Says she was afraid of getting sick again due to lack of hygiene and protections against the pandemic

Maribel Maldonado did not have a week of working at the American Apparel Factory in Los Angeles, when she started having symptoms of the coronavirus. She went home, but returned to work three days later, and since she felt bad again, she went for the test and came back positive.

It took him about a month to recover after going through dizziness, nausea, fatigue, sweating, and fever; And when in May they called him from Apparel to ask when he was going to return to work, he replied that never again.

“I didn’t want to risk getting sick again,” says Maribel.

On July 10, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health announced the closure of the American Apparel Factory after more than 300 cases and four employee deaths from the coronavirus were reported..

“The place is very improvised. It is like a cellar where there is no cleaning. You have to sweep and clean your area when your day ends, but outside of us nobody cleans up. There is a lot of crowding of people. You can’t keep social distance, and every day they hire more staff, “says Maribel.

Maribel Maldonado fell ill with coronavirus at the American Apparel Factory in Los Angeles. (Courtesy Maribel Maldonado)

She was working as a hotel waitress, but when the pandemic broke out, she lost her job.

“In an ad on Facebook, I saw that Apparel was hiring people on a temporary basis to make masks. When I came in, I hoped they would hire me later to sew t-shirts and sweatshirts, ”he says.

However, he was immediately disappointed to see the poor sanitation, overcrowding, and lack of protection against COVID-19.

“To mark the assistance when arriving or leaving, there were very long lines that went out to the street, they only gave me a mask when I started, but then I noticed that they were not very strict in their use,” he says.

Furthermore, the divisions among the workers were made with pieces of cardboard. “In the time that I worked, there was no safe environment. If I had known I was going to be exposed to the coronavirus, I would never have applied for the job. Having coronaviruses is very scary, and more when you know that you expose your relatives. My daughter and my grandson had to leave the house while I was sick. “

Daisy González, organizer of the Center for Sewing Workers, says they had to contact Apparel to get Maribel paid for two weeks of illness. “The city of Los Angeles passed an emergency ordinance that establishes that companies with more than 500 employees must pay two weeks of salary when their employees fall ill with coronavirus in the workplace, as was the case with Maribel.

And it wasn’t easy to do, he explains, as Apparel was using last year’s numbers to evade compliance with the ordinance when they had only 400 employees. “Currently they have more than 1,000,” he says.

He adds that it was just in late May when Maribel was recovering that many rumors began to be heard that workers were getting sick at Apparel.

“They had no preventive measures against COVID-19. There was no disinfection of surfaces or social distance. Employees piled up during training, when they were going to check in and out of work, and when heating their food. They also have a lot of staff turnover. ”

Before the American Apparel factory closed, they used cardboard to separate workers. (Courtesy Members of the Sewing Workers Center)

Daisy points out that Apparel does not have a union that protects workers. “We are just an organization that advocates for the rights of sewing workers. What we want is for these companies to take responsibility, protect their workers and not take advantage of their need for income, “she points out.

And he adds that at Apparel, employees had to go test for the COVID-19 within their spare time. “Now we want a workers’ committee to be formed so that they can communicate with the employer and report any problems related to the pandemic.”

The Health Department told The opinion that Apparel was allowed to reopen all of its operations on July 23, after complying with all orders given to it.

After working with our department, they are ensuring that their employees have been trained, physically distanced, wear face masks and the facilities comply with higher cleaning regimes.

They added that they will continue to be monitored to ensure they comply.

“They have been forced to report new cases of COVID-19 to Public Health, and our inspectors will make visits without prior notice to ensure that they comply with the control measures.”

They made it clear that their number one priority is to protect the health and well-being of employees, and if Apparel does not follow orders to safely reopen at work, they will shut the factory down again.

The opinion is waiting for a comment from Don Charney, the owner of American Apparel who in the past has faced allegations of sexual harassment and financial mismanagement. When the factory was closed, he made statements to the press that there was no problem. But the Department of Public Health reported that day, 375 positive cases of coronavirus among 2,290 employees.

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