Geraldine Ferraro: Sweatshop Landlord

[DesEtoiles]

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/9810,mcmillan,143,1.html

Geraldine Ferraro: Sweatshop Landlord

Long Hours, Low Pay, Rancid Conditions Are Commonplace at Senate Candidate's Building

by Wayne Barrett & Tracie McMillan
March 10th, 1998 12:00 AM

A SOHO building partially owned by U.S. Senate candidate Geraldine Ferraro and managed by her husband, John Zaccaro, has housed 35 Chinese garment-manufacturing companies over the past few years--many of them nonunion and some apparently illegal.

While an attorney for the current tenants insists they are not sweatshops, a Voice investigation has uncovered an array of conditions identified with sweatshops: piecework pay; 15-hour days; seven-day work weeks; boarded-up windows; blocked exits; crowded, filthy facilities; gut-wrenching fumes; and fly-by-night corporate shells.

...

Revelations that a mob-tied pornography company occupied much of the same building undermined Ferraro's vice-presidential candidacy in 1984 and her last Senate race in 1992. That space is now filled with garment manufacturers.

The state Department of Labor could find no registration for 10 of the firms listed in the building at various times since 1988--meaning they may have operated illegally. DOL lists 10 more as ''out of business.'' One tenant, Forum Trading, has been cited by DOL for stiffing workers on overtime pay.

...

The building itself also has had its share of problems--including at least 20 code violations and $4075 in city fines. An artists' co-op next door has filed a hotly contested lawsuit against the owners and tenants, alleging that toxic chemicals, including perc and benzene, are being emitted into a joint courtyard, and that the Zaccaro building is an industrial boombox, with a phalanx of ventilating fans droning until 1 a.m., even on weekends.

In addition to Ferraro's 25 per cent stake in the seven-story building, located at the corner of Lafayette and Broome streets (and known as 200 Lafayette and 418 Broome), she has long been a one-third owner of the firm that manages it: P. Zaccaro Company, her husband's family business.

...

Nice.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Did she say something uncomplimentary about Obama?

I haven't been paying much attention to the news today.

--p!

[Swamp Rat]

2. She broke her black Crayon drawing on him

[walldude]

5. LMAO.. dude, that is so wrong...

[berni_mccoy]

9. He's lucky to be colored black by someone like her

:sarcasm: Note: my text is based on Ferraro's statement "Obama is lucky to be black".

[wndycty]

8. Listen to the link

This one needs to be responded to:
Geraldine Ferraro: Obama's Winning Because He's Not White!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqL_sm0J8jc

[DesEtoiles]

3. Don't tell Hillary! another slum lord!

[Egnever]

4. WTF? Why are we tearing down Geraldine ferraro?

[wndycty]

7. Listen to the link

Geraldine Ferraro: Obama's Winning Because He's Not White!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqL_sm0J8jc

[roguevalley]

19. she's sanctomonious and she has earned scrutiny. when in the

public eye, be proper and do right. As Mark Twain said, it will do you good and suprise everyone else. and she was a crap candidate back in the day. I was there. I remember.

[JVS]

6. When asked to comment Ferraro said "Those Chinese people are lucky to have a job, look at all the...

unemployed white people in this country"

[greguganus]

22. ..."if they weren't Chinese, they wouldn't be working in a sweatshop" n/t

[wpelb]

10. March 10th, 1998 12:00 AM

Isn't this from 10 years ago, or did the VV put the wrong date on the article?

[DesEtoiles]

12. it is - apparently she's hoping we forgot, then she goes and opens her

big mouth today, causing me to research her.

[elixir]

13. A little bit of churning going on here. Sounds like Ferraro made some nasty comments about BO.

[wndycty]

15. Actually racist

Geraldine Ferraro: Obama's Winning Because He's Not White!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqL_sm0J8jc

[elixir]

18. Shame on Geraldine. And this has what to do w/ the campaign? I'm not voting for her.

[DesEtoiles]

16. if by nasty you mean racist...yes she did.

[CreekDog]

11. Life's so unfair to her

She's not a black man like Obama. :cry:

[DesEtoiles]

14. if she was black like Obama "the man" wouldn't hassle her about her business!

[cbayer]

17. Ok, what she said was not well thought out and will probably hurt her candidate

But your OP using 10 year old information is also not well thought out.

[DesEtoiles]

20. kick

[DesEtoiles]

21. kick

[DesEtoiles]

23. kick

[zulchzulu]

24. Geraldine...the Clintons have some vacation homes in Punjab...give 'em a ding ding