{"id":1374,"date":"2019-06-13T15:21:30","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T14:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/?p=1374"},"modified":"2023-03-08T14:03:18","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T13:03:18","slug":"fashion-an-industry-of-gross-exploitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/fashion-an-industry-of-gross-exploitation\/","title":{"rendered":"Fashion \u2013 an Industry of Gross Exploitation"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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On Tuesday 28th May, Dr Jean Jenkins<\/a> presented her research on employment rights at one of the world\u2019s best-known literature festivals. Her talk explored the history of a sector once described as a \u2018parasite industry\u2019 as a result of the shocking mistreatment of its workers.<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It’s a reputation that continues to thrive today in clothing manufacture. Nevertheless, workers are not hapless victims \u2013 they fight back, and Jean’s talk shone a light on workers\u2019 struggles against the odds.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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In 1909, Nancy Meyer and Clementina Black wrote The Makers of our Clothes<\/em> and submitted their documentation of working practices in the clothing trades to the UK\u2019s Board of Trade in an attempt to gain state support for regulation on minimum standards of pay and employment. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Jean emphasised the continuing relevance of their documentation of what was then called a \u2018parasite industry\u2019 for 21st-century garment factory workers, both in the UK and across the globe. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI’m here to dispel any myths that the clothing manufacture industry is still anything but one that has always targeted the vulnerable. [It’s] an industry that isolates individuals through the process of manufacture.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

However, from past to the present-day, workers have gathered together, organising and resisting against their employers, as a means to access to the most basic of employment rights \u2013 the right to bargain in defence of their own interests. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Great Garment War <\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By the mid-twentieth century advances had been made in pay and working conditions as a result of state regulation and trade union organisation, but the \u2018Great Garment War\u2019 of the 1980s and beyond marked the relocation of the industry to newly industrialising regions where workers again faced gross exploitation at the hands of a global supply chain and business model whose prime focus is to drive down costs.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Workers\u2019 conditions suffer accordingly and the sub-contracting of manufacture distances the commissioning brand from responsibility and accountability. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cOn the ground today, we see a consistent failure of corporate social responsibility and we cannot simply accept reassurance from the brands that all is well in their supply chains.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Some of the issues that 21st-century garment factory workers are subject to, include: verbal abuse; deprivation of rest, food, water and toilet breaks; humiliation and harassment; and victimisation for organising into independent trade unions. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Hidden corners <\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Sadly, as consumers, we typically only hear about these working conditions when failings in safety amount to major loss of life and the media is forced to pay attention. However, in the hidden corners of the supply chain, the daily deprivations of low paid work grind on and tragedies still happen unseen. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Audience members asked questions about what they, as consumers, could do to help. Jean explained that boycotting brands and retailers is not the answer and that there is not necessarily a link between the price of clothes and the degree of exploitation. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

However, questioning the brands and retailers is crucial. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWe should be asking about workers\u2019 bargaining rights and dignity at work, not simply what they earn.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Campaigns and trade union engagement with issues for the marginalised worker, wherever they live and work, can also be supported.<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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