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From the Open-Publishing Calendar
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Indybay Feature

Charles Kernaghan on Sweatshops

Date:
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Time:
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Event Type:
Teach-In
Organizer/Author:
Kairos Theater Ensemble
Location Details:
Archaeological Research Facility
UC Berkeley
2251 College Ave., Berkeley, CA


Triangle returns: Young workers continue to die in locked sweatshops

Presentation by Charles Kernaghan, director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights

Like Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, workers in the developing world continue to die needlessly in sweatshops with locked exits. Just three months shy of the 100th anniversary of the Triangle fire, on Dec. 14, 2010, a fire broke out at the Hameem factory in Bangladesh, which was sewing garments for Gap. The emergency exits were locked on the 9th floor, killing 29 workers – many of whom jumped to their deaths – and injuring over 100. At Hameem, the workers toil 12 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, with just a single day off a month. The highest wage at Hameem is 28 cents an hour.

“We can stand back and allow corporations to drive this Race to the Bottom, exploiting sweatshop workers across the developing world, as wages and benefits are also cut for working Americans. Or, we can fight back, and hold corporations accountable to respect local labor and minimum wage laws and the core internationally recognized worker rights standards-no child labor, no forced labor, freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain collectively. The choice is ours.”
Added to the calendar on Wed, May 4, 2011 8:39PM
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