The+Truth+Behind+the+Barcode

**Student Number:** n8623180 **Tutor:** Michelle Cornford **Topic: **  ‘Blood, Sweat, and T-Shirts’: What is the role of the globalized fashion industry in affecting human health and quality of life?
 * The Truth Behind the Barcode **
 * Name: ** Kate McMahon
 * Unit Coordinator: ** Julie-Anne Carroll

This artefact, //Sweatshop HD// is a strategy stimulation game in which players are appointed to manage an offshore sweatshop factory that manufactures the latest designer baseball caps, t-shirts, handbags and shoes for western high-street retailers. Through 30 levels, players must produce products quickly and efficiently, while keeping costs down. As players progress, they are given tools with which to increase productivity, keep workers happy, and protect them from harm. However, this leads to increased spending costs and less profit. Due to this, players often become ruthless managers in which they omit basic human rights by hiring children and ignoring feeble excuses such as tiredness, dehydration, heat exhaustion, factory fires and poor machinery quality, which often results in the workers deaths. This game was created in 2012 by Littleloud and Channel 4 to highlight the plight of the workers who may well have made the clothes you are wearing today. The game is available online for you to play here: http://www.playsweatshop.com/index.html
 * THE ARTEFACT **

Or alternatively you may want to watch the trailer for the game: media type="custom" key="24295850" align="center"

Sweatshop workers are often subjected with difficult and precarious working conditions that often have detrimental effects on their overall health and quality of life. These harsh conditions include exploitation such as: suppression of workers’ rights; child labour; minimum wage for maximum working hours; abuse and harassment ; and enduring low health and safety standards. T he //Sweatshop HD// artefact is a representation of most of these pressures that all participants in the sweatshop system endure on a daily basis. It portrays how factories turn into sweatshops and how human dignity is sacrificed for the sake of profit and to avoid a “fashion disaster”. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">A sweatshop is defined as a factory or workshop, especially in the clothing or electronic industry, where manual workers are employed at very low wages for long hours and under poor conditions (Oxford Dictionary, 2013). <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">Wages are one of the chief concerns for sweatshop workers. Many ethical sourcing policies require the payment of a legal minimum wage or the industry standard wage, which usually amounts to the same thing. The legal minimum wage however, is often not sufficient for a worker and his/her dependents to meet their basic living needs (Islam, 2012). Legal minimum wages may serve to keep workers and their families in poverty, or force them into working excessive overtime to make ends meet. Apple’s and Samsung’s supplier factories Pegatron and Foxconn in China are some of the worst sweatshops in the world. Six days a week, the workers making these phones have to work 12-hour shifts, 20 minutes of which is unpaid, and the remainder of which is paid at a rate of $1.50 an hour ($268 per month) before overtime (China Labor Watch, 2011). This is less than half the average local monthly income of $764 and far below the basic living wage necessary to live in Shanghai, one of costliest cities in China. So these workers rely on long overtime hours. Each month, overtime totals around 40 to 50 hours per person (China Labor Watch, 2011). Matching the work load of most other workers, pregnant women are made to work 286 hours per month; by law, pregnant women should not be made to work more than 44 hours per week. A study conducted in Finland showed that working long hours can have a negative effect on cognitive function and can also result in physical diseases, sleep disturbances and health risks (Virtanen, et al., 2009).
 * <span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">THE PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE **
 * <span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">LITERATURE REVIEW **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">In Tamil Nadu in southern India, young women are kept in what can amount to labour bondage through a practice dubbed the “Sumangali Scheme.” The girls, some younger than 14, are paid less than the minimum wage for one to three years (Islam, 2012). After this work term is finished, the employer pays the withheld wages to the family as a lump sum to be used as a dowry (Baptist World Aid Australia, 2013). In some instances the practice can mean forced labour: in these cases the employer binds the women to work by refusing to pay the withheld money unless they complete years of employment. Some of these women are also victims of other abuses such as forced overtime, sexual abuse and gender discrimination (Baptist World Aid Australia, 2013). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> In addition to this, within sweatshops there are almost many occupation safety and labour protection laws that are often not enforced or followed. This often results in many workers getting injured, losing limbs, or even dying. In 2009 alone in China, approximately one million workers suffered industrial injuries and about 20,000 were victims of occupational disease (War on Want, 2013). On April 24th 2013, Rana Plaza, an eight-story garment factory building located in the Greater Dhaka Area, within the capital of Bangladesh, collapsed killing at least 1,129 people and injuring approximately 2,515 workers (Edwards, 2013). The factory produced clothes for a range of Western companies including Mango, Primark and Wal-Mart. It was reported that the upper four floors had been built without a permit and any emergency evacuation measures or safety precautions were completely disregarded (Edwards, 2013). It is considered to be the deadliest garment-factory accident in history, as well as the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history. As of October 2013, six months on from this accident, a new survey was revealed the vast majority of victims of the Rana Plaza factory disaster have not received any compensation from the Western companies that used the facility. The survey also found that 93% of the victims were still suffering from injuries that are preventing them from returning to work (Edwards, 2013). This is just one example of a tragic event out of many that could have easily been avoided if sweatshop factories complied with the laws. Pope Francis commented on the incident saying: //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">“A headline that really struck me on the day of the tragedy in Bangladesh was ‘Living on 38 euros a month’. That is what the people who died were being paid. This is called slave labour,” the pope was quoted as saying at a private mass. “Today in the world this slavery is being committed against something beautiful that God has given us — the capacity to create, to work, to have dignity. How many brothers and sisters find themselves in this situation!” he said. “Not paying fairly, not giving a job because you are only looking at balance sheets, only looking at how to make a profit. That goes against God!” he was quoted as saying. “There are many people who want to work but cannot. When a society is organised in a way that not everyone is given the chance to work, that society is not just,” he said. // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">Alongside this, other conditions that workers are subjected to limited access to bathrooms and drinking water, being subjected to harmful chemicals and heat for extended periods of time and living within small confined dormitories on the worksite with approximately 10-12 other workers in one room. The rooms are very dirty and as a result, the majority of factory workers live off the factory grounds if they are fortunate enough to afford it.



Sweatshops have proved a difficult issue to resolve because their roots lie in the conceptual foundations of the world economy. In order to improve these horrendous working conditions that sweatshop workers endure, there needs to be a global change. It is important to gather worldwide awareness about the issue of sweatshops. Many anti-sweatshop organisations and sweatshop-free companies have made great influences on the issue. For example, in 2007 People and Planet, a social and environmental justice group gathered media attention which attracted 50 students who decided to strip off the majority of their clothes in protest and replace them with billboards and boxes which stated “I’d rather go naked than wear sweatshop clothes” (Oxfam Australia, 2013). This was also followed by students biking across campus in the nude, as well as attending lectures naked. The publicity stunt was performed in order to appeal to presidents of different universities as school uniforms at many universities were found to be using sweatshops to print logo shirts and socks. Another popular trend was putting up washing lines of t-shirts which had facts stapled to them about sweatshop labour and exploitation of workers (International Labour Rights Forum, 2012). <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">When trying to understand and redress this public health issue, it is important to look at Karl Marx, a German social theorist. The term Marxism said that differences in social classes results in exploitation: the ruling class, owners of the production, taking advantage of the working class, people who owns labour (Munck, 2010). The ruling class, capitalists, are only concerned with earning more profits and therefore have the tendency to increase capital investment and decrease labour cost (Mayer, 2007). Exploitation occurs when one person is benefitting more from another person (Munck, 2010). Individuals that work in sweatshops are exploited and alienated every day. Workers have become commodities themselves because they are selling their time and labour to a boss in return for a small wage. In other words, the labour of the worker makes up the sale price of the item but they only received a small portion of it while the rest of the income belongs to the capitalist (Munck, 2010). This is very evident and clear in the sweatshops around the world. Due to this, it is important that this imbalance is rebalanced. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;">
 * <span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ANALYSIS **

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Before more detrimental effects to overall health and quality of life to the workers are caused by poor working conditions, it is important to increase public awareness regarding this issue as it is the consumer’s responsibility, as they are the ones that purchasing the products being produced. If public awareness is increased regarding this issue, the public will be educated to make a proper informed decision.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">As a result of this analysis, public health experts should focus on empowering and educating sweatshop workers about the importance of individual rights and freedom and earning living salaries while working reasonable hours. This will empower these workers to be able to make a choice in whether they wish to undertake such horrible working conditions. Transnational corporations and retailers should also be monitored with stricter standards such as: making compliance with the international labour standards identified as being fundamental for rights at work and/or developing a complaints mechanism; respond to, and resolve substantiated complaints involving the labour practices of commercial partners and licensees (<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">Baptist World Aid Australia, 2013) <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Consumers should also be educated and encouraged to purchase ethically manufactured products through organisations such as Oxfam Australia. The involvement of the United Nations and International Labour Organization is essential to this process. Without their participation and oversight, sweatshops will overtly continue to violate international standards in order to solve their unemployment problems and stay competitive within the world manufacturing market ( <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">Baptist World Aid Australia, 2013) <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">. The artefact Sweatshop HD gives not only an insight to a day within a sweatshop, and the conditions that the workers have to endure, but also gives players a sense of how unrestrained capitalism breeds ethical compromise. However, it is questionable to whether the games catching colours, exaggerated characters and catchy music, design and humour are appropriate for such a serious topic in the first place. The game has been described as ‘hilarious’, however I would never find myself laughing if someone died in my workplace. This may also indicate that the topic of sweatshops is still not being taken seriously in the 21st Century. In addition, in early 2013, Apple removed the game Sweatshop HD from its app store as it was deemed to be an “uncomfortable topic” for their customer’s iDevices, which is an interesting and ironic stance for a company that has been accused of making those same devices in sweatshops themselves. However, it is not surprising that the game has received criticism. The “worst job” I have ever undertaken was waiting tables at a restaurant – however Sweatshop HD and the literature review undertaken highlights how incredibly privileged I am. Consequently, as a result of this assessment piece, I have learnt that the degree to which sweatshops are being utilised around the world today is atrocious and the real truth behind the barcode. As I have been challenged to think more about the origin of the products that I purchase, in the future I will now be able to conscientiously decipher whether the products that I am purchasing are being made in sweatshops and whether it is worth purchasing or not.
 * <span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">ANALYSIS OF ARTEFACT AND OWN LEARNING REFLECTIONS **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Akhter, S., Salahuddin, A. F. M., Iqbal, M., Malek, A. B. M. A., Jahan, N., (2010). Health and occupational safety for female workforce of garment industries in Bangladesh. //Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 41//(1), 65-70. Retrieved from http://www.aun.edu.eg/env_enc/env%20mar/63-76.PDF
 * <span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">REFERENCES **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">Baptist World Aid Australia. (2013). The Australian Fashion Report – The Truth Behind the Barcode. Retrieved November, 3, 2013, from http://baptistworldaid.org.au/assets/Be-Fair-Section/FashionReport.pdf <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">China Labor Watch. (2011). Tragedies of globalization: The truth behind electronics sweatshops. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Edwards, M. (2013). Bangladesh's Rana Plaza factory collapse victims still awaiting compensation: survey. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-25/bangladesh-factory-collapse-victims-wait-for-compensation/5044732

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">Global Exchange. (2011). Sweatfree FAQs. Retrieved from <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15.555556297302246px;">http://www.globalexchange.org/fairtrade/sweatfree/faq

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights. (2010). Bangladesh Garment Wages the lowest in the World- Comparative Garment Worker Wages. Retrieved from http://www.globallabourrights.org/alerts?id=0297

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">International Labour Rights Forum. (2012). Sweatshops. Retrieved from []

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Islam, K. (2012). Socioeconomic deprivation and garment worker movement in Bangladesh: A sociological analysis. American journal of sociological research, //2//(4). 82-89. doi: 10.5923/ j.sociology.20120204.05

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mayer, R. (2007). <span class="maintitle" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sweatshops, Exploitation, and Moral Responsibility. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Journal of Social Philosophy, //38,// 605-619. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9833.2007.00401.x

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Munck, R. (2010). Marxism and Nationalism in the Era of Globalisation. Capital and Class //34//(1). 45-54. Retrieved from: <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">[]

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Oxfam Australia. (2013). Are your clothes made in sweatshops?. Retrieved November 3, 2013, from https://www.oxfam.org.au/explore/workers-rights/are-your-clothes-made-in-sweatshops/

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Ocford Dictionary. (2013). Definition of sweatshop in English. Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sweatshop

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Statt, N. (2013). Apple yanks ‘sweatshop’ game from the app store. Oh, the irony. Retrieved from http://readwrite.com/2013/03/22/apple-yanks-sweatshop-ios-game-from-the-app-store-oh-the-irony#awesm=~om67V6fOZyjcmR

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">War on Want. (2009). Sweatshops in China. Retrieved from http://www.waronwant.org/overseas-work/sweatshops-and-plantations/china-sweatshops

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