Category: Housing, Justice, Listening Sessions, Personal Stories, Poverty News & Policy Updates, The Safety Net, Wealth Building, Work
September 15th, 2025
This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
#Listen2Workers is a campaign connecting workers to elected officials for conversations about workers’ lives, challenges, ideas, and dreams.
Sen. María Elena Durazo: Tell me your name and a little about yourself.
Francisco Tzul: My name is Francisco Tzul, and I’ve been working as a garment worker for a couple of decades now. I currently work for a lingerie company.
Sen. Durazo: And what is your current living situation?
Francisco: I live in Los Angeles. I share an apartment with someone who is also originally from my town in Guatemala. My family is back there.
Sen. Durazo: Do you miss your family?
Francisco: A lot. But you work to help your family. That’s basically what we came here for. Wherever we come from in Latin America, most people are here to work.
Sen. Durazo: Did you come here as a garment worker or did you learn your trade here?
Francisco: I came here as a garment worker. I worked in Guatemala and Mexico as a garment worker. Then I heard that Los Angeles is supposed to be a good place for the garment industry, so I decided to come.
Sen. Durazo: What is a typical work day for you?
Francisco: I work in the machines. I make inventories. I drive and pickup stuff downtown in the Fashion District where they sell everything we need—fabric, needles, thread, everything. I take work orders and try to prepare a work list almost every day for my co-workers.
But when I started working here I just worked the machines—using an overlock, a zigzag, straight stitch—there are styles that require different types of machines to get to the finish line.
Sen. Durazo: Sounds like a very high skill.
Francisco: Yes. Like any other job you can’t learn it overnight.
Sen. Durazo: Have you ever participated with an organization that addresses work issues or community issues?
Francisco: Yes, I am a member of the Garment Worker Center. I consider it a blessing. I joined in 2019 and started working to try to pass SB 62, The Garment Worker Protection Act, that changed a lot of lives and many things in this industry. But way before that I tried to organize my co-workers and I wasn’t successful. People were afraid to speak up, afraid to go to the media, or to try to organize in our workplace—because there were so many threats from the owners of the factories. I never knew that there were still sweatshops in Los Angeles.
Sen. Durazo: So before the Garment Workers Center and after SB 62 became law, how has your life changed economically?
Francisco: After SB 62, it’s not the same as when we worked for the piece rate [(payment per piece)] in the sweatshops. The salary is more decent, at least equal to the minimum wage. I have the opportunity to have a little money in my pocket. I’m able to help my family more. And at least on the weekend I can have a decent meal, sit in a restaurant, and not worry will I be able to pay or not. Working in the sweatshops I wasn’t able to even think about some kind of savings account. It would take a long time for me to explain the things that we experienced in the sweatshops–the really bad work conditions, shameful pay, and people mistreated in different ways. But it’s completely different now. So my life is different.
Sen. Durazo: Have you ever been in a difficult situation where you needed help from a government program?
Francisco: Yes, I got really sick one day, and I didn’t know that the government provided Medi-Cal. So that helped me. It was during the pandemic. I worked for a big company with like 250, 300 workers. Ironically, we were making masks to prevent the spread of the virus. All of a sudden I got really sick and I spent a couple of weeks in the hospital but the program definitely helped.
Sen. Durazo: Well, I’m glad you got the health care. We fight very hard to get that health care. You said SB 62 has allowed you to think about the future. Do you have dreams and do you feel like you can fulfill them?
Francisco: I would like to accomplish many things. I’m still learning English and I want my words to come more fluently. I might have the opportunity to go to college and take a career—one that gives me the opportunity to work with the most needy, because I have been through that situation and I know what the needs are. So that’s one of my goals, study and work to become someone who can provide to the community.
Sen. Durazo: If you had the opportunity to speak with a federal politician in DC or here in California, what would you say?
Francisco: Small businesses need a lot more support—programs or loans, maybe, to keep them going. And maybe a program that could promote products made in the United States. I work in a place where our products say it’s made in Los Angeles, and we’re very fortunate that someone who sees that label says, wow, this is made in the Los Angeles. Our product is very well done. But we need a lot more help too, you know, to increase our production.
Sen. Durazo: And to create jobs here.
Francisco: Yes. And the last thing, on the federal level we are working on The FABRIC Act, which is almost the same as SB 62 here in California. It’s legislation that is driven by workers who could change the story of the garment industry in the United States.
Sen. Durazo: That sounds like a great, great thing to do.
Sen. María Elena Durazo represents the 26th State Senate District in California.
Francisco Tzul is a garment worker and member of the Garment Worker Center.