Chinese immigrant workers marched through the streets of downtown San Francisco, shouting slogans and waving signs to protest the loss of garment jobs they say are being outsourced to China.
Former employees of San Francisco-based apparel maker Nova Knits Inc claim they were laid off last month without prior notice, severance pay or benefits in violation of state labor laws. And the workers -- mostly middle-aged Chinese women who speak little English -- believe their jobs are being shipped to China, the world's largest clothing manufacturer.
"We believe they continue to have business, but they plan to outsource it overseas," protest organizer Leon Chow, who heads the Chinese Progressive Association, said on Tuesday.
respect
"All the workers ask for is a little respect," he said.
Nova Knits officials did not respond to multiple calls seeking comment.
Analysts say the end of textile quotas worldwide on Jan. 1 has accelerated the loss of garment jobs in the US and other countries, as apparel makers shift more production to low-wage China, which already exports more than US$60 billion in textiles and clothing each year.
"There's simply not an economic rationale to keep your sewing in the United States," said Pietra Rivoli, a business professor at Georgetown University and author of Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy.
"The job loss has been accelerating over the last five years, and I expect it will accelerate even more in the next five years," he said.
no protection
For more than three decades, industrialized nations maintained textile import quotas to protect their domestic industries from foreign competition. But starting in 1995, the World Trade Organization started phasing out those quotas, eliminating them this year.
The US, which once had 2.5 million garment workers, now only has about 500,000, mostly in California, New York and the South, Rivoli said. She expects the number of jobs to drop even further now that US retailers can purchase almost all their clothing and textiles from China.
While consumers benefit from lower prices, domestic producers complain that unfair competition has forced them to lay off thousands of workers.
Poor countries like Bangladesh and Morocco, which rely on textile quotas to bolster their struggling economies, are expected to be hit even harder as their jobs migrate to China, which already has the largest share of the US$350 billion global market.
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