The True Cost

Labor Practice Paper Angelia Henry PHL/320 May 2, 2016 Bridget Peaco Labor Practice Paper Merriam-Webster online defines a sweatshop as a shop or factory where employees work long at a low wage that is under poor and unhealthy conditions (Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary, 2016). Sweatshops are factories that violate two or more labor laws to include wages, benefits, child labor or even working hours (Ember, 2014-2015). Companies will attempt to use sweatshop labor to lessen the cost to meet the demands of customers. When we think of sweatshop, we always want to look at third world countries and never in our own backyard. In 2012, the company Forever 21 was sued by the US Department of Labor for ignoring a subpoena requesting the information on how much it pays its workers just to make clothes (Lo,

Sweatshirts from Sweatshops In this essay there are many of the universal intellectual standards are violated. Initially, as an audience I assume that the speaker is talking about the poor working condition of labor workers in the factory and trying to make an impact on audience to help the situation for positive change.

Life on the Global Assembly Line by Babara Ehrenreich and Annette Fuentes addresses globalization, multinational corporations, international division of labor, gender concerning jobs, poor working conditions in factories, and U.S. government involvement in exploitative conditions for Third World women workers. Most exported industries are towards Third World countries. These exported industries are unsafe and in poor conditions. Production of products are broken down where fragments are sent to different parts of the world to be completed. In the Third World countries, females are responsible for working in factories and having to deal with poor working conditions and low income.

U.S. companies have changed over the years in the way they operate and do business. In the years gone by, they would set up shop by building their factories and hiring the labor force to come in and make whatever garments they manufacturing at the time. As time passed by, it was discovered that labor could be obtained a whole lot cheaper by outsourcing to another country where people worked longer hours for cheaper wages. In today’s corporate world, this labor force can be found in many foreign locations as well as in the United States.

The Travels of the T-shirt in the Global Economy, details the depths of a traveling T-shirt through production from the cotton fields, to textiles, its distribution, and finally its reuse in poorer countries while describing everything in between. The book uses the origins of cotton to explain the birth of the cotton T-shirts among other clothing in the worldwide trade markets. It uses real accounts of farmers, factory workers, even politicians as a source to present the journey of a simple commodity in the universal economy. The book compares two different markets dominated by two countries, cotton in the U.S and textiles in China; and tries to justify its success in the global world. The beginning discusses the process of production of cotton in the 18th century, often very strenuous, back breaking work with no mechanical systems, as we see

This demand for basic needs contribute to the rise of textile

The work was also dangerous with not much supervising by the government. Workers, on the other hand, had little or even no bargaining power to leave the unsafe conditions. Nowadays, When Americans only pay attention when extreme work strike, levels of abuse are the norm hidden in the factories around the globe. Although the condition seems much improved, consumers don’t know the true fact- “Today, American citizens simply cannot know the working conditions of the factories that make the products they buy.

The main goal of businesses, in the growing manufacturing economy, was to produce the most product at the cheapest price. With a large influx of desperate immigrants looking for jobs, companies were able to quickly capitalize on the rights of vain workers. Viewing as them as easily replaceable, owners were easily able to take advantage of the rights of workers and utilize them to their advantage. The desperation prevalent in those willing to take the jobs that nobody else wanted supplied labor to factories, often for a high price. Worker’s rights were often manipulated in the industries exemplified throughout The Jungle.

It is only recently that fashion and textile industries have become increasingly aware of sustainability issues. Sustainable designs and initiatives have been highlighted at various fashion weeks across the world, with Armani and Zegna leading the way and including design house such as Linda Loudermilk, Edun and Loomstate (Hethorn & Ulasewicz 2008: 82). According to Sandy Black (2011:17), eco-fashion is founded on linking environmental and moral principles with innovative ideas and a highly aesthetic design. Large high-street chain stores and international brands such as GAP, Nike and M&S were accused of unethical practices in clothing and footwear production in the past, but are now implementing the requirements to find their way to ethical and environmental answers in an attempt to reverse

Introduction: According to the Encyclopedia of Management (2009) sweatshops can be defined as environments or factories that provide opportunities to the less-fortunate people in a country. Sweatshops can be classified as a place of employment where the working hours are long, the conditions are harsh and the wages provided are very low compared to the average wages of the country in question (McDermott, 2013). Most sweatshops also have strict laws and policies that the workers have to abide to, and they are often subjected to some form of abuse if they do not obey these laws properly (ibid). In general, the phenomenon of sweatshops is usually received with negative connotations.

In the eye-opening documentary, The True Cost, director, Andrew Morgan presents a very biased and edited version of the events leading to the fast fashion industry and its negative impacts. Through the use a blame register the documentary is controlled to display necessary footage to expose the sweatshops and how it’s affecting lives and the environment with an underlying link to the title, “The True Cost”. In particular, persuasive language choices are purposely chosen which also link to the use of juxtaposition, displaying a contrast between narration and images. The silencing of garment workers’ unequal treatment outside of work and the fashion companies’ perspectives are selectively cut out. These three major techniques are all edited to

Second Assignment – Annotated Bibliography and Thesis Statement by Cheryl Chi Yue Leung (214185045) York University NATS 1840 15th January 2016 Thesis: How material elements of the modern fast fashion practice reinforce the meanings of unethical production, and thus explain low prices come with low product quality and negative environmental and social impacts Annotated Bibliography 1) Anguelov, N. CRC Press. (September 2015) The dirty side of the garment Industry: fast fashion and its negative impact on environment and society.

And, unfortunately, it’s more prevalent in America than many may believe. When defining what exactly a sweatshop is and what it consists of, there are many forms that it has taken over the many decades of America’s existence. The basic definition of a sweatshop is a factory in which its employees, many being children, are exploited; working long hours in extreme cases of hazardous and unhealthful conditions for little pay. Despite the fact this is a

There is nothing more unappealing than the sight of someone who sags their pants. In every region of the country, there are countless people who believe that wearing a belt goes against modern fashion; therefore, they walk around with their pants almost touching the ground. As an attraction in society, these people serve as an influence to young observers who seek to follow trending fashions. This forces children to follow suit severely affecting their appearance and their concept of acceptable clothing. Finally, having people who sag their pants around exclusive areas, causes said areas to look informal and unsophisticated ultimately lowering the value of surrounding estates.

1. Introduction In 2013 the Garment factory Rana Plaza in Dhaka collapsed and thousands of workers lost their lives. Hence protests around the world arose about the bad working conditions and the low wages employees gain (Abrams & Sattar, 2017). Moreover, not only in developing countries like Bangladesh people have to work as captive employees.