Rana Disaster Bangladesh
The Rana Plaza building's collapse killed over 1,100 people three years ago. (Biraj, 2016).
Sweatshop Worker
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Aulakh, R. (2013, October 13). Undercover sweatshop worker. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2456412/My-life-sweatshop-worker-Undercover-reporter-tells-crushing-work-terrible-pay-girl-boss-aged-just-NINE.html
My life as a sweatshop worker: Undercover reporter tells of crushing hours and terrible pay in Bangladeshi clothes factory where she worked for girl boss aged just NINE. -
Oxfam. (2016). Are your clothes made in sweatshops? Retrieved from https://www.oxfam.org.au/what-we-do/ethical-trading-and-business/workers-rights-2/are-your-clothes-made-in-sweatshops/
If you’re wearing anything from Nike, adidas, Puma, Fila or even some of our well-loved Australian brands like Bonds or Just Jeans, then it’s highly likely your clothes were made in places that most people would describe as sweatshops. -
ABC News. (2016, April24). Rana Plaza collapse: Bangladeshi workers demand justice on factory disaster anniversary. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-24/bangladesh-workers-demand-justice-on-disaster-anniversary/7354188
Thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers have demanded justice on the anniversary of one of the world's worst industrial disasters — the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory complex that claimed over 1,100 lives.
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Embar, W. (2015). Sweatshops and Child Labor. Retrieved fromhttp://www.veganpeace.com/sweatshops/sweatshops_and_child_labor.htm
There is no single definition of what a sweatshop is. The US Department of Labor defines a sweatshop as a factory that violates two or more labor laws, such as those pertaining to wages and benefits, child labor or working hours.
The Voices of China's Workers
Chang, L. (2012). The voices of China's workers [Video File]. TEDGlobal
"In the ongoing debate about globalization, what's been missing is the voices of workers -- the millions of people who migrate to factories in China and other emerging countries to make goods sold all over the world. Reporter Leslie T. Chang sought out women who work in one of China's booming megacities, and tells their stories." (Chang, 2012)
Ethical Businesses
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Ethical.org.au. (2017). Shop ethical. Retrieved from http://www.ethical.org.au/3.4.2/
The Ethical Consumer Group is a community based, not-for-profit organisation and network, set up to help facilitate more sustainable purchasing practices for the everyday consumer. We are based in Australia.
Our goal is to educate and empower people to make shopping choices that better reflect their values and to use their consumer power to create a better world. -
FairPhone. (2017). FairPhone our goals. Retrieved from https://www.fairphone.com/en/our-goals/
FairPhone have created the world’s first ethical, modular smartphone. You shouldn’t have to choose between a great phone and a fair supply chain.
Farmer
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Retrieved from https://mcdonalds.com.au/about-maccas/our-supply-chain/supply-partners
Macca’s success relies on the “three legged stool” of the McDonald’s System – suppliers, franchisees and company employees – working effectively together to supply safe, quality food to the restaurants while also delivering value to our customers. This website provides a list of their Australian suppliers.
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Ingham's Group. (2017, May 15). Ingham's plan for growth in WA. Retrieved from http://inghams.com.au/inghams-plans-for-growth-in-wa/
Ingham's Group Limited, Australia’s leading poultry producer, announced today that as part of its national network plan it is expanding its Western Australian operations generating an estimated 400 additional permanent jobs in the local economy.
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McCain Foods. (2017). McCains from humble beginnings. Retrieved from http://mccainfoodservice.com.au/about/our-history/
Today, McCain Foods Limited operates across six continents with 45 sites, working with 3,200 farmers and use over 6.5 million tonnes of potatoes every year.
McCain Foods (Aust) Pty Ltd and McCain Foods (NZ) Limited are both wholly owned subsidiaries of McCain Foods Limited in Canada and are part of the global McCain group of companies.
China Blue
Peled, M. (2011, October). China Blue [Television Broadcast]. Australia: SBS2
This is a portrait of the daily lives of the anonymous young workers who make our clothes in China and illuminates the economic pressures applied by Western companies and their human consequences.
Introduction
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Levin Institute. (2017). Globalisation and human rights. Retrieved from http://www.globalization101.org/category/issues-in-depth/human-rights/
The era of globalization is also the era of the individual. Revolutionary innovations in technology and telecommunications have empowered the individual, for better or worse, to exercise a previously unthinkable degree of self-expression. The same age that has seen the advent of the threat of global terror networks is also the one that has given birth to YouTube.
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International Trade Union Confederation. (2016, January 18). New ITUC report exposes hidden workforce of 116 million in global supply chains of fifty companies. Retrieved from http://www.ituc-csi.org/new-ituc-report-exposes-hidden?lang=en
The global supply chains of 50 companies employ only six per cent of people in a direct employment relationship, yet rely on a hidden workforce of 94 per cent according to new research from the International Trade Union Confederation.
CEO
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Four Corners. (2017. November 7). Paradise Papers: The surprising journey your money takes after buying a pair of Nikes. Retrieved from http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-07/paradise-papers-the-journey-your-money-takes-after-buying-nike/9075626
Extensive efforts by Nike to shift profits from high-tax countries to no-tax countries and minimise its tax bill internationally have been exposed.
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Adshead, G. (2017, May 6). Rinehart bid to lift China cattle trade. The West Australian.
Billionaire Gina Rinehart has made and audacious bid to double the number of live cattle exported from Australia to China each year.
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Neales, S. (2017 May 15). Forrest’s major beef with Rinehart’s massive cattle export plans. Retrieved from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/forrests-major-beef-with-rineharts-massive-cattle-export-plans/news-story/66f74adcf8f8b66d1922b6a
Australian iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest has slammed the bold plan of fellow mining magnate and Kidman cattle queen Gina Rinehart to export 800,000 live cattle a year from Australia’s north to China for slaughter.
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Campbell, M. (2017). Apple CEO Tim Cook says globalization is 'great for the world' in China speech. Retrieved from http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/03/18/apple-ceo-tim-cook-says-globalization-is-great-for-the-world-in-china-speech
Apple CEO Tim Cook offered remarks on globalization, cybersecurity, encryption, international relations and more during a rare public appearance in China, part of the executive's attempts to woo Chinese consumers.
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Buttonwood. (2014, December 3). No value. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2014/12/investing-ceo-pay-and-economy
The cult of shareholder value has delivered a lower return for investors, lower business investment but much higher chief executive pay. This trend, which has spilled out to the rest of the developed world, is leading to the growing anger of voters and the resistance to globalisation which may eventually cause even more damage to business and investors.
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PWC. (2017). Making globalisation work for all. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/ceo-agenda/ceosurvey/2017/gx/globalisation.html
For the past two decades, CEOs have been largely positive about the impact of globalisation on their businesses and markets. But, by 2007, they were beginning to express reservations about the short-term effects on society. CEOs are still ambivalent today.
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Knight, P. (2017). Shoe Dog. UK:Simon & Schuster
Phil Knight's memoir of his journey as Nike CEO includes the dealing with controversy surrounding sweatshops including what Nike have done in response to the damaging media they received.
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BusinessHumanRights.org. (2017). Nike. Retrieved from https://business-humanrights.org/en/nike-0?issues[]=11257
Does your company have a publicly available commitment to respect human rights?
Yes, NIKE is a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact. The first two principles are related to human rights. Principle 1 states, “Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights” and Principle 2 states, “make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.”
Behind the Swoosh
Keady, J. (2011, July 28). Nike Sweatshops:Behind the swoosh. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5uYCWVfuPQ
Nike Sweatshops: Behind the Swoosh is the ultimate video for exploring the sweatshop issue. Using Nike as a case study, the film documents first hand the widespread and oppressive and exploitative labor practices in the developing world.
Activist
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Whittaker, J. (2011. October 19). Behind the swoosh: one man’s investigation. Retrieved from http://fairfieldmirror.com/news/behind-the-swoosh-one-man%E2%80%99s-investigation/
Keady spent eight weeks living with Nike factory workers on the wage that the workers are paid – $1.25 a day — and documented their stories of forced overtime, sexual harassment, and physical violence.
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Greenpeace. (2017). What we do. Retrieved from http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/en/what-we-do/
Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation that uses non-violent direct action to expose global environmental problems and to force solutions which are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace's goal is to ensure the ability of the earth to nurture life in all its diversity.
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Skoglun, A, & Bohm, S. (2015). Why some companies are becoming environmental activists. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/why-some-companies-are-becoming-environmental-activists-42510
Clothing brand Patagonia gives 1% of its sales “to support environmental organisations around the world”. Carpet-maker Interface takes an “aggressive approach” to reach its goal to source 100% of its “energy needs from renewable sources by 2020”. Nudie Jeans meanwhile, repairs, reuses and recycles its denim products, as well as using organic cotton to produce them in the first place. So, what’s going on? After decades of activists campaigning against companies’ poor environmental records, are companies suddenly becoming environmental activists themselves?
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Antiglobalization. (2017). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://school.eb.com.au.db.plcscotch.wa.edu.au/levels/high/article/antiglobalization/600846
Antiglobalization, social movement that emerged at the turn of the 21st century against neoliberal globalization, a model of globalization based on the promotion of unfettered markets and free trade. -
Cultural globalization. (2017). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://school.eb.com.au.db.plcscotch.wa.edu.au/levels/high/article/cultural-globalization/344667#225007.toc
Anti-globalism organizers are found throughout the world, not least in many management organizations. They are often among the world’s most creative and sophisticated users of Internet technology. This is doubly ironic, because even as NGOs contest the effects of globalization, they exhibit many of the characteristics of a global, transnational subculture; the Internet, moreover, is one of the principal tools that makes globalization feasible and organized protests against it possible. For example, Greenpeace, an environmentalist NGO, has orchestrated worldwide protests against genetically modified (GM) foods.
Environmentalist
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Levin Institute. (2017). Globalisation and the environment. Retrieved from http://www.globalization101.org/category/issues-in-depth/environment/
Questions explored one this site include: Should environmental protection stop economic development, especially when the world economy is still recovering from the recession?
• How does new technology influence the environmental movement at large?
• Faced with a mobilized generation, will politicians be more willing to listen to their concerns on the environment?
• How will new concerns about limited space and increasing urbanization influence environmental policies? -
Garnaut, R. (2014, August 14). China’s energy transition: effects on global climate and sustainable development. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/chinas-energy-transition-effects-on-global-climate-and-sustainable-development-30883
China took the world by surprise with its sustained, rapid, coal-intensive growth of the early twenty first century. It contributed a majority of the growth in global coal use and greenhouse gas emissions from 2000 to 2011. This caused considerable pessimism about humanity’s capacity to hold human-induced increases in temperature within reasonable limits, and introduced new tension into international discussions of climate change mitigation. These developments in China pushed global emissions above the highest of the many scenarios for the future that had been developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
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Stratfor Worldview. (2017, March 17). Red China goes green.Retrieved from https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/red-china-goes-green
China, like these countries before it, is now moving toward an economic model based on high-end manufacturing and internal consumption, having spent the past 30 years building its economy on low-end manufacturing and exports. As it does, it is beginning to take stock of the widespread damage that decades of industrialization have wrought on its environment.