Sweatshops, Women, and The Solidarity Center

Class post. Enjoy!

Good afternoon M:

Thank you for your post. I think you hit the nail on the head when you referred to the Weidenbaum (2004) text regarding the rising of consciousness on the part of workers and of the general population in those countries, and the passage and enforcement of appropriate legislation. The Solidarity Center (2013) speaks to your notion of shifting the consciousness of sweatshop workers who are, by the way, mostly women. In addition to suffering in sweatshops, according to the Talking Union: A project of the DSA Labor network (2013),

Women also suffer disproportionately from other negative global trends: human trafficking and its resulting forced labor and debt bondage; contract labor, which undermines women’s long-term job prospects, income stability and benefits; and the wholesale slashing of public-sector jobs, a career avenue that traditionally has provided women a way into the middle class (para. 5).

The Solidarity Center’s (2013) mission is to highlight the advantage of unions that are helping women transform their consciousness and fight for the rights of women. For example, the Tunisian women participated in the uprising known as the Arab Spring. They continue to fight for the rights of women in their nation’s ongoing political upheaval. The Solidarity Center (2013) points to the Honduran maquila workers and banana packers (mostly women) who are self-organizing for a greater voice in the workplace.Finally, in South Africa, women are shifting their consciousness in traditionally male-led unions while creating models that can be replicated around the world ("Solidarity Center: Promoting Worker Rights Worldwide", 2013).

Labor historian Dorothy Sue Cobble, wrote a report for the Solidarity Center called, Gender Equality and Labour Movements: Toward a Global Perspective. She called attention to the fact that since the 1970s, unions have become a primary global vehicle for advancing gender equality. Women are shifting their consciousness, as you have suggested, making their voices heard. Thank you for your post.

References

Cobble, D. S. (2012). Gender Equality and Labor Movements: Toward a global

            perspective. Retrieved from

            https://www.google.com/webhp?source=search_app#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_rn=5&

            gs_ri=psyab&tok=d_9WVZp3mTks07LgmlzKNg&cp=65&gs_id=7&xhr=t&q=Gender+

            Equality+and+Labour+Movements%3A+Toward+a+Global+Perspective&es_nrs=true&

            pf=p&output=search&sclient=psyab&oq=Gender+Equality+and+Labour+Movements:+

            Toward+a+Global+Perspective&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm

Solidarity Center: Promoting worker rights worldwide. (2013). Retrieved from

            http://www.solidaritycenter.org/

Talking Union: A project of the DSA Labor Network. (2013). Working women empowered:

            Building strength through unions. Retrieved from

            http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/working-women-empowered-building-

            strength-through-unions/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Weidenbaum, M. (2004). Business and government in the global marketplace (7th ed.). Upper

            Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.