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Sweatshops: What do they mean for “fashion?. What are sweatshops?. • Sweatshops are processing zones, usually in third world countries, where workers sew garments in stuffy, hot and unsafe conditions. • Workers are usually women and children who are exposed to extreme exploitation .
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What are sweatshops? • •Sweatshops are processing zones, usually in third world countries, where workers sew garments in stuffy, hot and unsafe conditions. • •Workers are usually women and children who are exposed to extreme exploitation. • •Human rights are always not recognized and not practiced. • •These human rights violations serve as the distinction of sweatshops from factories.
Where are sweatshops? • •It is present in almost every poor country, usually in the third world. • •The poorer a country is, the more exploitable its people are. • •There are also sweatshops in developed countries using illegal immigrants’ labor. • What companies are involved?
How can you tell where your shirt was made? • http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/04/25/f-bangladesh-clothing-consumer-awareness.html • http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/04/26/f-vp-don-pittis-consumer-bangladesh.html
What are the violations? • •Use of child labor • •Paying of workers under the minimum wage or non-payment at all • •Non-payment for forced overtime work • •Unsafe and horrible working conditions • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVuScVCF1Ws • •No benefits given • •Sexual harassment • •Verbal abuse • •Illegal firings • •No forming of unions • •Physical abuse
Women and sweatshops • •90% of all sweatshop workers are women. • •Uneducated women are usually hired as workers for sweatshops. • •They are not given maternity leave. • •They are forced to yield to abortion and to use birth control. • •Some are sexually harassed.
How does this happen? • •Some governments are aware, but they fail to stop them or tolerate them because of the economic potential of sweatshops. • •Large corporations almost always use contract manufacturing firms to produce their goods. • •Corporate greed because of globalization • •International trade policies favorable for multi-national companies • •Workers being unaware of their rights.
How to fix it? • Developing a strategy to improveconditions… • • agents had different competencies andattitudes to change • • very little discussion between theprocurement department at the factoryand the HR team. • • Contracts had been negotiated on pricewith very little regard for the needs of the agency labourers.
Videos • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16104664 • http://www.cbc.ca/player/?/News/World/ID/2382189265/ • http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bangladesh+clothing+industry+news+cbc&view=detail&mid=4635A49C05BF1A72ED2D4635A49C05BF1A72ED2D&first=0&FORM=NVPFVR • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jhuGX-lxzU • http://www.cbc.ca/player/?/News/Canada/Montreal/ID/2382153617/
Articles to read: • http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Bangladesh+disaster+responses+highlight+strategies+clothing/8343411/story.html • http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/story/2013/04/28/bangladesh-building-collapse.html
Additional info: • http://www.powershow.com/view/17415-NWE1M/Life_in_Sweatshops_powerpoint_ppt_presentation
For specific countries and solutions based through international information: • http://www.scribd.com/doc/6945706/Sweatshop