Exploiter's vicious message

A unionist's car was extensively vandalised in a laneway in 
the Sydney suburb of Marrickville less than 24 hours after he 
dropped a bucket on suppliers to fashion retailer, Valley Girl, 
in the Chief Industrial Magistrate's Court.

Stunned Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union (TCFUA) official, 
David Tritton, understood the implications of extensive 
scratching and gouging on the bodywork of the organisation's new 
Holden Crewman.

"When we came out of the building there were two men just 
standing there watching us", he said. "They just stared at us as 
we walked back to the car which had been completely vandalised. 
It was obvious someone was sending us a message".

The previous day, Mr Tritton had told the Chief Industrial 
Magistrate's Court that a list of addresses of sub-contractors 
provided by Valley Girl supplier, Stephanelle, had been bogus.

Under the Clothing Industry Award, suppliers like Stephanelle are 
required to comply with requests to supply sub-contractors' names 
and addresses. The measure is designed to drive sweatshops, 
typically paying non-English speaking women as little as $3 an 
hour, out of the industry.

One Stephanelle address turned out to be a surveyor's office, 
another a car audio showroom and a third was home to a furniture 
retailer. Other addresses simply didn't exist.

The union uncovered a Chester Hill garage equipped with 20 sewing 
machines and Stephanelle documentation indicating that blouses, 
tops and pants were headed for Valley Girl and upmarket boutique, 
Dolls Only.

The operator of that premises said he had been manufacturing for 
Stephanelle for two years but could only provide wage records and 
workers' comp policies for two people that covered the week he 
was sprung.

His records showed he was receiving $4 a unit and sub-contracting 
the garments out at $3 a unit.

"We estimate, to meet award minimums only, manufacturers would 
have to receive at least $5.29 a unit", Mr Tritton explained. 
"That doesn't include workers' compensation, super or any profit 
margin.

"There is no way in the world that any person actually doing the 
work could be paid the minimum legal hourly rate, on those 
figures", he said.

He told the Court that three Stephanelle sub-contractors listed 
company offices at fictitious Melbourne addresses but issued tax 
invoices from non-existent Sydney bases.

One, MTN, a company purporting to be registered at 30 Henry St, 
Abbotsford, Victoria; was billing customers from 20 Henry St, 
Abbotsford, NSW.

While still sending out GST invoices from Abbotsford, Sydney, he 
said, it hadn't held an ABN number since July, last year.

Mr Tritton said the bodgey addresses and false invoicing 
highlighted the need for companies, like Valley Girl, to sign the 
retailers' "code of conduct" to not sell goods made by ruthlessly 
exploited outworkers.

The TCFUA asked Valley Girl, boasting 74 retail outlets, for a 
meeting about the issues exposed by Stephanelle's documentation. 
However, a Valley Girl official said its CEO was "too busy".

The union made it clear that the vandalism incident would not put 
TCFUA officials off the trail of companies exploiting outworkers 
or using sweatshops.

"We are not going to be intimidated", David Tritton said. "These 
checks will continue until companies face up to their legal and 
moral responsibilities."