Production Notebook
date: label: date made
content: 1990 - 1997
notes: label: Description
content: Yue Jin Wu used this production notebook to record output and compute pay in New York City in 1995.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
label: See more items in
content: El Monte
label: See more items in
content: Work
label: See more items in
content: Sweatshops
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Garment Industry Development Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1997.0280.01
label: accession number
content: 1997.0280
label: catalog number
content: 1997.0280.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Production Notebook
label: Object Name
content: notebook
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 1/4 in x 3 in x 1/2 in; 13.335 cm x 7.62 cm x 1.27 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 3/8 in x 3 1/8 in x 1/2 in; 13.6525 cm x 7.9375 cm x 1.27 cm