The Horror of Bangladesh Factory Collapse Reveals Impotence of CSR Compliance Inspections

International Labor Organizing

New Orleans   The death count has now passed 340 workers in the horrific collapse of the 8-story garment factory in Bangladesh.  Buried as well in the latest story in the Times is the understated indictment of another hollow and ineffective outside inspection of these garment plants as part of corporate social responsibility monitoring agreements that …

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Worker Poverty in Sweat Shopping

Ideas and Issues Labor Organizing

New Orleans               An article by Ken Silverstein in Harper’s Magazine in the January 2010 issue labeled a “letter from Cambodia” and entitled “Shopping for Sweat:  The Human Cost of a Two-Dollar T-shirt” caught by eye immediately because of the controversy around Jeff Ballinger’s critique on the infinitesimally small progress that workers have made after years …

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