presentation globalisation & health and safety

GLOBALISATION?BHOPAL

• The city attracted international attention after the Bhopal disaster, when a Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide manufacturing plant leaked a mixture of deadly gases including methyl isocyanate on the intervening night of 2 / 3 December 1984, leading to the worst industrial disaster in the city's history. Since then, Bhopal has been a centre of protests and campaigns which have been joined by people from across the globe.

A Bangladeshi garment worker was pulled out alive from the rubble . The death toll reportedly surpassed 1,000.Photograph by: A.M. Ahad, The Associated Press , Vancouver Sun

The moral impact of globalisation from an Environmental and HEALTH AND SAFETY Perspective

If it works for us

• many developing countries do not have robust Health and Safety but the developed countries have.

• We could save the World Economy Billions • Protect the Environment• Have the cheaper clothes and luxuries

• The April 24 collapse of Rana Plaza, where apparel was made for several Western retailers, has sparked an international outcry over substandard working conditions in Bangladesh, where workers have some of the lowest wages in the world and the garment industry is largely unregulated.

• On Wednesday, a European Union delegation was dispatched to the country to urge the government to "act immediately" to improve working conditions.

• WASTE OF TIME AND MONEYSLOWS DOWN PRODUCTIONJOBS WORTHSBORINGNOT INTERESTEDSOMEONE ELSE’S PROBLEM

• China is now the biggest shoe producing country in the world, producing over one-third of the world’s top brand-name sports shoes. In many ways it is an ideal setting for the sports shoe multinationals and their subcontractors. Massive unemployment, low wages, the lack of enforcement of labour laws and standards, repression of independent union organizing, and the role of the state-run All China Federation of Trade Unions in supporting management, are combined with local governments whose policies and interests lie in attracting foreign capital and ensuring the best conditions for the accumulation of profit

• BEIJING — A fire breaks out in a Chinese factory, and panicked workers discover one exit after another is locked. That describes not only the poultry plant fire that killed 119 people Monday, but a toy-factory blaze that left 87 workers dead 20 years earlier.

• The similarities between the two worst factory fires in China's history suggest that little has changed for industrial workers even as the country has transformed its economy.

Locked FIRE EXITS contributed to the huge DEATH TOLL

The bolted doors, clearly a violation of Chinese law, are emblematic of the often callous approach to worker safety in China that leads to frequent industrial disasters and an annual death toll in the tens of thousands.

• While the country's increasingly sophisticated economy has surged into second place globally behind the United States, industrial safety conditions often more closely resemble those in struggling impoverished nations such as Bangladesh, where more than 1,100 people died in an April garment factory collapse.

• "Throughout China's modern economic development, there has really been very little consideration for the rights and interests of the workers," said Li Qiang, executive director of New York-based China Labour Watch, which closely tracks working conditions in China.

• "First World" multinationals like Nike and Reebok benefit in every way because they do not have to deal directly with production: they can distance themselves from this "unseemly" process through subcontracting - and in doing so, benefit from low production costs without any direct lines of responsibility. Subcontracting also allows them to respond quickly to changing styles and fashions, while passing on all of the uncertainty and insecurity to their subcontractors and ultimately to the workers themselves. [Report from the International Federation of Labour]

Guess what this man makes for a living……

• The following is typical of conditions to be found in one of the better "Third World" factories which produces products for consumers in the "First World." The factory is Nority International Group Ltd. of China, a Reebok Subcontractor. It should be noted that most of these same conditions prevail for the other American multinationals like Nike, Liz Claiborne, etc. which have re-located operations out of the United States to sites in the so-called "Developing World." This is what "globalization" is all about!

• Nority Shoe Factory is located in Dongguan, Chang’an Province and employs 6,000-7,000 workers, most of whom are women. The factory is Taiwanese-owned and it is run like a prison labour camp. Workers are constantly yelled at by their superiors and are beaten by the security guards for leaving the factory without permission.

• The normal work week, not including overtime, is 12 hours a day, six days a week, or 72 hours a week. The work is divided into three shifts: 8am-11:30pm, 12:30pm-4:30am, and 5:30am-10pm. On top of this gruelling 12-hour schedule, workers are often forced to work an additional 2-5 hours of overtime. Refusal to work overtime could result in a fine of $7.23 to $21.67 (60 to 180Rmb), and a worker who refuses to work overtime three days in a row will be fired.

You might be wearing clothes from the factory Where this is an acceptable standard

• The work is very stressful. Workers are given a quota to fulfil. Most say they are unable to fulfil their quota during work hours, and therefore they have to stay behind and work without pay. Some workers said they only got one to three days off per month. The workers can be fired for refusing overtime and female workers can be fired for becoming pregnant. (Nority–like many other factories in the area which employ women workers–finds it easier to dismiss pregnant workers.)

Consumer argument

• We all want our products at the lowest price, but at what cost?

• The general principles are relevant to all organisations whatever their size. It makes sound business sense to have good health and safety practices.

Have we simply exported this problem?

• In the UK, 1995, an estimated average of 11 working days per sufferer were lost through musculoskeletal disorders affecting the back, caused by work. HSE estimated that such conditions cost employers up to £335 million (1995/96 prices).

Britain's appetite for fast fashion is pushing workers into starvation conditions

• “Third world factories – and their employees – are being overwhelmed by the demands of western fast fashion” The Guardian The Observer• What price are workers paying?• What price is the WORLD paying?

New modern factories with working practices straight from the dark ages……•Do we have a moral responsibility to

ensure that these products are being produced in a safe and healthy working environment?•Many Health and Safety experts have

told us that a safe working environment reduces costs

CHILD LABOUR

A clean health working environment, only in his dreams.

Long hours low pay and unhealthy working environments INCREASE COSTS……….

But not where life is cheap!

Pollution a thing of the past, wrong a thing of all our futures!

Cheap goods = filthy air.

We sell modern high tech equipment to these developing countries but seem to care little for environmental protection.

SENDING THE PROBLEMS ABROAD

WELL BEING AUDITS• Wellbeing Assessments• Studies have shown the value and need for wellbeing Audits,

using both qualitative and quantitative data have shown where there is positive wellbeing outcomes for the employees there are financial benefits for the employer. In particular two studies have looked at;

• 1. Impact of stress through the person/environment fit theory (French, Caplan & van Harrison 1982)

• 2. The quality of life and performance through behavioural, cognitive and health benefits of positive feelings and positive perceptions (Isen. 1987 & Warr. 1999)

WELL BEING?

•Do we in the West see well being of employees as an unacceptable cost?• The simple answer is no, we regard

the well being of employees as making economical sense.•A happy workforce is a more

productive workforce,

Cambodia

“Cambodia's big advantage is having its factories certified by an independent monitor with international credibility, the ILO. Established in 2001 following a trade deal with the U.S., the program sends monitors armed with a 500-item checklist on unannounced factory visits.

He would rather be at school.

CHILD LABOUR

Labour laws add costs but increase market share.

• The aim: to hold factories to Cambodian labour law, which stipulates a $45 monthly minimum wage and a six-day, 48-hour workweek with no more than two hours of daily overtime. The ILO reports give companies confidence that their brand names won't be tarnished if they buy here. As factory conditions improved, Cambodia's share of U.S. garment imports rose to 14% last year from 9% in 2002

• To persuade reluctant factory managers to pay, the ILO argues that better working conditions boost profits in the long run.

• Prodded by the monitors, Archid manager Huang reorganized production of the $45 million in garments he ships annually to U.S. customers. Chairs for workers who previously had been on their feet were among the improvements.

Combating corruption

• To reward Cambodia's efforts, Congress is considering legislation to eliminate the 15% to 25% tariffs on its exports to the USA.

• Lower tariffs would help. But for Cambodia to remain competitive, it must address problems outside its factories as well as inside.

• That means tackling widespread corruption. In this desperately poor country of 13.8 million, where civil servants average a $28 monthly pay check, companies must routinely bribe customs officials to get raw materials into and finished goods out of the country. Those payments add at least 6% to costs, a major hurdle in a fiercely competitive global market, Loo says.

"It's not a nice environment to be in," says Adrian Ross, general manager of U.K.-owned New Island.

• To cut chances for under-the-table payments, the government plans eventually to let garment makers get customs permits online.

• Such reforms won't be introduced overnight. But Cambodia has time to change. Many buyers aren't immediately shifting orders to China, fearing the U.S. will soon cap surging Chinese exports.

• Archid's orders are solid through June, and Huang and his counterparts at other large companies have expansion plans. But he is uncertain whether to build the new factory, which would add 400 jobs. The allure of China's low costs might swamp Cambodia's sweatshop-free sales pitch, he worries.

• If it does, the price will be paid by people such as Sophea Mang, 19, who dropped out of the 10th grade to take a job making clothes for Americans. Every month, she sends home half her $45 salary so her three sisters can stay in school.

Ever wondered where all the factory smoke went.

• Surrounded by colourful blouses, Mang recalls the impoverished village where her family ekes out a living raising livestock. If Archid's orders someday switch to China, she'll reluctantly return to the farm.

• "I like this life better," she says. "Both the farm and this are hard work, but this is a better life."

• The result: Productivity jumped 48%, and overtime fell by more than half. "Our factory became more efficient," Huang says.

• Still, good working conditions alone won't guarantee Cambodia long-term success. "A country would not be competitive if (working conditions) was the only thing they did well," says Gap's Henkle. "This is perhaps an advantage for them, but they can't rest on that."

Globalisation

Or crimes against humanity