premise: Labor conditions have deteriorated for a number of  the decline in the coverage of collective bargaining agreements with their provisions for regulation of contract shops; the difficulty of policing contributions for health and pension funds from employers in this sector; the increase in immigrants, legal and illegal, concentrated in certain areas; the intense competition from imports; and the sharp drop in employment in apparel in some markets.
hypothesis: Conditions for workers have gotten better as collective bargaining agreement coverage has gone down.