1,600 American Apparel employees not authorized to work in the US

[notmuch]

......I went into an American Apparel once, and the young lady looks at me from the back of the store and shouts "um, excuse me, we close in 10 minutes!" I should have stayed for 15...

[candypants1100]

wow this is NUTS

[~Fabulousity~]

i'm not surprised

[canada's]

Originally Posted by ayla

Egads.. so were they even being paid a 'living wage' ?

definitely. all AA factory employees make well above US minimum wage, even in other countries. they're also given full benefits, and as stated, those that they had to get rid of were given gobs of stock options that will eventually be worth more than they ever would have made working at AA. he's definitely treating the employees well, the issue lies with the fact they aren't legal, not the treatment of employees.

AA prides itself on making their garments in the U.S. so you know your product is coming from ethical working conditions. AA having immigrants working for them doesn't go against this in the slightest. they're immigrants being paid the same and being offered the same benefits as u.s. citizens, so it's not like they're using them as an out to cut costs. hardly the case.

[Roo]

Originally Posted by canada's

AA prides itself on making their garments in the U.S. so you know your product is coming from ethical working conditions. AA having immigrants working for them doesn't go against this in the slightest. they're immigrants being paid the same and being offered the same benefits as u.s. citizens, so it's not like they're using them as an out to cut costs. hardly the case.

I don't think anyone has a problem with immigrants being employed by AA.

It's the fact that they were illegal that is bothersome.

Many millions of citizens need jobs right now and could have had those jobs with the wages and benefits offered to the illegals.

[Panda1]

There is a BIG difference between legal immigrants and illegal imigrants. People like to lump them together which is wrong.

[canada's]

i'm aware they're illegal immigrants, and i'm aware of the differences.

there are many jobs "taken" by illegal immigrants, and what should happen - the country's in an economic depression, so those jobs are taken away and given to legal citizens based on the grounds that they're legal? many (most) illegal immigrants have jobs that no legal citizen is willing to take.

[HauteMama]

Generally, the only reason a legal citizen is not willing to take a job is because of wages too low to live on, substandard working conditions or lack of benefits. Most employers who employ large numbers of illegals do it so they can pay less or not offer any benefits or because they are not declaring many of them for tax purposes. I'm not accusing AA of those things, as I don't know the circumstances. But it is VERY rare for employers offering a living wage to HAVE to hire illegals; they usually choose to do so for a reason that economically benefits the company.

[Roo]

Originally Posted by canada's

i'm aware they're illegal immigrants, and i'm aware of the differences. there are many jobs "taken" by illegal immigrants, and what should happen - the country's in an economic depression, so those jobs are taken away and given to legal citizens based on the grounds that they're legal? many (most) illegal immigrants have jobs that no legal citizen is willing to take.

I don't know if the above (bolded) is so true anymore...

I have a friend who works in a restaurant. She's worked there for over 25 years. 75% of her coworkers are illegal and openly admit it. When the restaurant advertised recently for server positions, many people who had been laid off white collar jobs applied. My friend has never seen this demographic applying for jobs there before. As a result, management has been 'screening' some of the workers with questionable citizenship status. One assistant manager was found to be using three names and three social security numbers, and he was fired as a result.

[canada's]

AA definitely doesn't HAVE to hire illegal immigrants. that's understood.

perhaps things are changing in some parts. i find it funny that there's a need to screen employees now that there are new bodies to fill the positions (when the employer was obviously fine with hiring them/allowing them to work beforehand), but hey, that's business.

[frenchtoast]

Originally Posted by HauteMama

I tend to believe that with that many employees not authorized to work here, it was no accident.

ITA. It wasn't an accident, not at all.

[pro_shopper]

Originally Posted by HauteMama

I tend to believe that with that many employees not authorized to work here, it was no accident.

I have to agree...

[ZoeyZoo]

I'm not surprised. This is actually a huge problem in CA with manufacturing and construction. A lot of the people who apply for work fake their docuements, borrow social security numbers, or use a family member's ssn and apply for their drivers license in the same name. You can get a drivers license in CA even if you are there illegally.

[loopymoi]

Uh oh...I hope this doesn't mean they are going to stop making clothes. Their tanks are great.

[canada's]

Originally Posted by ZoeyZoo

You can get a drivers license in CA even if you are there illegally.

this is the case in many states.

i doubt this will do anything to am ap or their reputation. it's happened before and it was barely in the news.