With such a close monitoring system in place, it is difficult to
understand how such egregious violations could have still been
happening. However, it seems as though Jin Shun was very strategic in
concealing these. The company provided workers with mock question and
answer sheets to memorize in case they were ever questioned about
conditions in the factory. They also provided falsified time records to
labor investigators – which, if correct, would show that workers
produced an entire piece of clothing in less than one minute. It is
amazing how long this system worked without being discovered and that
workers were being trained to cover up for their disgustingly inhumane
employers.

Commissioner Smith took this case as reason to state that “cursory
inspection and monitoring factories is not enough”. New York has
decided to undertake new forms of investigation, including after-hour
surveillance, and off-site and third party witness interviews. As has
been the case with other states who have adopted sweatfree policies,
enforcement is crucial. And, as can be seen with New York, this
enforcement must be aggressive and unrelenting.

As I talked about in a past blog, I have recently been doing some work with trying to encourage New Jersey state governments to join the Sweatfree consortium. New Jersey Governor Corzine passed an Executive Order on sweatfree procurement
in 2002, but no money has been allocated to the cause. New York State,
which has allocated staff and budget to trying to remove the stain of
exploited workers from state purchased garments, has increased minimum
wage underpayments by 37 percent over the past ten years. Manufacturers
in many other states, including New Jersey, have no incentive to
produce their clothing ethically. By joining the sweatfree consortium,
resources can be pooled with other cities and states so that ethical
purchasing and rigorous enforcement does not have a huge impact on the
pockets of taxpayers.