0:00 - Her name, marital status, children, where she lives, immigration journey from Hong Kong to Holland to the US, her home village Dongguan and language Cantonese, her schooling, starting at the garment factory the day after arriving, first helping her mother-in-law with the last step in the garment production process (sorting, packaging and tagging, 挂衣) then changed to sewing (车衣), chose garment work for its proximity to Chinatown and its flexibility, her childcare needs and arrangements
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4:43 - How long she worked until, because her job was the last step she had to stay late if needed to meet a deadline, sometimes kids would play in the hallway of factory but mostly stayed at home, how she found her job, did not have to work until she came to US, first job was sewing on machine for a week then worked with mother-in-law on finishing, Lam Yueng Yichong, first day at work other workers knew who she was and conversed with her, did not understand Toisan dialect but now came understand
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8:42 - Her first week learning how to sew on the machine, her experience doing finishing work (挂衣), tasked with the last step she had to wait for the garment to go through all of the other steps, sometimes a lot of work came at once, describes what finishing is, after sewn and pressed would hang or fold the garment then put in a bag or box and sort by color and size, when folding sometimes had to pin shirts, pins pricked her fingers bloody, in summer made winter fashion when winter made summer fashion
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14:16 - Working during an impending deadline, cannot be helped, went to factory at 5 am because could not finish the work at night, older women who can no longer sew did finishing work, sewing and finishing are two different jobs, sewing requires precision and learning new styles whereas finishing requires less brain power, mother-in-law felt it was physically demanding being elderly but she was young and fit, describes finishing area and climbing required of hanging work, boss was pleased with her work
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19:08 - First hung garments on hangers then racks then sort by size and color, a workday was 10 hours, sometimes when rushing probably more, but not everyday 10 hours, some days you have to wait for other sections and there is nothing to do, the different pay rates for sewing and finishing, could get $300-400 a week partnering with another, single person could not get it done, not particularly hard as she was adept at things, but after work also had to take care of family
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26:42 - Worked for 3 years in finishing then switched to sewing, switched because took break to go to Hong Kong to visit parents, mother-in-law switched to cutting threads (剪线), even though she did more work she let mother-in-law claim more pay to get more social security, sewing more flexible because paid by piece rate, if need to take care of other things can choose not to take on pieces, have to work even if sick when finishing, would take children to doctor when sick but they have been quite healthy
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32:41 - Talks about her experience sewing, was a beginner and needed to learn new styles, a Chinese saying "yewzhapseigai" meaning they think you did not sew the garments well and return them so you have to undo the stitching and sew them again, at lunch buys groceries and picks up kids and at night goes home to cook, sewing is not as tiring compared to finishing, she worried about her kids being home alone so got off work earlier, others also sewing so less pressure than relying on just her to finish
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37:11 - How much she made a week, how many days she worked varied, negative incidents during her 6 years of garment work, finishing job was stressful, was chosen as shop steward and represented workers in disputes, there was one instance where boss thought she reported factory to the union but found out it wasn’t her and still has good relationship with boss to this day, she is a pretty happy go lucky person and got along well with coworkers, used to listen to radio at work and sing, nicknamed 开心果
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40:07 - Worked at 3 factories, why she changed jobs, there was not enough work so tried another factory, why she did not go back to first factory, how she found her other factory jobs, friends who worked there introduced her or she walked past the help wanted sign and applied, it was a not-so-worker-friendly labor market, did not have a lot of friends in sewing, did not know to compare factory pay rates, was easily satisfied knowing could keep up with the work and get along well with coworkers and boss
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45:11 - Why she worked, needed to support family since husband took three months to get a job and only worked off and on, joining the ILGWU, the factory was unionized and union benefits included health insurance, being chosen as shop steward for all six years at all three factories, what has changed since she used to work until now, declining garment industry, a bad economy, labor cost cheaper and jobs fewer, making a living more difficult, worker turnover rampant as everyone looking for better pay
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53:33 - Workers now much more anxious about livelihood than when first arrived in 1970s, heard from old-timers that weren’t that many garment factories, when arrived already a few hundred of them and increasingly more and more, more things to buy and cheaper for consumer but increasingly more competition and economic anxiety for workers, lots of non-unionized factories in Brooklyn and Queens, workers want to find unionized factory, has not seen them just heard about them and saw ads in newspaper
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57:21 - Non-unionized factories offered no protections or benefits but people willing to work there nonetheless, no downside to joining union has benefits, workers now do not negotiate pay, back then worker sense of solidarity very different, refused to work if pay not right, recalls being union advocate for workers in 1980s, she was bold in fighting for backpay for workers but then saw workers give the check back to the boss, made her very frustrated that a worker would be like that
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66:08 - Her view on workers from experience as shop steward, worker attitude very different from before, back then not a lot of conflict and complaints, now more competition and making a living harder, workers should band together to negotiate but how can they if a couple of workers keep working, coordinated action and solidarity not possible, the difference was that workers had the will to fight, now wish to avoid face to face conflict, won’t report missing wages to union until factory has closed
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72:05 - Talks about experience as union business agent, joined a western/non-Chinese union but her English was not good as now, felt a sort of prejudice, being a worker she was able to relate, needed to seek out opportunities to help, first managed 60 then later 40 factories, union had training session but mostly had to learn and teach herself through experience, the stress was entirely different, built good relationships up and down the union hierarchy so getting things done became easier and simpler
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78:08 - Her job at ILGWU was not difficult it was just that there were situations she needed to navigate, Chinese and westerners have ways of doing things that are not the same, some supervisors or bosses are mean to you to see how much you can take, she is a bold person and it does not matter if you are the boss she would butt heads with you, gives instance of when she stood up for herself against a higher up, thinks workers should fight for their own benefit or no one would be able to help them
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84:07 - Having been a worker and a union representative she reflects that the two are different in terms of pay and work, the pay as worker was not as good but provided a lot of flexibility, being a union representative she has to mediate disputes and her decision has consequences so it causes her a different kind of stress, she likes to socialize so thinks the union job suits her, likes being able to help workers and gives examples of when she has helped new immigrants apply for government welfare etc.
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88:22 - Discusses how she has balanced being a working mom, began to worry about her children at work when they got to middle school, thinks new immigrants have the same difficulties she did, on the one hand they want to devote time to inculcate next generation on other hand they need to work, need a lot of love and patience to raise children well, [pause, tape 2], if mom does not have to work and has more time with her children thinks that this makes a big difference in their wellbeing and development
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94:13 - How she manages parenting when she had no choice but to work, though children were still young they knew that their mom was going through hardships for the family and were really obedient, in middle school became more thoughtless but with patience and love slowly headed towards the right direction, she did not have a lot of time but when she did she would talk to her children and try to inculcate good values, thinks every parent has their own way of teaching and describes her own philosophy
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100:06 - More on teaching children, has a very loving relationship with her children, approaches teaching them from her own experience of being young, her husband is like a stranger to the children, divorced after 20 years when children also reached a point of letting go, more on teaching philosophy, have patience and let children have freedom to choose rather than force them to do something, respect children’s views, let them be as long as they are not doing wrong, if doing wrong try to correct
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105:48 - Devotes most of her time to helping others and networking, what she does with her little private leisure time, her personal goal, for Chinese people in this industry to work harmoniously with less conflicts, for everyone she meets to be her friend, for a secure livelihood and safe environment, for her children not to learn bad things, why she participates in activities or programs, thinks it is very necessary for women workers to band together, expand their horizons and learn from other groups
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112:12 - What she wants to accomplish in her union work, that Chinese women workers have a sense of solidarity, are represented and continue to strive for progress, for members to learn how to actively participate in their children’s education, their community and society, assisted with citizenship and getting out the vote, most women workers devote most of their time to supporting their families, only when old are their responsibilities not so great and they have leisure time for themselves
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118:30 - Thinks that helping women workers greatly influences the next generation, if you strive to develop yourself your children will see you as a good model, interviewer explains the purpose of the interview, if she were talking to the next generation about this history what she would you say to them, that the first generations of women workers had to work really hard for their families and that on what their parents built the next generation should strive for opportunities and never stop progressing
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