The Militant (logo) 
   Vol.66/No.18            May 6, 2002 
 
 
‘Wins boss stole our money,’ say
garment workers at Bay Area picket
(front page) 

BY ROLLANDE GIRARD AND BILL KALMAN  
SAN FRANCISCO--Chanting "No compensation, no justice! No back wages, no peace!" in Chinese and English, 200 garment workers and supporters rallied outside of the federal building here April 15.  
 
Carrying signs in Chinese and English that read, "Wins Boss Stole Our Money," the workers, most of whom are Cantonese-speaking women, demanded that the federal government force bankrupt Wins Industries to make good on the more than $1.3 million in back pay owed to them. The protesters also demanded that the owner of Wins, Anna Wong, be jailed for pocketing their wages.  
 
The Chinese workers were employed by three related San Francisco garment shops: Wins of California, Win Fashions, and Win Industries of America, all owned by Wong, along with her sister Jenny and her husband Toha Quan.  
 
The family owns eight family homes, rental properties, an upscale restaurant, and other properties in San Francisco. Wong stopped paying the workers in their plants last April while still producing goods for Sears, J.C. Penney, T.J. Maxx, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Tommy Hilfiger, The Gap, Sam’s Club, and the U.S. Army/Air Force Exchange. By the end of last summer all three plants were closed for bankruptcy proceedings. Two of Wong’s factories had operated illegally, without a license, and were ordered shut down by the California labor commissioner. During early summer of last year Wins of California had revenues of $1.2 million.  
 
The workers’ protest, organized by the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) and Operation Sweatshop Watch, was called for April 15 because the Internal Revenue Service, which is a creditor of Wins trying to collect back taxes, is claiming that it should be paid before any worker gets back pay. "We have not seen a penny since April," May Youn Fang told the rally. "We have to borrow money to pay the rent. They treat us like this because we are immigrants and considered low-income workers."  
 
Repeated labor law violations
Repeated labor law violations by Wins have been long known by government officials. In the early 1990s Wins was forced to sign a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) because of repeat violations, and has been on the DOL target list of plants subject to more frequent inspections. The company has been sued twice by former employees.

Warren Mar of the Chinese Progressive Association told the rally that a small contingent of plant workers and CPA activists had just met with David Butler of the State Labor Commission. "He was reluctant to meet now," Mar said, "but will meet with a delegation next week."

The workers insist that the Labor Commission follow up on the lawsuit it finally filed against Wins on March 7 by going after the retailers who sold goods produced by the unpaid workers. The DOL has collected only $400,000 from the retailers and brand-name manufacturers who bought goods from Wins after August 10, and put this money into a "lock box" to partially repay the workers. It is this "lock box" that the IRS, along with G.E. Capital (which financed Wins operations), wants to use to collect their payments before the workers get anything. A hearing in bankruptcy court to sort through the claims is scheduled for June.

Last December the state-appointed bankruptcy trustee sold off $140,000 of company property, not for paying back the workers but to reimburse lawyers and creditors. According to California state law, garment workers’ claims for unpaid wages must be processed in four months. For most workers, it has been a year since their last paycheck.

Speaking through a translator, Li Qin Zhou, a single-needle operator, told the Militant that she had worked at Wins for eight years. She stopped working on August 2. After four months, "I had no hope to get paid," she said. "The boss said that if you don’t continue to work, you won’t get paid at all. The owner said she didn’t get the money from the buyers and told us to be patient." Zhou said that the workers got no benefits, no vacations, were paid piece rate with no minimum wage guarantee, and no overtime pay, even though she worked up to 10 and 12 hours a day. "If work was good," she said, "I made about minimum wage but sometimes I made as low as $2 an hour, even $1.60 an hour."

Zhou was asked by the company to sign a letter saying that she was owed $1,119.28, but Zhou said that what she is owed adds up to $4,690. "I didn’t sign," she said.

"We didn’t get the justice we deserve. We work hard, the labor department is supposed to protect us. I will fight for my money," she added.

Besides the Wins workers who spoke, the rally was also addressed by speakers representing Chinese for Affirmative Action, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Asian Pacific Labor Alliance, SEIU / Janitors for Justice, and the Socialist Workers Party. Other unions in attendance included the Teamsters, Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 2, and the National Parks Public Employees union.

Rollande Girard is a garment worker in San Francisco. Bill Kalman is a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 120 in San Lorenzo, California.
 
 
 
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