Educational Media Reviews Online

“I fight for fair payment. I didn’t do anything wrong.” Heart on the Sleeve is a movie of about Hien Tran who raises her voice against exploitation of outworkers (workers working from home for the clothing industry) despite the tremendous threat to her job, immense personal (and family) problems, and lack of English-language skills. The movie begins with a historical context to the employment of outworkers in Australia. Outworkers were employed since the 1850s by the clothing industry. This industry needed a “pliable workforce that could be easily manipulated.” A large number of these workers currently are from Southeast Asia (primarily Vietnam). The clothing industry in early 19th century employed young Irish women, who were replaced in early 20th century by migrant women from Southern and Eastern Europe. The clothing industry in Melbourne (fashion capital of Australia) exploits outworkers who are paid per garment sewn – about $2-$5 Australian dollars, less than half the Australian minimum wage with no benefits and long hours of work.

The film uses a conventional documentary style of narration, with interview clips and archival photographs and recordings of events to tell the story of opposition to the exploitation of outworkers by the clothing industry. Hien, her husband and two daughters migrated from South Vietnam to Australia in 1989. They decided to leave their homeland when the political power in South Vietnam changed and they were no longer allowed to teach. When they finally are allowed into Australia, Hien cannot become a teacher because of her lack of English language skills. To survive, she becomes an outworker. Working for more than 16 hours each night and taking an English class during the day has an impact on her family life. Moreover, many times her children join in and help her in an extremely dusty environment (from clothes and fiber) to meet deadlines for orders.

In 1990, the media became aware of the outworkers’ plight. Textile unions advertised in ethnic radio broadcasts about memberships and workers rights. A loose collective community based group called “Fair Wear” lobbied for the outworkers. However, outworkers did not participate freely in demonstrations for fear of losing their jobs. In 1997, despite these threats and personal problems of her sick son, Hien appears in a textile union video that shows the predicament of the outworkers. She also participates in a workers demonstration led by the union to present the outworkers’ case to the parliament. Hien becomes the first Vietnamese born representative for outworkers for the Victorian Textile Union. Her courage inspires other outworkers to join in and fight for their rights. The film presents Hien as a simple, matter-of-fact type of person while bringing out her persistence, courage and strength to fight against exploitation. Despite her son’s ill health (he needs a kidney transplant) she finishes her teacher certification at Sydney University and even with the discovery of a cyst on her own kidney and the possibility of cancer, she continues to fight for outworkers rights. She believes that unless the Australian parliament creates a law against such exploitation it cannot be stopped. Hien says the best thing outworkers can do in order to assure any change in their conditions, is to help themselves. This film does an excellent job in portraying the larger issue of exploitation of labor through Hien, the fearless Vietnamese immigrant woman outworker, who courageously raises her voice against the lack of fair pay and outworker rights in 21st century Australia.