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Article
Publication date: 1 January 2002

Nadeem M. Firoz and Caren R. Ammaturo

This article reviews the overall issue of sweatshop labour practices, with a particular focus on the apparel industry. Although sweatshop labour exists in the United States, the…

2026

Abstract

This article reviews the overall issue of sweatshop labour practices, with a particular focus on the apparel industry. Although sweatshop labour exists in the United States, the media focus in recent years has centred mainly on overseas manufacture. This article will review individual companies and the practices of which they have been accused. The issue of labour compensation will also be explored, as low wages is the target reason for many apparel manufacturers to source their production overseas. Appendices to this article include Foreign Labour Statistics, outlining foreign labour compensation as compared to that of the United States. This article will also review the focus of the White House Industry Partnership and United Students Against Sweatshops. Lastly, there is a detailed recommendation for suggested required information on all apparel products labelling, which would summarise the manufacturer's quality of labour practices on the garment label; thus providing the consumer with immediate information on the environment under which the item was manufactured.

Details

Humanomics, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0828-8666

Article
Publication date: 11 May 2010

Haesun Park‐Poaps

Public pressure has been recognized as one of the most forceful factors underlying change in sweat shop conditions in the industry. The purpose of this study is to investigate the…

3393

Abstract

Purpose

Public pressure has been recognized as one of the most forceful factors underlying change in sweat shop conditions in the industry. The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of public pressure perceived by top managers of US clothing and footwear firms and to examine effects of individual and organizational factors that may differentiate the level of perception.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were obtained through a mail survey, with a total of 96 cases included in the analyses.

Findings

Results of a series of t‐tests revealed statistically significant influence of firm size, tenure, and firm ownership type on perceived public pressure for fair labor practices, while gender, age, education, business type, and percentage of foreign‐sourced merchandise were not found to be statistically significantly related to perceptions of public pressure.

Research limitations/implications

The findings warn that the current public pressure is toward certain types of firms and their managements. Small and private firms that form the majority of the clothing and footwear sector need to be exposed to the pressure. Data consisted of a portion from a larger scale survey and may not represent a random sample. Further investigations could identify top‐management's strategic actions and social performance of the firm as a response to such pressure.

Originality/value

Managerial perception of social pressure is likely to initiate social actions undertaken by the firms. The findings of the study produced valuable further discussions on the current states and directions of managerial reactions to the sweat shop issues.

Details

Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1361-2026

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2006

Colin C. Williams

This paper sets out to evaluate critically whether off‐the‐books work in contemporary England is chiefly conducted by employees working for wholly or partially underground…

710

Abstract

Purpose

This paper sets out to evaluate critically whether off‐the‐books work in contemporary England is chiefly conducted by employees working for wholly or partially underground businesses, often on low wages and under exploitative conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical evidence is reported from 861 face‐to‐face interviews in 11 English localities.

Findings

Only a small proportion of off‐the‐books work is conducted by employees working for wholly or partially underground enterprises. The vast majority is conducted either by the self‐employed or by providers of paid favours to friends, acquaintances and kin.

Research limitations/implications

The data reported here are from a household survey based on a maximum variation sample of 11 contrasting localities. Future surveys might use businesses (rather than households) as the unit of analysis and collect a nationally representative sample.

Practical implications

Identifying how off‐the‐books work is predominantly autonomous and self‐employed endeavour, a re‐conceptualisation of this sphere is required as a potential asset rather than hindrance to development, and initiatives developed to legitimise this illegitimate self‐employment rather than simply deter it.

Originality/value

This paper transcends the popular portrayal of off‐the‐books work as conducted by employees under sweatshop conditions and for the first time identifies the proportion undertaken on a self‐employed basis as well as evidence that this sphere is used as a test‐bed by fledgling business ventures which conduct either a proportion or all of their trade in this sphere.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2006

Reports on the establishment of an ethical call centre in Bradford, UK, which aims to challenge the industry's “sweatshop” image and reputation for poor customer service and HR

2959

Abstract

Purpose

Reports on the establishment of an ethical call centre in Bradford, UK, which aims to challenge the industry's “sweatshop” image and reputation for poor customer service and HR management.

Design

Draws on the information provided in an interview with Alison Widdup, who heads àreté business services ltd.

Findings

Reveals that the company eschews many of the HR practices commonly associated with call centres, in favour of putting customer service before numerical targets. There are no monitoring systems, employee competitions, or motivational slogans on the walls. Employees are trusted and empowered to take the time to do the job properly.

Practical implications

Presents a new way forward for an important industry in today's service economies.

Originality/value

Outlines a new approach to call‐centre management that could help to reverse the trend towards offshoring.

Details

Human Resource Management International Digest, vol. 14 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0967-0734

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1973

This year's conference must surely go down in ATTI annals as the hottest ever. Not that it was tempers inflamed — the radical left did their militant duty and little else. But…

Abstract

This year's conference must surely go down in ATTI annals as the hottest ever. Not that it was tempers inflamed — the radical left did their militant duty and little else. But Manchester defied its reputation and gave us steaming hot weather throughout. Nice for those stretched out on the Piccadilly hotel patio, excruciating for the rest of us incarcerated in the Grand's basement ballroom. Jugs of iced water disappeared as fast as they could be filled. And perspiring delegate after delegate made cracks about ‘having a long cool look at salary policy’ and ‘the further education sweatshop’. Yet the city in many ways was an excellent choice boasting of that loyal protector of the FE faith Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw, and Frank Hatton chairman of the new Local Authorities' Higher Education Committee, both of whom were guests at the conference dinner.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 15 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Article
Publication date: 29 May 2007

Zoë Greene, Sally Henry, Coby Nathanson and Walter Block

The paper aims to combat economic illiteracy concerning poverty, minimum wages, sweatshops and working conditions.

2814

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to combat economic illiteracy concerning poverty, minimum wages, sweatshops and working conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

The objectives were achieved by (among others) making a proper economic analysis of the unemployment effects of minimum wage laws. The main method(s) used for the research are empirical and theoretical.

Findings

The results point to laissez‐faire capitalism as the last best hope for the poor, whether in third world countries or in advanced economies. If the minimum wage were ended, and sweat shop conditions allowed to be bargained competitively, the poor would be much better off. Happily, in the nineteenth century, these regulations were not in force, and as a result the advanced economies were allowed to advance.

Research limitations/implications

The implication of the present research is deregulation in the labor market.

Practical implications

The practical implications of such a legal change would be lowered unemployment rates, and an improvement in economic welfare on the part of the poor.

Originality/value

The present paper combines an analysis of minimum wages laws and sweatshop working conditions.

Details

Humanomics, vol. 23 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0828-8666

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1998

Andrew Godley

Most recent prescriptions for firm development in the garment industry have focused on methods of reducing labour costs, with less emphasis placed on targeting high margin niches…

Abstract

Most recent prescriptions for firm development in the garment industry have focused on methods of reducing labour costs, with less emphasis placed on targeting high margin niches. This paper examines how the early ready‐made womenswear industry in the UK moved from a wage‐cost containment strategy before the First World War to exploiting fashion‐sensitive demand in the inter‐war period. The economics of fashion‐sensitive demand meant that the most efficient structure for the industry was to have many small producers, specialised in sub‐processes, and all closely located. However, contemporaries failed to understand the efficiency properties of the ‘industrial district’ type of local economy which emerged in London's East End in the first half of this century, a failure which eventually contributed to the dispersion of industrial activities and to the eventual decline of the industry.

Details

Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, vol. 2 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1361-2026

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1983

R.G.B. Fyffe

This book is a policy proposal aimed at the democratic left. It is concerned with gradual but radical reform of the socio‐economic system. An integrated policy of industrial and…

10994

Abstract

This book is a policy proposal aimed at the democratic left. It is concerned with gradual but radical reform of the socio‐economic system. An integrated policy of industrial and economic democracy, which centres around the establishment of a new sector of employee‐controlled enterprises, is presented. The proposal would retain the mix‐ed economy, but transform it into a much better “mixture”, with increased employee‐power in all sectors. While there is much of enduring value in our liberal western way of life, gross inequalities of wealth and power persist in our society.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 3 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2005

Risa L. Lieberwitz

The questions posed for the national reporters for this International Seminar demonstrate the wide range of issues that can be included as part of an analysis of corporate social…

2828

Abstract

The questions posed for the national reporters for this International Seminar demonstrate the wide range of issues that can be included as part of an analysis of corporate social responsibility. Even limiting the discussion of corporate social responsibility to employment issues covers a broad scope, represented by the three general questions posed for this Seminar: (1) hiring policy; (2) personnel management policy; and social protection policy. Before entering this discussion of the three questions, though, it may be useful to step back to an even broader question of the meaning of the term, “corporate social responsibility” (CSR). The term, itself, carries an underlying assumption of the legitimacy of a particular economic system and its central actors; that is, corporations are central, legitimate, and functional actors in social relations within a capitalist economic structure. The concept of CSR does not question the existence of corporations and their role in maintaining a system of private ownership and control over capital. The fundamental goal of capitalism and corporations to maximize market control and profits remains intact. Policies favoring CSR, rather, seek to shape the conduct of corporations to increase socially responsible corporate practices, but do not challenge the legitimacy of corporate power. Such social responsibility may range from curbing human rights violations by corporations, such as violence against union organizers, to influencing corporations to provide decent wages to employees, to pressuring corporations to carry out business with out harming the environment. The recent attention to CSR may be understood as an expression of concern over the reduced effectiveness of individual nations to maintain the integrity of social welfare policy within current conditions of global power exercised by transnational corporations (TNC).

Details

Managerial Law, vol. 47 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 2004

Michiel Scheffer and Marieke Duineveld

This paper examines the impact of the increasing global competition on the Dutch apparel industry and the changes in the whole apparel supply chain. The restructuring of the Dutch…

1025

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the increasing global competition on the Dutch apparel industry and the changes in the whole apparel supply chain. The restructuring of the Dutch industry happened at a relatively early stage in Europe. Main trend was the delocalisation of production while the design and distribution function has survived. Specific attention is given to the statistical limitations to analyze the changes in the supply chain of the apparel sector. The liberalisation process seems to have little quantitative impact on levels of employment taken in consideration that the supply chain consists of a broad scale of companies from industry to design and retail. The Dutch apparel sector is not heading to a final demise so long as the sector utilize the specific domestic features and succeed in retaining the value adding activities. The Dutch case provides a more in‐depth analysis of the strategies taken by the industry that faces a growing global competition.

Details

Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, vol. 8 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1361-2026

Keywords

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