Week 12 Discussion

We learn this week that sustainability in the context of labor practices means consideration for the health and ethical well being of workers in all stages of garment production- from the harvesting of raw material to the preparation and manufacture of a finished garment. There is, unfortunately, a continued presence of sweatshops, both at home and abroad. (def: a shop or factory in which  employees work for long hours and/or for low wages and /or under unhealthy conditions) 

1. While many argue that sweatshops must be shut down at all costs, many have argued that the employees would be far worse off without the work. Please read the article here Banning Sweatshops Only Hurts the Poor  and share your thoughts. Should sweatshops exist? Please be detailed in your post, using knowledge from our lecture and the article.  

2. Please watch this short documentary,(A MUST SEE) 

Planet Money makes a T-Shirt  which takes the simple t-shirt around the world. (be sure to click on the word LINK..not the video itself)  to watch all 6 short segments) Jasmine, the worker from Bangladesh who is featured in the film, stresses that although she is working for low wages under poor conditions, she hopes this work remains. She tells us that the garment industry in Bangladesh  is crucial to the workers’ financial survival.

You are the head of the International Labor Organization. (ILO) What do you do?