Report finds garment sweatshops in Southern California

Good morning. Here are the five USC, Los Angeles and California stories you need to know for today.

Many Southern California garment workers who assemble clothes for leading fashion brands are victims of egregious wage theft and illegal pay practices, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found. In one instance, workers earned as little as $1.58 an hour — essentially no better than a Chinese sweatshop. Many garment workers are immigrants who are too scared to complain to authorities.

Scott Schwebke / Orange County Register

USC has no plans to revert its free Lyft program to a single-rider model, and will only offer the unpopular shared rides in the foreseeable future. Students previously bemoaned long wait times and safety concerns when the university scrapped the pandemic-era policy of single-person rides in favor of the original shared service.

Staff / Annenberg Media

The University of California will guarantee systemwide admission for qualified transfer student applicants in a policy that is the first of its kind. To receive the guarantee, community college students must earn a minimum GPA in general education and UC major-specific coursework. Acceptance to specific campuses isn’t guaranteed, except for at UC Santa Cruz, UC Merced and UC Riverside.

Teresa Watanabe / Los Angeles Times

California, New York and Massachusetts are among states whose pro-labor forces are pushing for a minimum wage increase to $20 an hour. Rising inflation means that the $15 per hour wage workers achieved a few years ago can no longer adequately cover living expenses. Opponents of the increase say it will negatively impact small businesses still recovering from the pandemic.

Maysoon Khan / Associated Press

Economists told California’s reparations panel that it could cost more than $800 billion to compensate Black residents for decades of over-policing, disproportionate incarceration and housing discrimination. The state’s annual budget is $300 billion, though reparations are far from a guarantee: The panel needs to flesh out its recommendation by July 1 and the proposal ultimately must survive the Legislature.

Janie Har / Associated Press

You’re all caught up. Thanks for reading Morning, Trojan, and have a good day. Anna Hsu copy edited this newsletter.

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