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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spokane Garment Trade Earns Passing Marks

Grayden Jones Staff writer

A Border Patrol raid on KL Manufacturing Co. of Spokane last year nabbed three illegal aliens holding counterfeit “green cards,” and chased six others out the back door, company officials say.

But federal and state investigators say that was a rare problem associated with Inland Northwest garment makers compared with the sweat-shop abuses that have occurred in California, the East Coast and Seattle.

Pressure to lower costs, a high ratio of immigrant workers and the multi-level structure of production makes the garment industry an easy target for unscrupulous operators. A bid to produce garments for a brand-name company can be subcontracted several times, making it easier to circumvent laws designed to protect workers and taxpayers.

“We know of no widespread abuses in your area,” says Warren Murphy, a U.S. Department of Labor investigator who is looking at illegal “home sewing” shops in Seattle. “Our experience has been that very little sewing work is being done outside the companies” in Spokane.

Officials with the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service and state Department of Labor & Industries also reported no local abuses.

However, KL Chairman Michael Doohan says he believes that home sewing may occur in an underground market. He says companies pay individuals on the side to sew backpacks and other textile products without reporting the expenses and hours worked.

That could be a violation of federal laws regulating minimum wage, overtime and child labor. It also could give the violating company a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

MCC Co., which produces girl’s cotton clothes in the Spokane Valley, has contracted with home sewers in the past, but company officials say they have carefully documented hours and wages with the state Department of Revenue.

Jack Robinson, owner of Robinson Windword Inc., a Spokane manufacturer of specialty nylon products, said he contracts with at least 40 home sewers from Sandpoint to Spangle who bid on each job and operate their own industrial machines.

KL and All Season’s Apparel Inc. officials say they do not pay for work done outside their factories.

About 40 percent of KL’s workers do not speak English, says Doohan, the former chairman of Sacred Heart Medical Center who offers employees a medical and profit sharing plan. The company uses translators to help sewing operators acclimate to the workplace.

“These are hard jobs,” says All Season’s owner Mark Gantar, who offers a medical plan and matches 25 percent of each employee’s 401(k) contribution. “It takes a year to train a good sewing operator.”

, DataTimes