South LA factory cleared to reopen after cluster of COVID-19 cases reported

LOS ANGELES - After reporting on the conditions inside of LA Apparel earlier this week, there is an update.

The South LA factory has been cleared to reopen. You will recall weeks ago, the factory was shut down after a cluster of COVID-19 cases was reported among garment workers at the factory. Four people died and hundreds of workers tested positive. The County Department of Public Health (DPH) dictated the mandates for reopening. They included acrylic sheet barriers between work stations, in place of cardboard, so that material can be moved safely. The DPH said the reopening would happen under a "strict adherence" to its health order. An official said that unannounced visits to the factory would take place to make sure LA Apparel was in "full compliance."

Earlier this week, FOX 11 obtained cell video of the interior of the factory, showing cardboard barriers with holes in them, between workers. That video was shot April 10 by an anonymous LA Apparel employee and supplied to us by the Garment Worker Center. We also spoke to Maribel Maldonado, a worker in her 50's. She was working at the factory as a trimmer when she contracted the virus, mid-May. Maldonado said she was sick for a month with COVID19. Her symptoms included fatigue, diarrhea, and night sweats.

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Maldonado described a workplace with little safe distancing. She said employees and outside vendors congregated in close quarters at the lunch table and near time clocks. She was making $15 an hour at the factory, which made her among the highest paid, in an industry notorious for its working conditions and low pay. Workers are largely immigrants. Maldonado said many of the workers were scared about conditions inside the factory, "but they needed the money."

FOX 11 made numerous attempts to speak to the owner of LA Apparel, Dov Charney, on camera but he declined. On the phone, he said they were making all the changes mandated by DPH. He took issue with the characterization that an outbreak of COVID-19 occurred at his factory, asking how can you be sure where workers contracted the virus? Charney stated most of his workers live in South LA, a community where the infection rate is especially high.

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Maribel Maldonado is no longer infectious. She told me she had been offered her old job back, but did not want to work there. She told me in Spanish, "nothing will change." One of the lead organizers at the Garment Worker Center, Daisy Gonzalez, said LA Apparel is emblematic of a larger issue: low pay and hazardous working conditions for LA's working poor. Gonzalez said many workers, including those infected with the virus, never received pay for their sick days. However, she said if the workplace can be made safe, most workers wanted to return to their jobs.

Let us hope that safe conditions can be maintained and garment workers stay employed, LA Apparel is a large employer in this inner-city community.

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