Fashion+and+Sweatshops

Student Name: Cheng Yie Chynn Student Number: n8788138 Tutor Name: Steven Badman **Artefact **  The artefact above was drawn by Dan Wasserman, who is a cartoonist for the Globe editorial page. It consists of 6 different pictures; each of them has a sweatshop worker wearing a shirt with writings on it. The writings on the shirt describe the thoughts, feelings and opinions of workers. As stated in the title, this is how the shirts will turn out to be if sweatshop workers were allowed to design the shirts that they made.

 The International Labour Rights defined sweatshops as a place where basic human rights are violated; workers have to work under poor and harsh working conditions. (ILO, 2013). They are forced to work for at least 10 hours a day but only earn a few cents an hour. Workers, especially women, were treated with no respect as they are verbally and physically abused resulting in mental health problems. Those contributed to high number of injuries and death among sweatshop workers. (WIEGO, 2013). The public health issue regarding the artefact represented is the health and safety of sweatshops workers because of the factors listed.
 * Public Health Issue **

 Due to globalisation of the fashion industry, companies aim to produce cheap clothes in a short period of time. To reduce cost, companies set up factories in developing countries where people are living in extreme poverty. (WIEGO, 2013). Factories usually do not provide safe working environment to workers. Child labour and mistreatment of workers are also common in garment industries. (WIEGO, 2013).
 * Literature Review **

 One of the ways that clothing companies tried to reduce cost is to reduce wages of garment workers. As shown in the table below, developing countries, especially in Asia have the lowest hourly wage. (Institute for Global and Human Rights, 2010). The world’s largest exporter of clothes to USA is China, followed by Vietnam and Bangladesh, but they only have an hourly wage of U.S 91 cents, 52 cents and 21 cents respectively, with Bangladesh the lowest among all the countries in the world. (Institute for Global and Human Rights, 2010).

(Institute for Global and Human Rights, 2010).

 Low wages means that workers have to cut down on daily expenditures. A survey was done among 300 female garment workers where they were asked to fill out questionnaire regarding low income, living conditions and health. (Akhter, Salahuddin, Iqbal, Malek & Jahan, 2010). The analysis of questionnaire showed that 85% of workers suffer from malnutrition, reproductive health problem and ill health because they could not afford with low wages. 51% of workers live in slum area, 40% in semi-slum and only 9% lives in brick houses. Semi-slum and slum areas are very unhygienic and workers do not have access to proper sanitation facilities and safe drinking water. As rent is expensive, they often share one room among 3 to 6 people. Poor living condition causes high number of diarrhoea, tuberculosis and urine infection amongst workers. (Akhter, Salahuddin, Iqbal, Malek & Jahan, 2010).

Besides from low wages, long working hours is also a characteristic of sweatshops because the production goal is always increasing. (Elich, 2010). Working hours of garment workers in China producing brands such as Wal-mart, Kathie Lee, Ralph Lauren, Kmart and many others were shown to have a minimum of 60 hours. The table below summarises different popular clothing brands and the average working hours of garment workers.  Work-related musculoskeletal disorder, otherwise known as WRMD, is the most common health-related problems among garment workers as they have to sew clothes continuously for hours without taking breaks in between or stretching (Herbert & Plattus, 2011). In a study done among 520 sewing machine operators, 58% reported upper body pain for more than one day per week. 24% reported moderate or severe musculoskeletal pain in the neck or shoulder region while 16% reported pain in the distal region. The overall prevalence for WRMD was 32%. (Wang, Rempel, Harrison & Ritz, 2007). In addition, garment workers usually sit on seats with no backrest or any back support. After long hours of seating, they often slouch or lean forward from the waist causing lower back and body pain. (Institute for Global and Human Rights, 2010)

 The number of working hours a day and the resting period were recorded on a diary by the workers. The data was collected from 520 garment workers working in 13 different factories in Los Angeles, California. Out of 555 workers that were contacted only 520 of them fit the criteria and agreed to participate in the study. The eligibility of the workers was chosen based on several factors. Those include working on sewing machine for more than 20 hours a week, were not in probation, had worked for 3 months and is a stable garment worker with no intention to quit in the past 6 months. (Wang, Rempel, Harrison & Ritz, 2007).However there are limitations to the study done. The data collected represents the workers from only 13 factories, which may not be accurate as the information estimates the other factories that did not participate. As one of the criteria is to be stable garment worker, the data collected does not include information from non-participants. (Wang, Rempel, Harrison & Ritz, 2007).

 The main accident that occurs in sweatshop due to lack of safety measure is fire. In 2010, a study was carried out and found that 60% of factories in Bangladesh lacked adequate firefighting tools. (Claeson, 2012). Almost all the garment factory has no battery-operated emergency lights, signs and sirens which are needed to reduce panic among workers should the electricity gets cut off when a fire break out occurs. (Claeson, 2012). The latest sweatshop fire accident occurred in November 2012 in Tazreen Fashion factory near Dhaka, Bangladesh. According to the report on fire, the first fire alarm was ignored by the managers and exit doors were locked. The fire extinguishers were not working. People either jumped to their deaths or were trapped inside the building. The accident killed 112 people and injured many others. (International Labour Right Forum, 2012).

 In the recent years, safety experts have gained access to Nike factories in Ho Chih Min, Vietnam and reported that they found that workers were still exposed to high level of toxic, no personal protective equipment and lack of appropriate tools to prevent injuries from machineries. (Arnold, & Bowie, 2003). Toluene, glue used for Nike shoes, was found to be 6-177 times allowed by Vietnamese law. High exposure of toluene causes skin and eye irritations, damage to liver and also miscarriages. (Arnold, & Bowie, 2003). 550 workers working in cotton industries in the different departments of a textile factory were asked to fill out questionnaire, which consist of industrial hazards and their preventive measures. (Mahmoud, El-Megeed, Mohamed, El-Din & Ibrahim, 2004). The study showed that 67.3% of the workers said masks were available but only 41.6% used them. 68-73% of the workers suffered from cough while 57-68% suffered from chest pain. Lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema and asthma were common too, accounting for 26.8% of the group. (Mahmoud, El-Megeed, Mohamed, El-Din & Ibrahim, 2004).

 Children were forced to work in factories too, 200 children, aged 11 or less were found to be producing clothes for Wal-Mart, JC Penning and Puma in Bangladesh. The children, like adults were forced to work for 10 hours or more with extremely low wages such as 6.5 cents an hour. (The National Labour Committee, 2006). Workers, especially women often get shouted and cursed by their supervisor. (Elich, 2010). They are allowed to use the toilet twice and when they do they get searched by guards before using. (Elich, 2010). In Indonesia, it was reported that women were forced to take down their pants to prove that they are menstruating. (Global Exchange, 2011). A 20/20 investigation in Saipan sweatshops showed that pregnant workers were either fired or had to abort. (ABC News, 2000).

**Cultural and Social Analysis **  Globalisation has reduced the rules and regulations regarding foreign investments in developing countries. (Pugatch, 1998). Big companies now have the freedom to search for manufacturers in developing countries as they can provide good quality clothes with cheap labour. (Pugatch, 1998). Social theorist, Karl Marx has came up with Marxism which said that the differences in social classes results in exploitation: the ruling class, owners of the production, taking advantage of the working class, people who owns labour. The ruling class, capitalist, are only concerned with earning more profits and therefore have the tendency to increase capital investment and decrease labour cost. (Conway, 1987). Exploitation occurs when one person is benefitting more from another person. 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. (Conway, 1987).

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> One of the social effects of of capitalism as described by Marx was alienation in work. (Trainer, 2010). Workers generally have a fixed routine job and not many choices were given. Workers were forced to do as they were told and have to work under harsh working conditions. Their work is boring because they never get to see the final product as they often focus on one part of the product, such as sewing sleeves of shirt. (Trainer, 2010). The other effect of capitalism is the destruction of community. Capitalism has broken the strong commitment one used to have on traditions, places or people and have caused a decline in community and so labours can now be bought for cheap prices for personal economic gain. (Trainer, 2010). Due to poverty, government in poor countries cannot afford to enforce laws on wages as they see foreign investment as an economic growth. The Minister of Labour of Vietnam has said ‘Vietnam cannot set its minimum wages higher than other regional countries, otherwise foreign investment will not come here but will go elsewhere’. (Pugatch, 1998).

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Ever since the early 1990s, anti-sweatshop campaigns have been emerging. Anti-sweatshop basically means campaigns that are held to improve the conditions of sweatshops. There are different forms of campaign such as direct pressure to change legislation in developing countries, newspaper or poster campaign. (Harrison & Scorse, 2010). These activists have targeted multinational firms in the garment industry and helped to spread consumer boycotts throughout colleges and campuses. (Harrison & Scorse, 2010). It is important to increase public awareness regarding this issue because the public are the one who will support garment workers to fight for their rights and to improve sweatshop conditions. In the past few years, big companies such as Nike and Adidas signed codes of conduct to increase wages and improve the working environment due to the pressure of activists. (Harrison & Scorse, 2010). GAP also canceled contracts with 136 factories because of low wages and harsh working conditions. (OOA, 2005). In 2010, ‘sweatfree’ apparel, Alta Gracia, became popular amongst students. It gained the approval of Worker Rights Consortium as workers were paid a proper living wage and they did not work under harsh environment. (USLEAP, 2010).

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> In survey conducted among Australians showed that 70% of them would be willing to pay more for clothes just so that garment workers will be paid better and have a safe working environment. 84% also said that they would like Australian companies to sign onto safety record to ensure the safety of Bangladesh workers. (ABC News, 2013).

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Public health experts should monitor factories and expose conditions in sweatshops to increase awareness of this issue to the public and so, encourage them not to purchase items made in sweatshops and also to join anti-sweatshop campaigns. (Co-Op America, 2004).


 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Analysis of Artefact and Self-Reflection **

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> The artefact is really good as it summarises the key characteristics of sweatshops; child labour in the first picture in which children are forced to work and not attend schools. Violation of human rights in the second where workers are forced to work continuously under harsh conditions such as getting fined for toilet breaks. In the third picture, it described how exploitation is hard to be removed from society because if that is done, employment in developing countries will decrease and people will be living in poverty. The fourth picture said ‘I’m not a markdown item’ referring to the fact that workers are underpaid. The fifth picture basically describes how large companies are profiting from exploitation of workers. In the last picture, it shows the number of workers that have died due to poor working conditions, sweatshop fires being the most common accident. I never actually thought so much when I see clothing items that are made in China or India.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">When I buy clothes, I have always assumed the cheaper the better. I never actually put much consideration into what the workers go through to make them. After doing this assignment, I found out the conditions of sweatshops and it changed my perception of how I view clothing items now. I will be more careful when buying clothes in the future. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">


 * Reflection **

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**<span style="color: #800000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">References **
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">ABC News. (2013). Australian retailers Rivers, Coles, Target, Kmart linked to Bangladesh factory worker abuse. Retrieved from []


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">ABC News. (2000). Women Forced to Work. Retrieved from []

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 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Arnold, D. G., & Bowie, N. E. (2003). Sweatshops and respect for persons. //Business Ethics Quarterly, 13//(2), 221-242. Retrieved from http://webpages.marshall.edu/~davis194/MNC3.pdf


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">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="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Claeson, B. (2012). Deadly Secrets. Retrieved from []


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Conway, D. (1987). Marxism, Capitalism and Exploitation. //A farewell to Marx: An Outline and Appraisal of His Theories// (pp. 98-124). Harmondsworth, Middx: Penguin Books. Retrieved from http://hem.passagen.se/nicb/marx.htm


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Co-Op America. (2004). Guide to Ending Sweatshops. Retrieved from []


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Elich, G. (2010). Sweatshop Manufacture: Engine of Poverty. Retrieved from http://www.globalresearch.ca/sweatshop-manufacturing-engine-of-poverty/19193


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Global Exchange. (2011). Free trade and sweatshops. Retrieved from []

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 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5; text-align: left;">Harrison, A. & Scorse, J. (2010). Multinationals and Anti-Sweatshops Activism. //American Economic Review. 100//(1), 247-273. Retrieved from http://www.miis.edu/media/view/20278/original/


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Herbert, R. & Plattus, B. (2011). health effects and environmental issues. Clothing and finished textile products. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/oshenc/part-xiv/clothing-and-finished-textile-products/item/870-health-effects-and-environmental-issues


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights. (2010). Bangladesh Garment Wages the lowest in the World- Comparative Garment Worker Wages. Retrieved from []


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights. (2010). Factories in China Producing Goods for Export to the U.S. Retrieved from []


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">International Labour Rights Forum. (2013). Sweatshops. Retrieved from http://www.laborrights.org/creating-a-sweatfree-world/sweatshops


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">International Labour Rights Forum. (2012). Sweatshop Fires in Bangladesh. Retrieved from []


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Mahmoud, T. M., El-Megeed, H. S. A., Mohamed, S., El-Din, A. & Ibrahim, H. D. F., (2004). A study of occupational health hazards among assiut spinning factory workers. //Assiut University Bull. Environment Res. 7//(1), 63-75. Retrieved from []


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Organic Consumer Association. (2005). Anti-sweatshop Movement Puts the Heat on Nike, Gap and Levi’s. Retrieved from []


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Pugatch, T. (1998). Historical Development of the Sweatshop. Retrived from []


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Trainer, T. (2010). Marxist Theory, A brief introduction. Retrieved from []


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">The National Labour Committee. (2006). Child Labour is Back. Retrieved from []


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">USLEAP. (2010). Anti-Sweatshop Campaigns and Initiatives. Retrieved from []


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Wang, P.C., Rempel, D. M., Harrison, R. J., Chan, J. & Ritz, B. R. (2007). Work-organisational and personal factors associated with upper body musculoskeletal disorder among sewing machine operators. //Occupational Environment Med, 64//(12), 806-813. doi: 10.1136/oem.2006/029140PMCID:PMC2095384


 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> WIEGO. (2013). Garment Workers. Retrieved from []