D. Project background
Since 1992, the Rosenberg Foundation has invested over $2 million in advocacy efforts aimed at eliminating the exploitation in California's garment industry. Litigation has been a critical tool among the foundation's strategies to protect low-wage, immigrant workers' rights to fair wages and decent working conditions. The foundation's support has enabled legal advocates to enforce labor laws in a climate of weak government enforcement and decreased unionization in California.

The Rosenberg Foundation's work in this area began in earnest with the El Monte case in 1995. That year, a sweatshop in El Monte, a small town outside Los Angeles, was raided by the Immigration and Naturalization Service and labor officials after workers escaped to report egregious conditions. The sweatshop was housed in a seven-unit apartment complex surrounded by razor-wire fences. Investigators found 72 illegal immigrants, mostly women, who had been kidnapped from Thailand to work under conditions of slavery. The workers were forced to work from 18 to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, for only 68 cents an hour. Workers lived in the complex, sleeping in cramped and filthy rooms. They were forbidden to leave and threatened with violence against their families if anyone alerted authorities. Workers' phone calls were supervised and their letters censored.

With support from Rosenberg, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California (APALC), a legal and civil rights organization in Los Angeles, quickly got involved in the case to protect the rights of these workers. The Rosenberg Foundation quickly observed that this case as a strategic opportunity to win ground in the fight for sweatshop workers' rights. The case received wide coverage in the local and national media, in part because the labels produced there were sold or owned by large retailers such as Nordstrom, Sears, and Target. The El Monte case also provided an opportunity to set a legal precedent for joint liability to hold both the garment contractors and major retailers and manufacturers liable for labor law violations. This strategy is especially important in the garment industry, which heavily relies on subcontracting production.

The Rosenberg Foundation also supported litigation in response to advocates' observations about how the garment industry is organized. The practice of subcontracting had historically shielded many major well-known manufacturers and retailers from being held liable for their subcontractors' illegal and oppressive working conditions. Sweatshop owners are often the last link in a coordinated effort to produce cheap clothing at the expense of workers' rights. Although garment factory owners are the most visible participants in this process, often the manufacturers call the shots.

The Rosenberg Foundation supported a range of APALC's activities throughout the lengthy and ultimately successful litigation process. The foundation also supported other efforts to protect garment workers' rights, including class action lawsuits against sweatshops, and the creation of the Garment Workers Center in Los Angeles.

E. Theory of change
The Rosenberg Foundation viewed the El Monte litigation as an opportunity to set a legal precedent that could benefit nearly 200,000 garment workers in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area (the workforce has since shrunk to approximately 80,000 workers due to outsourcing). The joint liability theory has been an invaluable tool in holding both factory owners and major retailers accountable for working conditions in garment factories.

After the El Monte case, the Rosenberg Foundation continued to support additional litigation led by APALC and the Asian Law Caucus to produce a critical mass of decisions that have changed the industry's practices. The goal of these cases has been both to secure workers' full page and rights and to deter future exploitation by other garment companies.