Ordinary Workers; Extraordinary Warriors

by Merilynne Hamano Quon,
posted 10/30/01

Sweatshop Warriors: Immigrant Women Workers Take on the Global Factory by Miriam Ching Louie, published by South End Press, 2001

"Contrary to conventional wisdom that leans heavily on white/or male academics, (immigrant women workers) are the REAL EXPERTS about the inner workings of the global economy, labor markets, and immigrant communities-speaking to us from the bottom of the sweatshop industry pyramid. They stand steadfast as the first line of whistle-blowers and flak-catchers against corporate greed, government negligence, and racial wrongs. They serve as the tree shakers who knock down the fruit, the piñata busters who break open the goodies-of economic democracy, gender justice, and human rights-for ALL OF US. They are neither victims or superwomen. These sweatshop warriors are simply everyday women who have much to tell and teach”.

Sweatshop Warriors is a scholarly work with a forty page bibliography and detailed footnotes. It qualifies as a must read for every Asian American Studies 101 Class. But just like her essay in the Asian Americans: the Movement and the Moment," this read is feisty, down to earth, and creative!

Miriam Ching Louie speaks to us in the everyday language of women, workers, and young bloods everywhere. She mixes English and the words from our ethnic heritages. She"talks the talk” because, for thirty years, she has"walked the walk” in the student, community, labor, and third world solidarity movements. She is an internationally known speaker clocking in time with Asian Immigrant Women Advocates; Fuerza Unida; and Women of Color Resource Center. Who better to share the stories of her fellow women warriors?

She takes us on a virtual tour that begins in the homelands of China, Korea, Thailand, and Mexico to the factories of the Southwest; the restaurants of Korea town; the sweatshops of El Monte; and the side streets of New York City. We hear from the women worker/warriors directly in verbatim interviews. Our mouths water with vivid descriptions of soul foods cooking while the women tell their stories. Tears of anger well up as we hear the stories of the daily insults on the shop floor; unpaid wages; and deplorable living conditions.

Miriam Ching Louie brilliantly"breaks down” the global economic picture: showing us how most manufacturing, clerical, and services jobs are sub-contracted into tiny, seemingly controllable pieces-rendering 87% of the US work force non-unionized. Rather than leaving us hopeless and helpless, however, we gain courage and inspiration from the struggles and victories of women worker/warriors as they take on Levis Strauss; Jessica McClintock; Donna Karan as well as government agencies and labor unions not stepping up to address their needs.

We learn how the women organized themselves and their communities through community-based workers centers like Chinese Staff and Workers Association in New York City; La Mujer Obrera in El Paso, Texas; Asian Immigrant Women Advocates in Oakland, California; Fuerza Unida in San Antonio, Texas; Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates; Thai Community Development Center and Pilipino Workers Center in Los Angeles, California.

“These community-based workers centers have"enabled (immigrant women workers) to both resist oppressions they face and begin to fashion new ways to work, live, think, and create..to taste the freedom of remaking themselves as fuller human beings…”as (immigrant women workers) carried out their battles, they started to define not only what they were fighting AGAINST but what they were fight FOR."

Community-based workers centers address not only workplace issues but racism against Asian immigrant communities and sexism in the workplace and home. The centers became training grounds for the next generation of activists: where sons and daughters could fight side by side with their mothers. These workers centers developed a model of leadership from the bottom up; not a model of"professional”; hit and run organizers who jump from one struggle to the next. Not a model of"social service” where professionals have to"do for” workers; but a model of self-determination where everyday folk"do for themselves”. It's about women's liberation and community empowerment. It's about workers standing up for their rights. Such centers have integrated the personal and collective lives of these women for the long haul-providing a stable base from which women can support unite with and strengthen others.

Sweatshop Warriors shows us how ordinary women workers became extraordinary warriors and better human beings. We learn from the example of these women that we do not have to be victims of the global economy and a seemingly senseless war. We learn that we can, and MUST, stand up for our rights as workers, women, and members of the third world. We must fight each and every day for economic and political justice, equality and peace. The survival of humanity depends on it.

photo courtesy of KIWA