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Lifting of apparel and textile import quotas Jan. 1 could hit Los Angeles' garment industry and its largely low-income, immigrant work force hard and possibly force thousands to seek jobs in sweatshops and other underground employers, according to experts.
Globalization already has robbed thousands of jobs from the garment and textile industry, the county's largest manufacturing sector, and concern is growing about further erosion and its impact on L.A.'s poor and the local economy.
With the lifting of Multi-Fiber Arrangement quotas on apparel and textile imports from other countries Jan. 1, companies will have more freedom to move more production overseas where labor costs are much lower.
"It's a tough, pragmatic issue for our region," said Dan Flaming, president of the Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit group that studies the local economy.
"These are hopeful and energized workers who have come here to build better lives and make economic headway for their families ... and what we may be seeing is the opposite of that with the possibility of (more) globilization of trade. The movement of jobs offshore will pull the rug out from under these workers and eliminate the jobs they came here for.
"It'll result in more workers being marginalized and becoming economically desperate, and these are the people we find in the underground economy."
Textile workers and contract sewing machine operators for lower- priced goods are probably most at risk because their products can be produced with longer lead times than fashion clothing.
Karin Mak, project coordinator at Sweatshop Watch in Los Angeles, predicted up to half the local garment industry jobs could be lost as the domestic industry protections are lost, basing that on recent trends and worker anecdotal evidence.
Industry representatives said they expect a far smaller impact, pointing out that many jobs already have moved to overseas factories. Those...