I remember one particularly bad factory in China. It produced outdoor tables, parasols, and gazebos, and the place was a mess. Work floors were so crowded with production materials that I could barely make my way from one end to the other. In one area, where metals were being chemically treated, workers squatted at the edge of steaming pools as if contemplating a sudden, final swim. The dormitories were filthy: the hallways were strewn with garbage—orange peels, tea leaves—and the only way for anyone to bathe was to fill a bucket with cold water. In a country where workers normally suppress their complaints for fear of getting fired, employees at this factory couldn’t resist telling us the truth. “We work so hard for so little pay,” said one middle-aged woman with undisguised anger. We could only guess how hard—the place kept no time cards. Painted in large characters on the factory walls was a slogan: “If you don’t work hard today, look hard for work tomorrow.” Inspirational, in a way.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent on-going conflict has created one of the largest human displacement crises in modern history, with nearly one-third of Ukrainians forced from their homes. In March 2022, the UK government announced ...Read More
Large numbers of Ethiopian women seek domestic work in the “Middle East Corridor”—a signifcant social trend that reflects a key livelihood strategy used by Ethiopian families and communities in the face of widespread poverty (Kuschminder, Ande...Read More
This chapter documents the research carried out in the garment and textile sector. Individual and group interviews were carried out with 26 women trade union leaders and union representatives from unions in four garment producing countries: El Salva...Read More
In June 2018, a coalition of global tech companies, civil society organizations, and international institutions jointly launched Tech Against Trafficking (TAT) https://techagainsttrafficking.org, a collaborative effort to support the eradication of ...Read More
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