Garment Worker Center
Garment Worker Center (GWC) is a worker rights organization leading an anti-sweatshop movement to improve conditions for tens of thousands of Los Angeles garment workers through direct organizing and leadership development. Lead Member Organizer Daisy Gonzalez talks about how COVID-19 is impacting workers and what motivates her to keep organizing.
Photo courtesy of GWC.
People just start to believe
in themselves again
“Garment workers are now being seen as essential workers and being called on to help produce personal protective equipment needed to address this crisis. We are concerned with the lack of health and safety that has existed in the industry for many years. We are also extremely concerned about wage theft. Many of the workers are undocumented and so won’t be benefiting from a lot of these [government relief] programs. A lot of workers are afraid to seek support in these situations because of their [immigration] status. Through our leadership development work, we see people come into our center fed up with how they are treated as workers, as immigrants, and they start to believe in themselves again. I think that is 100% part of a journey into healing. Being heard and sharing experiences is the first step to finding the solution to the problems that are not just affecting one person but that we know are affecting thousands. My mom was a garment worker when she first came to this country. It’s really powerful to see people that remind me a lot of my own mom, my grandma, generations of women that hold a lot of trauma, and see them stand up for themselves—it’s what drives me.”
LACDMH Strategic Plan Points: 1a.1 education, 1a.2 engagement, 1a.3 follow up, 1b.2 kin, 1b.3 purpose, 1c.1 assessment, 1c.3 outpatient care, 2.1 real-time crisis response, 2.3 restorative care, 4.2 organizational process, 4.3 organizational outcomes.