Sarah Gonzalez

And if factories get wind...

that maybe someone is poking around on how they're paying workers, there's this thing that can happen.

the factory can close up, relocate, change their name to avoid having to back pay workers.

Lynn, Lynn who used to have the stopwatch timing workers sewing on seams, she says she saw factories do this all the time.

But it would be the same owners?

Of course.

Just a different name?

Yeah.

Yep.

And how can they do that?

Yeah, sweatshops.

It's a term people toss out a lot, but the actual definition of a sweatshop is poor working conditions, low pay, long hours.

And the problem with trying to make wages and conditions and hours better is that you can risk losing the industry altogether.

For example, the law in California that prohibits piece rate pay in the garment industry, the California Chamber of Commerce labeled it a job killer.

People said that if California is the only state in the country that bans piece rate pay, factories and brands will just make clothes one state over where they can still pay workers by the piece.

There has been a years-long push to eliminate piece rate pay nationally.

But I mean, then the work could just go to another country.

These jobs have already moved from China to Bangladesh and Vietnam, where the labor is cheaper.

We did talk to a garment worker who has been paid hourly, not by the piece.

Can you explain in English what you do for work?