ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, May 21, 1996                  TAG: 9605210075
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-7  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

BIG U.S. STORES BUYING SWEATSHOP GOODS

Sweatshop-made goods have been traced to some of the nation's largest retailers, the Labor Department said Monday.

J.C. Penney Co. has been notified for the fourth time in less than a year that it had received goods made in a sewing shop that failed to pay its workers the minimum wage and overtime, the department said.

Others receiving sweatshop goods were Talbots Inc., Macy's East, Specialty Retailers, Charlotte Russe and Claire's Boutiques. Specialty Retailers is the holding company for Palais Royal and Beall's stores.

None of the retailers faces any penalties. But Labor Secretary Robert Reich announced last year that he would make public the names of stores whose goods were produced in violation of U.S. wage laws.

``The American public wants to do business with stores that don't do business with sweatshops,'' Reich said Monday.

Talbots president Arnold B. Zetcher said his company will not do business with manufacturers or contractors that knowingly violate the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The retailers were cited for doing business with sewing companies in Boston, Dallas and Los Angeles that have paid more than $245,000 in back wages owed to 294 workers, the department said. The companies also were fined $42,000 for willful or repeat wage-law and overtime violations.

The largest case involved Truong Sewing, a Dallas garment contractor producing goods traced to Penney. The shop agreed to pay $113,450 in back wages to 132 workers and $30,000 in fines.

Truong had produced goods for DeCorp, a Dallas subsidiary of Kellwood Industries, the nation's fifth-largest garment manufacturing company. Kellwood is parent of Halmode Apparel Co. of Roanoke.

Talbots was notified in November and again last week that it had received merchandise produced in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act by David Brooks, another Kellwood subsidiary, in a contract with Cricket Sportswear of Boston. Cricket paid $58,000 in back wages to 58 workers.

Both Kellwood and Brooks have agreed to monitor the wage-law compliance of manufacturers, the department said.

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