Sweatshop Slaves: Asian Americans in the Garment Industry

2006

Edited by Kent Wong and Julie Monroe

Featuring essays by

Helen Chien, Garment Center Worker
Kimi Lee, Garment Center Worker
Joann Lo, Garment Worker Center
Chancee Martorell, Thai Community Development Center
Julie Su, Asian Pacific American Legal Center
Rojana Cheunchujit Sussman, El Monte Slave Shop Activist

This book highlights the structure and organization of the garment industry, the history of sweatshops, the organizations and organizing campaigns that have worked to eradicate sweatshops, and brief oral histories of key leaders in the movement. There is also special coverage of the infamous El Monte sweatshop, where seventy-two Asian American workers were freed from modern-day slavery in 1995.The book is the product of students enrolled in a UCLA course entitled "Work, Labor, and Social Justice," working in conjunction with the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education.