Not only will the factory workers benefit from this new right, but so will everybody else on top of them in the chain of production. Healthy, well-fed, happy, motivated employees make for higher quality in products and higher production rates. They are able to work longer, but still appropriate, hours, and are happier, which leads to a generally more pleasant and relaxed working atmosphere.
~MAXIMUM WORKING HOURS: MAXIMUM WORKING HOURS PER WEEK NEED TO BE SET~
Most people working nowadays in cities have the privilege of having flexible schedules and being able to have annual holidays and Sundays off. If they are sick they are able to take sick leave, even if it is on short notice. If they have to leave for family emergencies or personal matters, they are usually granted permission from employers to attend to the matter. If they work over-time, they are paid for it. However, most garment workers do not have the same privilege. They are still expected to work even if they are ill (pregnant woman are fired as they are deemed useless) and are expected to work over-time without any extra payment. Some workers are expected to work up to 40 hours non-stop with bathroom break limitations and no extra pay.
Some garment workers have to work vigorously with only sometimes 4 hours of sleep after a 40 hour shift.
The average adult human being requires around 7-9 hours of sleep everyday to function at their fullest. The full purposes and mechanisms of sleep are only partially clear. Thanks to researchers and neuroscientists, we now have a further knowledge of the purpose of sleep. An obvious reason is to help our body and brain recuperate from a day’s worth of work. Also, during sleep, the brain may review and sort the knowledge you have encountered during the day.
Although we may not have a vast knowledge of the purpose of sleep, we do know it is definitely very important and necessary in our everyday life.
Listed below, however, is a short list of the many consequences of severe sleep deprivation.
*risk of diabetes type 2
*decreased reaction time & accuracy
*tremors
*risk of heart disease
*memory lapses or loss
*hallucinations
*impaired moral judgement
*severe yawning
All the above may affect the workers, and the worker’s productivity rates. Decreased reaction time & accuracy and tremors may increase the risk of accidents and injuries, accidents and injuries which most are unable to receive medical attention for as they receive low wages and many factories do not provide medical care. Not only are the workers affected, but so are the rest of the people on top of them on the chain of production. Quality and quantity of products will decrease, brands may lose their name value and factory owners may be put out of work, causing thousands of workers to lose their jobs and source of income.
J. M. Rathna, garment worker in Bangalore, commented on the harsh hours, “It’s very hard work, but we have to live- there’s no other way.”
Maximum working hours per week need to be set and reenforced. Maximum working hours per week is when there is a certain amount of hours set to ensure workers do not overwork and have the appropriate balance between work and rest.
Robert Owen, a Welsh social reformer raised the demand for a ten-hour day in 1810, and by 1817 had formulated the goal of the eight-hour day. Women and children in England were granted the ten-hour day in 1847. French workers were also granted a similar right, the 12-hour day, after the revolution of 1848.
When maximum working hours per week were set, there was a drastic change in the productivity and attitude of the workers.
The maximum working hours per week should be 72 hours, 12 hours a day maximum, with one day off. This will ensure garment workers will have enough rest & time to regain their stamina and energy.
~ MINIMUM WAGES: MINIMUM WAGES NEED TO BE SET~
A minimum wage is the lowest legal payment per hour/week/month permitted and paid. According to the online Apple dictionary, a minimum wage, noun, means the lowest wage permitted by law or by a special agreement (such as one with a labor union).
Over 200 countries have set minimum wages for workers, including Hong Kong.
For example, a debate recently rose between the citizens and the government. The citizens demanded a minimum wage, which the government had at first denied, but then offered this legislation due to the increasing living costs in Hong Kong. This regulation was effective from May 1st 2011.
In November 2010, it was reported that Bangladesh had the lowest minimum wage in the world, paying HK$1.6 per hour. Bangladesh garment workers make clothes for renowned brands such as Marks & Spencer and Zara. The workers had demanded a 230% raise in their salary, which had led factory owners to decide to raise their salaries by 80%.
<Figure 1: A line graph to show the increase of the minimum wages over the years (1931-2007)>
Another example is Taiwan. Compared to the Bangladesh, garment workers in Taiwan have a higher minimum wage per month. The workers had asked for a 5.5% increase in their monthly pay.
The Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA) established a national minimum wage law in the U.S. Their goal was to raise minimum wages as to provide workers with the necessary amount to support their families and improve their lifestyle.
<Figure 2: A table showing the percentage of people from Asian countries living on less than $1 and $2 a day- source: world bank, world development indicators>
As you can tell from the table, Bangladesh garment workers are widely exploited. $1 is barely enough to buy a small amount of food for one person, let alone a whole family.
Many countries that have established this regulation saw a drastic change in the attitude of employees, production rates and quality of products. Minimum wages motivates and encourages employees and provide workers with the right amount of money to support their families and meet their basic needs.
Also, there has been cases in Saipan U.S, where people, 60% of the workers were foreigners, were tricked into going to work for the factories on the island. They hopeful future employees received the promise of U.S wages, which was very appealing for them as most had children to raise and/or elderly to look after. Education and proper medical health care is quite expensive and not affordable on a weak salary. However, they had to pay thousands, usually US$6,000 to pay for a working permit and the recruitment fee. Thousands which most could not afford, so they found themselves in debt, and having to work the 1st year for no profit as their salary would go into paying off their debts.
The base wage for a garment worker in Saipan was US$6350. However, $2400 went into accommodation, and $3600 into paying of their recruitment fees. This left them with barely any money to send back home for their families.
This will also provide garment workers to have the chance to provide their children with a better lifestyle and create a better future for future generations.
~WORKING CONDITIONS~
The working conditions and environment the garment workers work in is terrible. Usually, factories are quite small and machines and workers are cramped together to fit more in.
This is incredibly dangerous, not to mention uncomfortable. Also, the air in factories is normally very bad. It may lead to numerous illnesses such as silicosis, an incurable lung disease caused by inhaling too much dust. Some factory owners, however, simply just don’t care, as hiring a new worker is much cheaper and more effortless than healing one back to health.
Factories should also provide garment workers with protective goggles and masks. Appropriate safety guards should also be applied and used on machinery, such as sewing machines. As production targets are high, garment workers hurry to meet them within the time given, and because of that, they often overlook their own safety.
Fans should also be installed to keep the air fresh and pure, and to reduce the heat which is often unbearable in factories as they are often extremely crowded. It was once said by a garment worker that sometimes the clothes they make are drenched in their sweat. Fans are much cheaper than air-conditioners and are affordable.
Chemicals, such as cloth dyes, should be handled carefully and workers should have gloves and eye protection on.
All these precautions will decrease the chance of the workers getting injured or falling ill. A sick or injured worker is no help, and taking all these precautions is also more affordable than nursing workers back to health if they do get infected or injured.
Workers should also have the right to visit the bathroom whenever needed. In U.S Saipan, workers are limited to 2 bathroom breaks daily whilst on duty.
Targets in some factories are so high that employees forgo consuming fluids to avoid bathroom breaks, as workers who miss production targets or are accused of being ‘lazy’ are verbally and/or physically abused, demoted or even dismissed from the factory. For some garment workers, that is even worse than having to work over-time without the extra pay, as if they are dismissed, they have a low chance of finding another job and have to return to their hometowns and them and their families lose their main source of income. Some can’t even afford the journey back home and there are often women and/or children walking the streets turning to prostitution just to keep the bills paid.
A female garment worker who has worked in Bangalore’s clothing factories for 16 years once said, “Sometimes we don’t drink water because then we’d have to go to the toilet, so to avoid it we don’t drink water.”
The Occupational Safety and Heath Administration (OSHA) is part of the United States Department of Labour. They perform frequent check-ups on factories to ensure workers are not being abused or treated unfairly in any way. However, factories are often notified in advance that the ‘OSHA is coming’. This gives factory owners the chance to cover up their mess. They unlock all the gates which surround the factory to keep the garment workers from escaping, they provide access to first aid kits, which are normally not available to workers. They clean the whole factory, give the workers protective guards and masks and uniforms. After the OSHA inspector has gone, everything is taken away and things return to normal.
<Figure 2: Photograph of a crowded room where garment workers and their families (who often work in the same place as well) sleeping in a small, cramped, dirty room>
In order to prevent this from happening, the OSHA should perform surprise check-ups on factories.
Factories which provide their workers with accommodation, often have curfews for the residents. They all have to be back at the barracks by 12am, the workers are not allowed to come and go freely. Sometimes, there may even be up to 10 workers in one room, with one bathroom with no hot water supply for many workers to share.
Garment workers should also be provided with thick blankets to prevent getting chills and falling ill during the cold seasons.
Another improvement that could be made is the inspection of production targets. Production targets are the number of units a business is expected to produce.
Brand owners normally choose factories who have high productivity rates, produce high quality products and are cheap. There is often a lot of competition between factories as they are always in danger of being replaced, just like a farmer. That is why factory owners always try to raise the production targets. They raise the targets often, even more frequent when it’s the busy season.
Bangalore garment worker, J.M Rathna, said, “They give us production rates which are very difficult to achieve. Usually whenever there are new styles it takes time to learn them, yet targets and given and if we can’t do that then we are forced to stay back and do overtime.”
Do keep in mind, though, that many factory owners neglect to pay the garments workers for overtime.
Putting all these in action will definitely make a huge difference in the worker’s lives. Not only will they benefit from it, but so will the factory owners, brand owners and retailers. Garment workers will be able to work more easily without all the physical strain put on them.
~RESPECT, RIGHTS~
Garment workers are not only stripped of rights, but some are treated cruelly, inhumanly. They are verbally, physically and sexually abused. Women and female children are also forced to endure sexual harassment from factory owners and their superiors. They are afraid to speak out in fear of being dismissed.
Employees are also often degraded and treated cruelly by supervisors. Most garment workers already face a daily problem of forced overtime, lack of sleep, low income, poor health and mental stress. They are also forced to suffer verbal and physical abuse. Elina, a garment worker in an Indonesian factory expressed that there was a lot of verbal abuse, and they often had to endure being called ‘useless’, ‘worthless’, ‘stupid’, ‘dumb’...etc.
In Vietnam, female workers who were found to be pregnant were immediately dismissed as they were deemed ‘useless’.
There are high suicide rates in factories, as some workers simply just can’t handle the stress and being away from home.
If all this abuse were to stop, workers would feel more safe and comfortable in their workplace and jobs. Not only will this improve relationships between employee and employer, but their mental and psychological health will also benefit.
Nike had a notorious reputation for violating human rights back in the 1990s.They were accused of child labor in Cambodia and Pakistan in the year of 1990. Children were forced to manufacture soccer balls as it was easy for them as they had small hands. They had violated the minimum wages laws and overtime laws in 1996.
Child labour is not uncommon, employers employ children solely for the fact that they can be paid even less than adults.
Figure 4 shows young 12-year-old Tariq. He earns 60 cents for every Nike soccer ball he makes but it takes him nearly an entire day to make one.
<Figure 4: Photograph of a young boy making a soccer ball for Nike>
<Figure 5: Photograph of young girl stitching soccer balls for Nike>
<--Silgi is only three years old. Her hands are so small that she can’t even handle a pair of scissors. However, she recently started stitching soccer balls to help bring in more money. Together with her mother and four sisters, they earn 75 cents a day.
~CONCLUSION~
There are many things that could be done to improve all these people’s rights. Hopefully, this will raise more awareness and people will start to gain more knowledge about the abuse and unfairness going on in our world today. In order to prevent anymore from happening, action must be taken now.
