Hundreds of people joined together on Friday evening, August 2nd, at the corner of Hollywood and Western to commemorate the anniversary of the El Monte Thai Garment Slavery Case. Eighteen years ago, the Thai Community Development Center (Thai CDC) responded to the call for help of 72 Thai nationals who were held captive and forced to work in conditions so extreme their case instantly became known as the first modern-day slavery case in the United States. Champions for worker’s rights, Maria Elena Durazo and Steve Nutter, who have tirelessly fought to defend the rights of workers offered their reflections on the case and the impact it had on the labor movement and Thai CDC’s Executive Director, Chancee Martorell offered testimony of the work done eighteen years ago to liberate workers from these tragic circumstances.
Survivors of El Monte spoke of their experiences as enslaved workers in an underground garment factory where they toiled sixteen to eighteen hours per day for a few dollars an hour, without ever seeing the majority of their wages. These first hand experiences reminded the crowd that slavery is not a thing of the past that we should associate with the antebellum South. We know today that El Monte was not an isolated incident. It was only the first case of a type that has now become commonplace throughout the United States. El Monte is the template for a growing segment of American merchants and manufacturers who view slavery as an advantageous business model and a viable option. Short of full-fledged slavery, wage theft and flagrant labor violations are also becoming rampant throughout the U.S. At the rally and vigil, present day laborers spoke of their struggles in the restaurant industry. The Department of Labor estimates that the Thai restaurant industry in Los Angeles has nearly a 100% non-compliance rate with wage and hour laws. This violation of wage and hour laws perpetuates the cycle of poverty and prevents those who are working the hardest from being able to provide for themselves and their families.
Restaurant workers, car wash workers and children from across ethnic lines and sectors offered testimony of their fight to gain equality in the work place and to create an existence that is free from poverty produced by labor exploitation. Offering their stories to the public brought tears to the eyes of the attendees as well as those with the courage to speak out for justice. The stories of the few reflected the issues of many as the solidarity of the people provided all with the understanding that regardless of age, race and religion people from all walks of life are fighting to exist.
To honor the struggles of past survivors and to continue the fight for those still undiscovered, this commemoration provided an opportunity to shed light on an issue that is all too often hidden from view and lies just beneath the surface. To symbolize these efforts, Martorell ended the evening with a candlelight vigil designed to visually represent how the growing movement to shed light on labor exploitation has grown rapidly in recent years without dissipating its energy or losing momentum. Although this vision began nearly twenty years ago with the El Monte Case, it continues today as Thai CDC joins with its partners to fight for the rights of workers who are manipulated into servitude through physical and psychological coercion, debt bondage, and false promises.
