California Needs 'Minimum Housing' to Go Along with Minimum Wage
- Josh Stephens
- Apr 21, 2016
- 4 min read
Sexy-sporty clothing brand American Apparel has long been one of the Los Angeles' most beloved, and most controversial, corporate citizens. It is known for paying decent wages and treating its workers well.
When it easily could have outsourced jobs to Asia, it has also resolutely kept its main factory in Los Angeles, occupying a muscular, seven-story industrial building on the southeast edge of downtown since 2000. American Apparel has proudly championed social-justice causes, including immigration reform and gay rights, and assured consumers that they are buying "sweatshop-free" garments made by well treated workers.
They're just the sort of workers who might - might - benefit from the forthcoming increase in California's minimum wage. If only they - and every other low-wage worker in Los Angeles - had decent roofs over their heads.
Unfortunately, American Apparel, which has suffered through jittery balance sheets and the checkered reputation of founder and former CEO Dov Charney, hasn't made a profit since 2009. The Los Angeles Times distressingly, if unsurprisingly, reports that American Apparel now intends to shed 500 of its roughly 4,000 Los Angeles-area jobs.
