Clothing, Outsourcing and the Poorest Workers on Earth
Thanksgiving is behind us, the rare convergence of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving is still running, and Christmas and New Year are looming just a few weeks into the future. It’s time to think about Christmas and all things Christmassy. One of the most persistent icons of Christmas is none other than Ebenezer Scrooge, the main character of the beloved, “A Christmas Carol.” It was this novel by Dickens that gave us the classic image we have for Christmas… snow, Christmas trees, gift wrapped packages, collecting money for the poor, singing songs with friends… our whole image of Christmas.
While much has changed since the Victorian era depicted in “A Christmas Carol,” the problems of poverty continue throughout the year. But are we still interested in doing anything about poverty?
In Dickens’ day, poverty was up close and personal. It was especially overwhelming in cities. Unlike the country side, where there was also intense poverty, families and communities had been dispersed and offered little support. Then there were the factories that exploited children and parent alike. Add to that the concentration of killer diseases in poor urban communities, and we have the image of grinding poverty and suffering that Dickens’ portrayed so well in his writing.
Perhaps nowhere did the issues of poverty, children and industry come together as often and as terribly as in the textile mills of Manchester. It was these mills, and their counterparts in America, that were so abusive that many of the first child labor laws and industrial safety codes were written to protect these workers.
Children, with small hands and bodies, could get inside of the mechanical gears and free jammed equipment and unblock mechanisms that guided the patterns that industrial looms created. This highly dangerous work often caused injuries, mutilations and death.
Over the years, worker safety laws eventually made textile work safer in America the UK and other “first world” countries. However, this only happened after repeated deadly scandals, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire a century ago. Even into the late 20th century, there were ongoing scandals about factories in the southern states, and sweatshops in the richest cities in the world. Today, we rarely hear about domestic deaths in textile factories. Why? Because the work has been outsourced to other countries, with far fewer stringent laws to protect workers.
Even before the industrial revolution, working in textiles was difficult. Through India, Pakistan and surrounding countries, textile with the finest weave often required the smallest hands. European and American buys have become increasingly aware of the conditions and child labor that is used to produce some of the world’s finest textiles. Yet, the same people have been far less aware of the conditions of the more common textiles they buy. Over the past few decades, the world’s textile work has been moving to ever less-expensive locations. At each stop along the way, new abuses began. In the US, after WWII the factories moved to the southern states. Here lower cost labor and the latest automated looms dramatically increased profitability, but no industrial advantage lasts for very long.
Next textile work moved to South America, and became inter-twined with child labor in the 1980s. Today, textile work has moved to still further and even less costly locations, such as Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is in these countries that there have been recent industrial accidents, building collapses and other signs of bad management and a lack of concern for worker safety. There is debate over how the American and European corporations that have outsourced their work to these countries will deal with worker safety, and who will pay for it.
One thing is for sure, the textile industry is running out of cheaper places to move work. Now, or in the near future, this industry will no longer be able to run away from the problems they leave in their wake. With no other cheaper location, will the textile industry finally make their industry safe for their workers?
As you do your Christmas shopping, remember, the great deals you get on clothes that you buy for your friends and family, may have come with a hidden price. We've all benefited from outsourcing, but are we willing to give back just a little bit so that the workers who make our clothes can afford to support their families and live to see another year? Worker safety is a serious issue, all year round. Not just during the holidays.
You tell manufacturers what you want, by what you buy. By being informed about the goods you buy, you tell manufacturers the sort of products and worker protections, that you want. How we treat the workers who produce the goods we use, regardless of where those workers live, is not just a lot of humbug. More than a century ago when Dickens fought a war of words to help the lives of workers, he understood that he was also fighting for the souls of his fellow Englishmen. When we harden our hearts towards the poor, we lessen ourselves. So, don’t be a Scrooge! Give some thought (and do some research), and maybe even have a sip of the milk of human kindness before you shop this year.
While much has changed since the Victorian era depicted in “A Christmas Carol,” the problems of poverty continue throughout the year. But are we still interested in doing anything about poverty?
In Dickens’ day, poverty was up close and personal. It was especially overwhelming in cities. Unlike the country side, where there was also intense poverty, families and communities had been dispersed and offered little support. Then there were the factories that exploited children and parent alike. Add to that the concentration of killer diseases in poor urban communities, and we have the image of grinding poverty and suffering that Dickens’ portrayed so well in his writing.
Perhaps nowhere did the issues of poverty, children and industry come together as often and as terribly as in the textile mills of Manchester. It was these mills, and their counterparts in America, that were so abusive that many of the first child labor laws and industrial safety codes were written to protect these workers.
Children, with small hands and bodies, could get inside of the mechanical gears and free jammed equipment and unblock mechanisms that guided the patterns that industrial looms created. This highly dangerous work often caused injuries, mutilations and death.
Over the years, worker safety laws eventually made textile work safer in America the UK and other “first world” countries. However, this only happened after repeated deadly scandals, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire a century ago. Even into the late 20th century, there were ongoing scandals about factories in the southern states, and sweatshops in the richest cities in the world. Today, we rarely hear about domestic deaths in textile factories. Why? Because the work has been outsourced to other countries, with far fewer stringent laws to protect workers.
Even before the industrial revolution, working in textiles was difficult. Through India, Pakistan and surrounding countries, textile with the finest weave often required the smallest hands. European and American buys have become increasingly aware of the conditions and child labor that is used to produce some of the world’s finest textiles. Yet, the same people have been far less aware of the conditions of the more common textiles they buy. Over the past few decades, the world’s textile work has been moving to ever less-expensive locations. At each stop along the way, new abuses began. In the US, after WWII the factories moved to the southern states. Here lower cost labor and the latest automated looms dramatically increased profitability, but no industrial advantage lasts for very long.
Next textile work moved to South America, and became inter-twined with child labor in the 1980s. Today, textile work has moved to still further and even less costly locations, such as Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is in these countries that there have been recent industrial accidents, building collapses and other signs of bad management and a lack of concern for worker safety. There is debate over how the American and European corporations that have outsourced their work to these countries will deal with worker safety, and who will pay for it.
One thing is for sure, the textile industry is running out of cheaper places to move work. Now, or in the near future, this industry will no longer be able to run away from the problems they leave in their wake. With no other cheaper location, will the textile industry finally make their industry safe for their workers?
As you do your Christmas shopping, remember, the great deals you get on clothes that you buy for your friends and family, may have come with a hidden price. We've all benefited from outsourcing, but are we willing to give back just a little bit so that the workers who make our clothes can afford to support their families and live to see another year? Worker safety is a serious issue, all year round. Not just during the holidays.
You tell manufacturers what you want, by what you buy. By being informed about the goods you buy, you tell manufacturers the sort of products and worker protections, that you want. How we treat the workers who produce the goods we use, regardless of where those workers live, is not just a lot of humbug. More than a century ago when Dickens fought a war of words to help the lives of workers, he understood that he was also fighting for the souls of his fellow Englishmen. When we harden our hearts towards the poor, we lessen ourselves. So, don’t be a Scrooge! Give some thought (and do some research), and maybe even have a sip of the milk of human kindness before you shop this year.
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