Immigrant workers axed by American Apparel

The following is a partial transcript; for full story, listen to audio.

American Apparel made a name for itself for paying its workers a better-than-fair wage and offering in-factory massages. (And, yes, they have also made a name for themselves with their over-the-top “sex sells” advertising.) The 1,800 immigrant employees the company is laying off is about a quarter of its workforce.

“New York Times” immigration reporter Julia Preston, who wrote an article about the firings, explained the reason behind it: “An investigation that started more than a year ago determined that there were mismatches, irregularities, between the documents they presented when they were hired, and the records of immigration or the Social Security Administration. That is to say, in all likelihood, they are illegal immigrants.”

A departure from the stereotypical illegal immigrant workers story, the company paid these workers well, and the workers were paying taxes.

“Being realistic, I guess I’m going to have to go to one of those sweatshop companies where I’m going to get paid under the table, not paying taxes as I do, cause we’ll just be invisible to the government,” said one of the laid off workers.

“This is the dilemma that’s presented by the new policy by the Obama Administration,” said Preston. “The focus is on employers, but as officials from the administration say, not just sweatshop employers, but they are going to try and be looking at the records of employers across the country, mainstream employers — any company that has a large number of immigrant workers — to see if their hiring documents are in order.”

Congressman Brian Bilbray from California: “There’s not going to be any place for you to hide illegally anymore because the light is going to be shined in every corner.”

According to Preston, at the time many of the immigrant employees were hired on with American Apparel — some had been with the company for over nine years — a “satisfactory regiment” for verifying employment didn’t exist. “The company itself has not been accused so far of a single case of knowingly hiring an illegal immigrant.”

She added: “The scenario that this is somehow clearing the way for someone who we might call an American worker; this is just not exactly what’s happening.”

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