Essay on Labor Studies

Submitted By elazzell
Words: 1029
Pages: 5
Open Document
Labor Studies

1.) In the US the labor force is by no means equal and while there has been progress and labor laws have been put in place to protect workers rights I still would not qualify it as perfect. For this reason I find it difficult to determine exactly what constitutes as fair treatment but I do know what does not qualify and that is treating people in an unjust way, forcing them to do things you would never do and making someone feel like they are less than a person than you are. With the rise of globalization this has been an ongoing issue in foreign countries where migrant workers are being forced to work in conditions that are inhumane and break almost every labor law we have on a daily basis.

For years Apple has been criticized by multiple outside sources in regards to the unfair treatment of the workers in their foreign supply factories. Since then it seems Apple has done very little to actually fix the problem and has spent more time denying allegations and doing whatever it takes to cover it up. For that reason I believe that the Fair Labor Association is just Apple’s latest ploy to quite critics.

While I do think the F.L.A. is very credible I think that their system is somewhat flawed and works more in the favor of corporations instead of the actual workers. As many of the articles pointed out the F.L.A. does not constitute as an independent outside auditor due to fact of being paid by the corporations for the services they provide. I think by having Apple fund the F.L.A. it will allow Apple to have control over the types of audits being performed as well as the results of the audits. After reading the article “Early Praise in Inspection at Foxconn Brings Doubt” I felt it confirmed my belief of the inevitable bias of the F.L.A. In the article the F.L.A. claimed after completing inspection they found Foxconn “facilities are first-class” and “way above the average of the norm.” This came as a shock to me considering the 10 other articles I read had nothing but negative things to say about Foxconn including the Times labeling it the “Chinese Hell Factory.” If the largest and historically worst supplier can pass the F.L.A.’s inspection with flying colors then its obvious they aren’t really focused on finding solutions for the issue but are trying to keep the boss happy being a good glorified publicist.

As I stated earlier I do believe the F.L.A. is credible and I think if they approach this task in a different way they can be as effective as they have proven to be in the past. This new approach would require a genuine effort to find out exactly what’s happening in these factories and who is to blame for it. They could do this by performing surprise inspections without giving the factories advance notice so they don’t have time to prepare and hind everything. They could find ways to interview employee’s offsite so they aren’t terrified to tell the truth in front of their supervisor because they will be fired. I think the best approach is to send in an undercover worker for weeks at a time that can be treated equally with other workers. These simple changes would allow the F.L.A. to perform a real audit that I know they have the funds to support. When it comes to audits the hardest part is finding what you don’t know exist but when both parties know exactly what’s going on it should be more difficult to hide the truth than to discover it.

My other alternative would be selecting a different organization that people wouldn’t be skeptical about from the get-go. Such as, “SACOM who has been the most effective advocate for the rights of Chinese workers in the electronics industry, and its researcher’s have uncovered and publicized the most flagrant abuses at Apple supplier Foxconn’s sprawling factory complexes in China.” (Article -“The
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on Labor Studies

Labor study Essay

negotiation between representatives of a union and employers in respect of the terms and conditions of employment of employees such as wage, hours, conditions, rights, and responsibilities of the trade unions. Craft unionism refers to organizing a labor union in a manner that seeks to unify workers in a particular industry along the lines of the particular craft or trade that they work in by class or skill level. Deskilling low/unskilled worker -> reducing training/ turnover cost-> mass production/consumption…

Words 1024 - Pages 5

Introduction To Labor Relations And Why Study It?

PART I Labor Relations Overview Chapter 1 Introduction to Labor Relations Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 1-1 Chapter Outline • • • • • • Welcome! What is labor? Relations and why study it? Labor unions today: pros and cons Why join a union? Union membership Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 1-2 Chapter Outline • • • • • • Opportunities for growth Labor–management cooperation GM/NUMMI Types of unions Unions in professional…

Words 1162 - Pages 5

Fair Labor Act Case Study

selling, or working on goods that have been moved in or produced by any person is covered by the Federal Labor Standards Act. (US Department of Labor, 2008) When an employer does not adhere to the law there are penalties. Some penalties details violations that includes awards to the employer of up to two years of back pay for the affected current and former employees. (Cengage Learning) The Fair Labor Act sets a minimum age to be paid for kids at 16 years of age. Many employers require age certificates…

Words 324 - Pages 2

Foreign Labor In Japan Case Study

different from other developed capitalist countries is that it has a very low percentage of foreign labor. Batram (2000) describes this as a “negative case” of labor immigration. In other words, Japan’s case is a contrast to European countries where the import of immigrants was loosened for a large amount of labor to maintain the economic growth. To cope with the lack of labor, rather than import the labor from overseas, Japan had used other solutions. The first solution was outsourcing the production…

Words 899 - Pages 4

Labor Market Economics Study Notes Essay

Constant-cost IndustryAn industry in which the entry and exit of firms have no effect on the prices firms in the industry must pay for resources and thus no effect on production costs. Figure 11.3 The long-run supply curve Increasing Cost Industries­ Most industries are increasing­cost industries , in which firms' ATC curves shift upward as the industry expands and downward as the industry contracts. Productive Efficiencies­ The production of a good in the least costly…

Words 1619 - Pages 7

T-Mobile Policy That Violated Labor Law Case Study

T-Mobile Policy that Violated Labor Law The wireless network career company T-Mobile was slammed with a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday. This ruling comes after a series of complains which were presented to the court by the complainers. T-Mobile had violated the US labor act by its company documented policies. Some of the company policies did not allow workers to discuss and compare wages with their workmates. Some also forbid the workers from organizing unions that are…

Words 1343 - Pages 6

Essay on Labor Contractualization

Chapter 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND Introduction Contractualization has become the main form of labor in many Philippine businesses, a good reason why there are hardly any labor unions in the country or why most workers are not organized in the new millenium. Contractual workers cannot afford to join unions because they are at the mercy of their employers. Many laws protecting workers protect only regular employment (Herrera, 2006). On the local scene, the general public is sounding…

Words 3587 - Pages 15

Trade Unions Dbq

According to The Social Studies Help Center, “The roots of our country's trade unions extend deep into the early history of America. Several of the Pilgrims arriving at Plymouth Rock in 1620 were working craftsmen.” (“The Social Studies Help Center,” n.d.). With working craftsmen being so prevalent as early as the 1600’s, it was only a matter of time before workers strived for changes in the workplace that would require the organization of a labor union. Informal unions started to become present…

Words 1502 - Pages 7

Case Study Arizona Construction Labour

Arizona Construction Labor: A Case Study of Union Decline by Herbert R. Northup, is a case study about what happens when labor unions push the costs beyond what the Arizona construction market can tolerate. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, this construction industry became highly unionized because of a series of strikes for major wage and benefit increased, which lead the sectors to move to an industry of open-shop contractors. An open-shop contractor is a place of occupation where the workers…

Words 446 - Pages 2

Child Labor Essay

This is a review of research on child labor in Sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on child labor taking place in the household and controlled by relatives of the children since this is the most extensive form of child labor in African countries. It is also the form of child labor that is the most difficult one to appraise from a normative point of view. Subtle trade-offs between schooling, leisure and poverty across generations may be involved. Hence, the paper emphasises welfare economics…

Words 342 - Pages 2