I saw an interesting article on LaborNotes
by Jenny Brown about models demanding workers rights. Fashion models are
calling for labor rights, which could have some interesting consequences within the fashion industry, but also for labor organizers working with undocumented populations. Sara Ziff says, “ Strip off the gloss and you have a
workforce of young women classified as independent contractors, not covered by minimum
wage laws, who are often paid in clothes rather than cash, and are in debt to
their modeling agencies.”
The article focused on modeling, but we should probably take a minute to acknowledge a lot of the fashion industry is run on forced labor via sweatshops. Many models in the US are undocumented and underage. Ziff
began working as a model at 14. She and other models formed the Model Alliance
last year with the aim to establish fair labor standards in the fashion
industry. There are potentially implications for women outside the fashion
industry as the Model Alliance may have the ability to shape how women are
expected to look (remember Milan banned models who weighed too little, but also
the exclusive use of white models and young girls). After all labor protections means
protections from discrimination like insisting on all white models.
So far the models are working with two unions that represent
performers, Actors Equity and the American Guild of Musical Artists. They have
been putting pressure on the magazines, agencies, and fashion shows with a
little success.
The Model Alliance fought against the lack of privacy at New
York Fashion Week in 2010, and this year the models changed in privacy and
stopped the invasive photography while they were changing backstage. They also went up against Vogue and now have an agreement where all 19
international editions of the magazine will not hire models under 16 or models
who appear to have an eating disorder. SNAP.
Ziff spent 5 years
filming her coworkers at fashion events, asking what they wanted to change
about their working conditions, which resulted in the film Picture Me. Health and safety were major concerns with many of the
models discussing sexual harassment and sexual assault. Women discussed
attempts to lose weight. Some models allege that agents told them to eat one
rice cake a day; less if they still didn’t lose weight. This amounts to telling
young women to develop eating disorders or no one will hire you.
Models have no
protections as children opposed to their counterparts on film. Child performers won some protections in the 1930s
including the enforcement of contracts and in California and New York getting
tutors for actors who miss school for work and creating trust accounts so
adults don’t steal their pay before they reach adulthood.
The article notes that the use of undocumented minors is a
strategy being employed by the agencies, labels, and magazines to ensure a
cheap workforce. As the film circulated, more and more models saw it they
contacted Ziff for help. Many models are in debt to their agencies some up to
$100,000. Agencies claim they spend money promoting the models, but the models
aren’t allowed to see the accounts. Model Alliance is calling for financial transparency.
Additionally, pay has dropped. A few years ago models would make between $1,000
and $5,000 per runway show, but now they are often being paid in clothes.
Of course all of this could have long lasting impacts on the
fashion industry for example if they stopped
hiring prepubescent, thin, white girls the standards we judge women’s
appearances would change. There would be room for women of all races, sizes, etc. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but I
expect a long fight that is more in line with that of domestic laborers than
any other union. Also, will this union push for fair labor practices across the industry? Like insisting all the clothing is produced in factories with labor representation. This could be very interesting.
