BUSI 343: Sweatshops: Comparing Past and Present Labor Conditions

This discussion board post for BUSI 343, Employee and Labor Relations, addresses the ongoing issue of sweatshops. The assignment begins with a comparison of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and modern sweatshops, examining working conditions, wages, and justifications used by owning organizations. It highlights the continuing existence of poor labor conditions in various locations, including Amazon warehouses and garment factories in developing countries like Bangladesh, referencing specific incidents and statistics to illustrate the problem. The post also touches upon the ethical responsibilities of governments and the need for strict industrial practices. The assignment adheres to the professor's specific instructions, including a 300-word count, a Scripture reference, two scholarly sources, and a reference from the electronic textbook, all in APA format. The analysis underscores the importance of minimum wage laws and humane working conditions to combat the exploitation of workers.

Running head: BUSI 343 EMPLOYEE AND LABOR RELATIONS
BUSI 343 Employee and Labor Relations
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1BUSI 343 EMPLOYEE AND LABOR RELATIONS
The Unforgivable Fire at Triangle Factory: Was the Lesson Learnt?
The fire that broke out in New York’s Triangle Waist Company in 1911 continues to
serve as a harrowing testimony to the inhuman conditions that poor and struggling industrial
workers had to thrive in ("Cornell University - ILR School - The Triangle Factory Fire",
2019). What is all the more worrisome and shameful is that the situation is not much better
even a century post the ghastly lesson.
The workers in the warehouse of Amazon’s shipping and packing services in
Breinigsville, Pennsylvania are subjected to scathing heat. Employees regularly face
blackouts in the face of convection-oven like surroundings that render working conditions
inhuman and suffocating. In addition, the workers claim to be treated like dirt by the
management. Amazon, despite being fully aware of the blistering temperatures, chose to
install ambulances outside over improving work conditions (Richards, 2015).
The situation in developing countries is even more devastating. Incidents of workers
being killed by operational mishaps, especially in clothing factories, are glaringly large. In
2012, 112 workers lost their lives to a fire breakout in an apparel factory in Dhaka,
Bangladesh when managers chose to overlook fire alarms (Bajaj, 2012). In 2013, Rana Plaza
in Bangladesh’s Savar collapsed, killing as many as 1135 people. It resulted from the
building owners’ ignorance towards structural deficiencies (Reinecke & Donaghey, 2015).
Modern sweatshops continue to impose less than humane conditions on their workers.
The case of Bangladesh provides a painful insight to the same. The wage rate provided by
Triangle Factory in 1911, was 14 cents an hour. 4,500 clothing factories in Bangladesh
employing above 4 million people continued to grant a wage of 28 cents per hour in 2014,
which, adjusted for cost of living and inflation, is equivalent to one-tenth the amount that
garment factory workers earned a century ago (Taplin, 2014). Even in developed countries,

2BUSI 343 EMPLOYEE AND LABOR RELATIONS
inhuman work conditions in factories justified only with a drive for profits earned with
minimum costs continue to make situations unsustainable.
The governments of countries should make the functioning of sweatshops adhere to
strict ethical standards of industrial practice (Budd, 2009). Minimum wage laws should be
enforced and human conditions of work should be given utmost priority.

3BUSI 343 EMPLOYEE AND LABOR RELATIONS
References
Bajaj, V. (2012). Fatal fire in Bangladesh highlights the dangers facing garment
workers. New York Times, 25, 5.
Budd, J.W. (2009). Labor Relations: Striking a Balance. McGraw-Hill Publishing.
Cornell University - ILR School - The Triangle Factory Fire. (2019). Retrieved from
http://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/story/introduction.html
M. Taplin, I. (2014). Who is to blame? A re-examination of fast fashion after the 2013
factory disaster in Bangladesh. Critical perspectives on international
business, 10(1/2), 72-83.
Reinecke, J., & Donaghey, J. (2015). 12. The ‘Accord for Fire and Building Safety in
Bangladesh’in response to the Rana Plaza disaster. Global governance of labour
rights: Assessing the effectiveness of transnational public and private policy
initiatives, 257.
Richards, S. (2015). Screening for Integrity: What's Missing from Integrity Staffing
Solutions, Inc. v. Busk. ABAJ Lab. & Emp. L., 31, 553.