The paragraph that stuck out to me in the book The travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy was on the bottom of page 100 leading to page 101. In this paragraph, Pietra Rivoli describes how labor conditions in “sweat shops” have gotten notably better but not significantly better enough. Certain standards have been put in place to “serve as speed bumps to the race to the bottom.”
The (ILO) International Labour Organization has approved a set of labor standards. "Ensuring the freedom of association and collective bargaining can go a long way toward promoting labour market efficiency and better economic performance. And there are obvious economic and social reasons for banning slavery and all forms of forced labour."
World Bank, 2004 (Note 1)
Even though there are standards put forth to help the government regulate labour there are still some bad practices. Forced labour is something that is frowned apon universally. The International Labour Organization predicted that in the world, 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour. With 2.4 million of them being forced into human trafficking. It’s hard to believe that in North American and Europe women, men and children are bought and sold into the trafficking industry. They are forced to perform sexual acts against there will.
Things are finally being done against things such as forced labour. The 160 of the ILO’s member states support these developments. According to the ILO website, ratification number 29 prohibits any forced labour. It is defined as “all work or service, which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily." Apparently their needs to be more strict laws prohibiting forced work apon people or harsher punishments.
I hope the more international and US companies abide by the ILO’s standards. It is dishonorable that they just move their business when they get in trouble. Pietra says how the sweatshops still exist because they just move from east to west and don’t change their ways. Under new government I hope we see safer conditions for workers making our products.
http://www.ilo.org/global/What_we_do/InternationalLabourStandards/Subjects/lang--en/index.htm
http://www.ilo.org/wow/Articles/lang--en/WCMS_090028/index.htm
I understand that your sympathetic with the workers and appalled that the companies simply move to avoid conforming to ILO regulations.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the root of this issue isn't with the plants but with the workers? If the workers refused to work in these conditions, then the plants would be forced to change their ways. As long as individuals line up to work at these plants with horrendous conditions nothing will change.
I understand that some of these workers have no other choice but to work at these plants, but if they are truly looking for change they need to take a stand and revolt.
I think it is easy for us to say "Well, why don't they just stand up for themselves", but I don't think its that easy. While the docility and willingness of these workers are contributing to the race to the bottom, I think it is a little unfair to ignore the fact that the consequences of their "stand and revolt" may be far worse than we are used to in the United States. Here, it is common to see protests and what not, and these protesters have the right to speak freely. But in other countries, freedom of speech is limited. The revolting workers may be punished severely. The innate right of free speech may need to be implemented first. Revolting workers could lose everything that they own in this process, including the rights they do have, such as a place of residence.
ReplyDeleteAnd also, these textile factories could be the backbrace for their economy. So a revolt would be damaging to the individual and the overall economy, which could lead to global economic issues. I do feel I sympathy should be with the workers and our resentment toward the companies and government lenience.
While I do not believe conditions in textile factories are unacceptable, there are some communities in the world where a factory job even in a sweatshop atmosphere would be a luxuary compared to the life they currently live. In my last blog post I mentioned an article that talked about the conditions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Children dig threw piles of trash to find objects they can recylce for pennies. While there are still people willing to work in the current conditions of certain factories the factories will no change.
ReplyDelete