death of many Newfoundlanders’ livelihood. The fishing ban was declared on July 2, 1992, in an attempt to replenish the distressed levels of North Atlantic cod. Since then, over 40,000 fishers and workers at processing plants in Canada have lost their jobs.
The Canadian province of Newfoundland, like coastal New England in the United States, has a long history of cod fishing. When John Cabot first explored the region in 1497, he reported that cod off the rocky coast of Newfoundland were so plentiful that his crew could scoop up loads of the fish in buckets. Exploration and settlement of the area followed, and, over the course of the next four centuries, the North Atlantic fisheries became major industries that supported a significant number of families and communities in Atlantic Canada and along the New England coast.
In the 20th century, as new technology increased the efficiency of harvesting, the population of cod and other species in the North Atlantic began to decline. Before the 1960s, around 150,000 to 300,000 tons of cod were caught each year. But with the rise of diesel-powered factory trawlers, millions more fish could be hauled in and trawlers from all over the world converged in the productive waters of the North Atlantic. In 1977 foreign trawlers were banned, opening the door for the expansion of Canadian and American fishing fleets. But within a generation, the stocks of cod were depleted to the brink of collapse. The Canadian government reacted by banning cod fishing. The moratorium was extended indefinitely in 1993, giving jobless fishers little hope for a return to their way of life. According to a 2007 study, the North Atlantic cod population was estimated to be at one percent of its 1977 numbers.
date made
1994
date of fishing ban
1992-07-02
foreign trawlers banned
1977
maker
Murphy, Dan
ID Number
1999.0078.01
accession number
1999.0078
catalog number
1999.0078.01

Levi Strauss, 1991 Terms of Engagement (Flemish)

Levi Strauss & Co. pioneered supplier workplace codes of conduct with its Terms of Engagement in 1991. This pamphlet was published in Flemish.
Description
Levi Strauss & Co. pioneered supplier workplace codes of conduct with its Terms of Engagement in 1991. This pamphlet was published in Flemish. Levi’s commitment to workplace responsibility was tested in 1992 when a news report revealed that a supplier in Saipan was abusing its workforce. Mostly immigrants, the workers were working as much as 11 hours a day, seven days a week, for as little as $1.65 an hour with no overtime pay (the minimum wage in Saipan was $2.15 an hour). The story was especially embarrassing because the Northern Mariana Islands, a protectorate of the U.S., was allowed to label the goods Made in the USA. Levi’s canceled their contract. In the late 1990s the practice of workplace codes of conduct became relatively common in the garment industry.
The trend towards offshore production provided the opportunity for large cost savings but at the same time presented new problems of control. Manufacturers and retailers who worried about poor conditions in subcontractors’ factories issued codes of conduct. Enforcement of the codes of conduct was uneven.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1991
ID Number
1998.3024.09
catalog number
1998.3024.09
nonaccession number
1998.3024

Sewing station chair

This chair was used in a suburban El Monte, California sweatshop as part of a sewing machine workstation seen in object 1996.0292.29a .
Description
This chair was used in a suburban El Monte, California sweatshop as part of a sewing machine workstation seen in object 1996.0292.29a . The chair was seized during a well-publicized 1995 sweatshop raid and is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
date made
1974 - 1995
ID Number
1996.0292.28B
accession number
1996.0292
catalog number
1996.292.28B

Application for replacement passport, 1990s

This is an application for a replacement Thai passport based on fraudulent claim of loss.
Description
This is an application for a replacement Thai passport based on fraudulent claim of loss. Obtaining real passports allowed the El Monte operators to simply change the picture in order to smuggle new workers into the country.
Recruited from Thailand, the El Monte workers were tricked into accepting employment by misrepresentations of their future working and living conditions. They were told they would sew in a clean factory, receive good pay, and have the weekends off. They were even shown photographs of company parties and outings to Disneyland. After signing contracts (indenture agreements) committing themselves to repay 120,000 baht (about $5,000 in 1997 dollars), they were smuggled into the United States on fraudulent passports.
On arrival, the sweatshop operators confiscated the passports and the workers were forced to sew 18 hours a day seven days a week. The debt, a guard force, and threats of physical harm to the workers and their families in Thailand discouraged them from escaping. Although the physical confinement of the work force was unusual, many aspects of the business, such as recruiting and smuggling workers, are relatively common. Less enslaving forms of debt peonage occur surprisingly often in some Asian immigrant communities.
Sweatshops occur in many sectors of manufacturing, but are most often associated with the garment industry. While garments are designed and marketed through big name companies, assembly is often left to contract and sub-contract operations. In these small shops, where profits are razor thin and competition is excessive, abuses are rampant.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1995
ID Number
1997.0268.05
accession number
1997.0268
catalog number
1997.0268.05

Sewing station chair

On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity.
Description
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
date made
1974 - 1995
ID Number
1996.0292.29b
catalog number
1996.0292.29b
accession number
1996.0292

Cargo hook, 1960

Hand-held cargo hooks were the indispensable tools of longshoremen working on conventional (non-containerized) freighters. In the course of loading and discharging cargo they needed to grab, lift, and move various types and sizes of bags, boxes, and bales.
Description
Hand-held cargo hooks were the indispensable tools of longshoremen working on conventional (non-containerized) freighters. In the course of loading and discharging cargo they needed to grab, lift, and move various types and sizes of bags, boxes, and bales. The hooks, held firmly in a gloved hand, extended their reach and helped them lift heavy items. Most longshoremen owned several different types of hooks for moving different materials—from burlap sacks to wooden boxes—and altered the handles to suit their grip.
Longshoreman Herb Mills used this hook for general, breakbulk cargo handling during his career as a longshoreman in San Francisco. Mills was a member of Local 10 of the ILWU—the International Longshore and Warehouse Union—from 1963 to 1992.
date made
ca 1960
used date
ca 1960-1990
ID Number
2002.0026.01
catalog number
2002.0026.01
accession number
2002.0026

Airtime shirt, 1990s

This unfinished Airtime brand boys shirt was in production when authorities raided the the infamous El Monte, California sweatshop in 1995.
Description
This unfinished Airtime brand boys shirt was in production when authorities raided the the infamous El Monte, California sweatshop in 1995. It is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
date made
1990 - 1995
ID Number
1996.0292.08
catalog number
1996.0292.08
accession number
1996.0292

Mucosolvan cough syrup

This bottle of Mucosolvan was sold at the El Monte company store. Shop operators forced workers to buy food and personal items from them at inflated prices.
Description
This bottle of Mucosolvan was sold at the El Monte company store. Shop operators forced workers to buy food and personal items from them at inflated prices. The respiratory medicine was seized during a well-publicized 1995 sweatshop raid and is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
Late 20th Century
1990s
ID Number
1997.0268.20
accession number
1997.0268
catalog number
1997.0268.20

Ya Khom Tra Bhi Ho (pill packet), 1990s

This packet of pills is an example of goods sold by the owners of the El Monte sweatshop.
Description
This packet of pills is an example of goods sold by the owners of the El Monte sweatshop. The highly priced products kept the workers in debt to the "owners" of the "business."
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
Late 20th Century
1990s
ID Number
1997.0268.22
accession number
1997.0268
catalog number
1997.0268.22

TIPP cap, 1990s

This baseball cap belonged to a member of the Targeted Industries Partnership Program, a joint enforcement and education effort of the California Department of Industrial Relations, the California Employment Development Department, and the U.S.
Description
This baseball cap belonged to a member of the Targeted Industries Partnership Program, a joint enforcement and education effort of the California Department of Industrial Relations, the California Employment Development Department, and the U.S. Department of Labor focuses on stopping unfair competition and worker exploitation. TIPP’s most prominent case — the El Monte sweatshop — was cracked by investigators from the California Department of Industrial Relations.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
Late 20th Century
1990s
ID Number
1997.0279.01
catalog number
1997.0279.01
accession number
1997.0279

Levi Strauss, 1991 Terms of Engagement (French)

Levi Strauss & Co. pioneered supplier workplace codes of conduct with its Terms of Engagement in 1991. This pamphlet was published in French.
Description
Levi Strauss & Co. pioneered supplier workplace codes of conduct with its Terms of Engagement in 1991. This pamphlet was published in French. Levi’s commitment to workplace responsibility was tested in 1992 when a news report revealed that a supplier in Saipan was abusing its workforce. Mostly immigrants, the workers were working as much as 11 hours a day, seven days a week, for as little as $1.65 an hour with no overtime pay (the minimum wage in Saipan was $2.15 an hour). The story was especially embarrassing because the Northern Mariana Islands, a protectorate of the U.S., was allowed to label the goods Made in the USA. Levi’s canceled their contract. In the late 1990s the practice of workplace codes of conduct became relatively common in the garment industry.
The trend towards offshore production provided the opportunity for large cost savings but at the same time presented new problems of control. Manufacturers and retailers who worried about poor conditions in subcontractors’ factories issued codes of conduct. Enforcement of the codes of conduct was uneven.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1991
ID Number
1998.3024.04
catalog number
1998.3024.04
nonaccession number
1998.3024

Ocean Pacific Garment Plan

The sheet contains instructions on the assembly of Ocean Pacific shirts.
Description
The sheet contains instructions on the assembly of Ocean Pacific shirts. The sheet was seized during a well-publicized 1995 sweatshop raid and is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation.
On August 2, 1995, police arrested eight operators of the clandestine El Monte garment shop and freed seventy-two Thai nationals who had been working in a form of modern slavery. Workers, recruited in Thailand, were promised good pay and good working conditions. After signing an indenture agreement for $5,000 they were smuggled into the United States with fraudulent documents. The workers were paid about $1.60 an hour with sixteen-hour workdays in horrifying conditions. They were held against their will in a razor wire enclosed complex with an armed guard and were jammed into close living quarters. By 1999, eleven companies Mervyn's, Montgomery Ward, Tomato, Bum International, L.F. Sportswear, Millers Outpost, Balmara, Beniko, F-40 California, Ms. Tops, and Topson Downs, agreed to pay more than $3.7 million dollars to the 150 workers who labored in the El Monte sweatshop. As in most cases of sweatshop production, these companies contend that they did not knowingly contract with operators who were violating the law.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1990 - 1999
ID Number
1997.0336.46
accession number
1997.0336
catalog number
1997.0336.46

Balbir Singh LAX Shuttle Driver Permit

Balbir Sodhi used this license during his role as a taxi driver in Los Angeles and San Francisco from 1987 to around 2000.Escaping the religious persecution of Sikhs in his native India, Balbir Singh Sodhi emigrated to the United States in 1987, hoping to use his university train
Description
Balbir Sodhi used this license during his role as a taxi driver in Los Angeles and San Francisco from 1987 to around 2000.
Escaping the religious persecution of Sikhs in his native India, Balbir Singh Sodhi emigrated to the United States in 1987, hoping to use his university training in mechanical engineering to make a living. Instead, he drove a taxi for thirteen years in Los Angeles and then San Francisco. By 2000 he had saved enough money to open his own gas station in Mesa, Arizona. He did well helping fellow immigrants as they tried to get a start.
Seven days after terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, Sodhi was shot and killed outside his station, mistaken for an Arab Muslim.
date made
1994
ID Number
2011.0255.03
catalog number
2011.0255.03
accession number
2011.0255

Dolphin trimming fabric, 1990s

Workers in the famous El Monte sweatshop used this bundle of knit trimming fabric (collars and cuffs) as they sewed Airtime brand shirts. While the sweatshop was located in El Monte, California, Dolphin Trimming Inc.
Description
Workers in the famous El Monte sweatshop used this bundle of knit trimming fabric (collars and cuffs) as they sewed Airtime brand shirts. While the sweatshop was located in El Monte, California, Dolphin Trimming Inc. (where the fabric was cut) was nearly 3,000 miles away in Miami Lakes, Florida. The apparel production business is typified by small shops doing specialization work. Authorities seized the fabric along with other evidence during a well-publicized 1995 raid. The bundle is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
Late 20th Century
1990s
ID Number
1996.0292.06
accession number
1996.0292
catalog number
1996.0292.06

Juki industrial sewing machine

This Juki industrial sewing machine was used in a suburban El Monte, California sweatshop.
Description
This Juki industrial sewing machine was used in a suburban El Monte, California sweatshop. Law enforcement officers seized the sewing machine during a well-publicized 1995 sweatshop raid and is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation. The El Monte sweatshop, like the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in 1911 earlier, took on an iconic role as government and activists used media coverage to galvanize the American public into action.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
date made
1974 - 1995
ID Number
1996.0292.29a
accession number
1996.0292
catalog number
1996.0292.29a

Levi Strauss, 1991 Terms of Engagement (German)

Levi Strauss & Co. pioneered supplier workplace codes of conduct with its Terms of Engagement in 1991. This pamphlet was published in German.
Description
Levi Strauss & Co. pioneered supplier workplace codes of conduct with its Terms of Engagement in 1991. This pamphlet was published in German. Levi’s commitment to workplace responsibility was tested in 1992 when a news report revealed that a supplier in Saipan was abusing its workforce. Mostly immigrants, the workers were working as much as 11 hours a day, seven days a week, for as little as $1.65 an hour with no overtime pay (the minimum wage in Saipan was $2.15 an hour). The story was especially embarrassing because the Northern Mariana Islands, a protectorate of the U.S., was allowed to label the goods Made in the USA. Levi’s canceled their contract. In the late 1990s the practice of workplace codes of conduct became relatively common in the garment industry.
The trend towards offshore production provided the opportunity for large cost savings but at the same time presented new problems of control. Manufacturers and retailers who worried about poor conditions in subcontractors’ factories issued codes of conduct. Enforcement of the codes of conduct was uneven.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1990 - 1998
ID Number
1998.3024.10
catalog number
1998.3024.10
nonaccession number
1998.3024

Pamphlet, "The JC Penney Supplier Legal Compliance Program", 1996

JCPenney began its Supplier Legal Compliance Program in 1996 with the rules outlined in this pamphlet. The program ensured that its suppliers complied with all applicable legal requirements as well as consumer and safety laws, acting not only legally but ethically.
Description
JCPenney began its Supplier Legal Compliance Program in 1996 with the rules outlined in this pamphlet. The program ensured that its suppliers complied with all applicable legal requirements as well as consumer and safety laws, acting not only legally but ethically. During the early 1990s many companies began to adopt these standards in response to rising concerns about sweatshop labor.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1996
maker
J. C. Penney Company, Inc.
ID Number
1998.3025.01
nonaccession number
1998.3025
catalog number
1998.3025.01

Dial Soap bar, 1990s

This bar of soap was sold at the El Monte company store. Shop operators forced workers to buy food and personal items from them at inflated prices.
Description
This bar of soap was sold at the El Monte company store. Shop operators forced workers to buy food and personal items from them at inflated prices. The soap was seized during a well-publicized 1995 sweatshop raid and is part of a larger Smithsonian collection of artifacts documenting apparel industry sweatshops, focusing on the El Monte operation.
On August 2, 1995, police officers raided a fenced seven-unit apartment complex in El Monte, California. They arrested eight operators of a clandestine garment sweatshop and freed 72 workers who were being forced to sew garments in virtual captivity. Smuggled from Thailand into the United States, the laborers’ plight brought a national spotlight to domestic sweatshop production and resulted in increased enforcement by federal and state labor agencies. The publicity of the El Monte raid also put added pressure on the apparel industry to reform its labor and business practices domestically and internationally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
Late 20th Century
1990s
ID Number
1997.0268.19
accession number
1997.0268
catalog number
1997.0268.19

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