Speech #1050019186

Of the 22.00 manufacturers of clothing and accessories in the United States. the Department of Labor finds that more than half are paying wages substantially below the minimum wage. and a third axe exposing their workers to serious safety and health risks. Sweatshops run by unscrupulous contractors have a long and sordid history in this country. In 1911. a tragic fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. on Lower East Side In New York City killed 146 young Immigrant women. They auffocated or were burned to death because the exits had been locked or blocked. Eightysix years later. we still find too often that conditions bave not improved.