HEALTH AND SAFETY ON THE GLOBAL ASSEMBLY LINE
Sweatshop Labor, 1911 – 2013
Additional information on sweatshops can be found here:
Workers Rights Consortium Code of Conduct: Employment Standard, Questions, p.
200
1. Research: Go to the website for the Workers Rights Consortium. What responsibility
does such membership place on members?
2. Research: Does your college or university belong to the Workers Rights Consortium or
another similar group? How do the groups compare.
As of January 31, 2014 there are 180 member colleges and universities:
3. In what ways might companies who sign this accord be agreeing to provide greater
rights to employees than state or federal law requires?
Doe I v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Questions, p. 203
1. Look at the various legal bases for each of the plaintiffs’ claims. Why does the court
find that each should be dismissed?
1. Third party beneficiary: Wal-Mart made no promise to monitor the suppliers so no such
promise flows to the plaintiffs as third-party beneficiaries.
2. What arguments can you make for and against joining the PvH Plan?
3. How might employees of Wal-Mart competitors have been hurt if Wal-Mart failed to
adhere to its own Standards for Contractors?
Students may think that there would be no impact on employees of Wal-Mart competitors. Had
Corporate Codes of Conduct – The Struggle Over Meaning, Guy Mundlak, Issi Rosen-Zvi,
Questions, p. 206
1. What are the positive and negative ways of viewing CSR reports? What is the “Achilles
Heel” of CSR reporting? How might it be fixed?
A positive view is that the reports is that they indicate an emergence of a new ethical discourse
within an organization and that the documents encourage competitors to adopt similar codes of
The “Achilles Heel” is the lack of institutional mechanisms to ensure that the information in the
2. How might a university benefit from joining the Workers Rights Consortium?
Answers will vary, but students should take pride in attending a socially responsible institution. It
3. Consider Hershey, Wal-Mart and your university in light of the parameters discussed.
How effective would you expect their codes to be? What additional factors do Mundlak
and Rosen-Zvi point to?
4. Research: Find Apple’s most recent report and determine whether or not working
conditions are improved. Then see how the Economic Policy Institute evaluates Apple’s
progress.
Apple’s 2014 report:
Several articles regarding Apple are found on the Economic Policy Institute website:
CHAPTER PROBLEMS
1. What impact might global slavery have on the health and safety conditions of ordinary
workers?
When goods are produced inexpensively by slave labor, prices may fall. That leads to
Research: (a) What efforts are being made by international and nongovernmental
groups to abolish this trade? Start by looking at the UN’s “blue heart campaign”
against human trafficking.
Research: (b) Find out about the fair trade movement. How might its activities impact
slavery today?
The fair trade movement in North America consists of a number of companies that adhere to
several basic principles. The actions of the free trade movement will help prevent slavery by
2. Research: (a) In May, 2013 Hawaii became the second state to pass a Domestic Workers
Bill of Rights. Find out if similar legislation is pending in your state.
In January 2014, California also enacted a bill of rights for domestic workers that expires in
2017. A web search should provide information about other states.
Research: (b) See what you can find out about efforts to organize caretakers and other
domestic workers into unions.
There are many websites and articles about domestic workers. The website of the Domestic
Research: (c) Find out what A Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic
Workers says and what countries have ratified this convention.
The convention sets forth rights for working conditions, pay and more:
A list of countries that have ratified it is found here:
3. Research: (a) Find the Death on the Job report. What do you leave about your state?
The 2013 report is available here:
(b) What are unions doing today to support safe and healthy workplaces in the U.S. and
abroad?
A web search will lead to several articles on this issue including:
4. Is there anything unethical about using safety and health programs as a ruse to deport
undocumented immigrant workers? Why or why not?
Opinions will vary. As students discuss this question, remind them that there are legal
5. How would you resolve the firearm dilemma? What legal issues should you consider?
This is another question that will likely lead to a variety of opinions. Legal issues need to
Research: Has your state adopted laws that prohibit companies from banning firearms
at work?
A 2011 article about state adoption:
A 2013 chart of laws by state:
Research: Find a lawsuit challenging this law. How did the court rule?
There have been lawsuits challenging the laws. As of February 2014 some of still
outstanding. Here is a link to a 2008 Florida case:
6. The University of Wisconsin and Penn State versus Adidas. What happened in these
cases?
Information on the University of Wisconsin case which was eventually dropped:
Penn State restored the contract with Adidas after the company reached an agreement on the
pay issue:
7. Brainstorm some of the ways we consumers might, individually or collectively, respond
ethically to the sweatshop dilemma.
8. If the price increase for bringing Bangladesh’s garment factories to Western safety
standards (less than 10¢) was passed on to consumers, do you think profits would
decrease? What might companies do to ameliorate any dip in profits?
Again, answers will vary but most students will probably agree that a 10¢ increase would not