LABOR

State Officials Detail Anti-Sweatshop Plan: To crack down on widespread workplace abuses in California’s garment-manufacturing industry, state officials announced proposals for stepped-up enforcement. It includes a provision in Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposed state budget to add 24 labor investigators in Southern California, up from a staff of three. Also planned or already under development are expanded industry education and consulting services, streamlined licensing registration and an online computer system that would enable manufacturers to quickly check whether their contractors are properly registered. The announcement by Lloyd W. Aubry Jr., director of the California Department of Industrial Relations, followed the release of a survey of workplace abuses in Southern California’s garment industry that found 72% of sewing shops had serious health or safety problems. At the same time, the survey showed modest improvement in other areas.