Sweatshop warriors : immigrant women workers take on the global factory PDF
Preview Sweatshop warriors : immigrant women workers take on the global factory
. Miriam Ching Yoon Louie SWEATSHOP JW y* Immigrant Women Workers Take On The Global Factory J Advance praise for Sweatshop Warriors Miriam Ching Louie's Sweatshop Warriorsintroduces us to women who refuse to accept their assigned place at the bottom ofthe sweat- shop pyramid. The Chinese, Korean and Mexican immigrant women, whose testimonies are included in this work, have courageously chal- lenged restaurant owners, contractors, corporations, governments and transnational anti-labor treaties. Here is inspiration and leadership for thelabormovementand forall ofuswho seekcreativeways ofmount- ing resistance to global capitalism. — AngelaY. Davis, author of Women, Race andClass All thegood-heartedliberalswho see themselves as saviors ofdown- trodden sweatshopworkers mustreadthis book. AsMiriamLouiepower- fully demonstrates, immigrant women themselves have been organizing and fightingback on the frontlines ofthe class war againstglobal capital, makingpoliticalconnections thatmanyoftoday's travelingdemonstrators are just startingto think about. We need to listen to thesewomen. This is such a beautiful, moving book; the guidinglight for the new labor move- ment. — Robin D. G. Kelley, author ofYo'MamasDisFunktionalf: Fightingthe Culture Warsin UrbanAmerica There's no oneblueprintfororganizingwomenworkers in today's garmentindustry, butthis book puts polyvocalvoices and plans on the table. Organizers and academics interested in the power oflabor orga- nizingacross relations ofrace, class,nation, andgenerationwill find in- spiration and keen insights in this book. Miriam Ching Yoon Louie connects the threads and weaves brilliant pathways to social justice. — Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, author ofDomestical Immigrant Workers CleaningAndCaringIn TheShadows OfAffluence Accordingto apopularpolitical saying, "whereverthereis oppres- sion, there is resistance." In today's corporate-driven global economy where sweatshops have become the norm rather than the exception, it is easy to focus only on the oppression. Long-time activist Miriam ChingLouie'simportant—book tells the stories ofthe frontlinewarriors ofresistance in the U.S. the immigrantwomen sweatshop laborers who are tenaciously and creatively battling for justice and dignity. Throughtheorganizingvehiclesofcommunity-basedworkers'centers, these Chinese, Korean and Latina immigrants are challengingnot only the lynchpins ofthe—corporate economy but also the traditional model ofunion organizing as well as gender relations in their families and class dynamicsintheirethniccommunities.This bookis essentialread- ing for community organizers, for labor activists, and for others in- volved in grassroots campaigns taking on corporate globalization. — Glenn Omatsu, Associate Editor,AmerasiaJournal — A keyweaponofthe oppressoris to control the message cover up the abuses, silence the sorrows and struggles of the oppressed. Luckilywe have Miriam ChingYoon Louie—to listen and share the in- credible stories ofthese sweatshop warriors awomen' s movement the mainstream media has too long ignored. In the process, Miriam magnifies thewomen'svoices and shines abrightlighton the exploita- tion they challenge and the lessons theyhave to teach us all. — Ellen Bravo, Co-Director, 9to5, NationalAssociation ofWorkingWomen Sweatshop Warriors Women Immigrant Workers Take On the Global Factory Miriam Ching Yoon Louie South End Press Cambridge, Massachusetts Copyright © 2001 by Miriam ChingYoon Louie. Anyproperly footnoted quotation ofup to 500 sequentialwords may be used without permission, as long as the total number ofwords quoted does notexceed2,000.Forlongerquotationsorforagreaternumberoftotalwords, pleasewrite to South End Press forpermission. Cover art: "El Lugar de la mujer: Una guerrillera en la lucha para la solidaridad intemacional/A Woman's Place: A Warrior in the Struggle for InternationalSolidarity," detail ofmuralbyjuanaAlicia. ©2000. Created for UnitedElectrical,RadioandMachineWorkers,Local506,Erie,PA. Photoby EdBernik. CoverdesignbyEllen Shapiro. Textdesign andproductionbythe South EndPress collective. Printedin Canada. Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Louie,MiriamChingYoon. SweatshopWarriors immigrantwomenworkers takeontheglobal : factory/ byMiriamChingYoonLouie. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferences andindex. ISBN 0896086380 (pbk: alk. paper) --0896086399 (cloth: alk. paper) Womenalienlabor—UnitedStates—Interviews. Sweatshops—United States. Foreigntradeandemployment—UnitedStates. Internationaldivision oflabor. Globalization—Economicaspects. HD6057.5.U5—L682001 331.4/086/24 dc21 00-051577 South End Press, 7 Brookline Street, #1, Cambridge, MA 02139-4146 www.southendpress.org 0605040302 34 5 6 Contents Dedication vi Acknowledgments vii Introduction Women Listening to the The Real Experts 1 Chapter 1 Holding Up Halfthe Sky Chinese Immigrant Women Workers 19 Chapter 2 jLaMujerLuchando, ElMundo Transformando! Mexican Immigrant WomenWorkers 63 Chapter 3 "Each Day I Go Home with ANewWound in My Heart" Korean Immigrant Women Workers 123 Chapter 4 Extended Families 179 Chapter 5 Movement Roots 195 Chapter 6 "Just-in-Time" Guerrilla Warriors 215 Conclusion Returning to the Source 247 Bibliography 257 Index 295 About the Author 307 Dedication Fondly remembering my immigrantgrandmothers ChingBok See andAgnes Oh Yoon andmotherMinnie "Min-Hee"Marguerite Yoon Ching Cheers to mygarmentworkerandorganiseraunties Yang Chingand Virginia Ching Tong Dedicatedtofeisty women workerwarriors everywhere Acknowledgments This book is like a community-size—d quilt whose designs drew inspirationfromseveralteams ofsewers althoughIbearblamefor any errors and blemishes that appear in the final product. Thanks a million! to the immigrant women worker organizers who paused from their work to share kernels of their life experi- ences: ElenaAlvarez,Refugio "Cuca"Arieta,BoYee,ViolaCasares, Chan Wai Fun,Jenny Chen, Rojana "Na" Cheunchujit, Choi Kee Young, ChuMi Hee, Mariadel CarmenDominguez, MariaAntonia Flores, Remedios Garcia, Carmen Ibarra Lopez, Celeste Jimenez, KimChongOk,Kim SeungMin, OiKwan"Annie"Lai, "Lisa," Lin CaiFen,LeeJungHee,Lee KyuHee,LeeYinWah,MartaMartinez, Petra Mata, Ernestina V. Mendoza, Irma Montoya Barajas, Paek Young Hee, Kyung Park, Obdulia M. Segura, Lucrecia Tamayo, Helen Wong, Wu Wan Mei, Amy Xie, and Yu Sau Kwan. Special thanks also to "Smita" and "Renuka" from Workers Awazz, a do- mestic workers organization for South Asian immigrant women in NewYorkCity,who also shared theirstories,whichneedto bedoc- umented in a future piece, as does the work ofthe Border Agricul- tural Workers Union that organizes farm workers in the chili industry. You all are the salt ofthe earth and the spice ofour lives. Please knowthatsomanypeopleholdyouinthehighestrespectand trust your intuition, analysis, faith, strength, labor, and laughter to lead us forward. Milgracias! to the women's co-organizers who let me question them, too. Many also did double duty as translators during inter- views with the women, or housed and fed me when I was far from vii viii SweatshopWarriors home: Geri Almanza, Cindy Arnold, Chuan Chen, Vivian Chang, Pamela Chiang, GuillermoDomfnguez Glenn,TrinhDuong,Yrene Espinoza, Ken Fong, Roy Hong, KwongHui, Helen Kim,Jennifer Jihye Chun, Stacy Kono, Wing Lam, Paul Lee, JoAnn Lum, Chanchanit "Chancee" Martorell, Brenda Mata, Jungsuk Oh, Gin Pang, Danny Park, K.S. Park, Suyapa Portillo, Cecilia Rodriguez, Suk Hee Ryu, Young Shin,Julia Song, Liz Sunwoo, Robert Thiem, Tommy Yee, and Young Im Yoo. Special thanks to Asian Immi- grantWomen Advocates and Fuerza Unida for the privilege oflet- ting me experience women workers organizing from the inside, including those intimate moments before we put on our makeup, patted down our cowlicks, shed our slippers, and went out to face the public. I learned so much from all ofmy sisters and brothers in the workers centers. Dohjie! to organizers and activist scholars that shared views while hunkered down in other movement trenches: Shahbano Aliani, Madeline Janis-Aparicio, Nikki Fortunato Bas, Edna Bonacich, Carol de Leon, John Delloro, Bea Tarn and Harvey Dong,Bob Fitch, LoraJo Foo, Pam Galpern, Peter Kwong, Chavel Lopez,Aliciaand Carlos Marentes, Elizabeth "Betita" Martinez,Jay Mendoza, Susan Mika, Marta Ojeda, Peter Olney, Edward Park, MaggiePoe,Ai-jenPoo,CristinaRiegos,SaskiaSassen,RubenSolis, Sandra Spector, Cathi Tactaquin, Pam Tau Lee, Mary Tong, Steve Williams,andBobWingintheU.S.Thanks also to the cross-border, transpacific sister and brother organizers: Elizabeth "Bed" Robles Ortega, Reyna Montero, Carmen Valadez, Beatriz Alfaro, Beatriz Lujan Uranga, Mathilde Arteaga, Alberta "Bed" Caririo Trujillo, Omar Esparza Zarate, Martin Barrios Hernandez, Conception Hernandez Mendez, Father Anastacio "Tacho" Hidalgo Miramon, Jesus Granada, Hortensia Hernandez Mendoza, Artemio Osuna Osuna, Lai Tong Chi, Linda To, Maria Rhee, Choi Myung Hee,Jin Kyong Park, Yoon Hae Ryun, Cho Ailee, Masami Azu, May-an Villalba, Misun Kim, Rex Varona, Apo Leong, Fely Villasin, and Cenen Bagon. Thanks forallyour razor sharp insights and fantastic work. You do the global conspiracy oftroublemakers proud. jKamsa hamnidal to the grrrlfriends who kept me going: to the
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