Here’s proof that people can rise above oppression.
20 years ago this coming Sunday, authorities raided an apartment complex near Los Angles where 72 Thai workers were held captive and forced to work under sweatshop conditions.
After the raid, immigration threatened the workers with deportation, but an attorney intervened and convinced the government to authorize special S-visas under a provision of the law that grants visas to those who assist authorities as a witness or informant.
“They were held in these terrible conditions. It was like a sauna,” said their attorney back then, Julie Su, to CBS LA. “All of them in this big, large room, with just a toilet in it. They were all in prison jumpsuits, with a little rolled up piece of paper and a toothbrush stuck in their pocket.”
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The memory of their captivity is still vivid in the minds of the workers.
“Small room. A lot of people inside,” said Win Chuai-Ngan about the working and living conditions. “After work, everybody sleep on the floor. I cannot go outside.”
They were promised wages of up to $2000 a month, but earned just $200 -$300.
Su filed a lawsuit and won a $4 million dollar settlement from Mervyn’s, Montgomery Ward, Millers Outpost, the label B.U.M.
Today, CBS LA reports many of those workers are now American citizens and Chuai-Ngan owns a Thai restaurant.
The organization the attorney Julie Su worked for eventually became Asian Americans for Advancing Justice. Su is now the California Labor Commissioner.
You can learn more about the workers’ stories and why Su’s lawsuit is considered precedent setting in the clip below from CBS LA.
