Ethics of the Textile Industry
The textile industry faces many ethical issues; unfortunately the outworking industry is a growing problem in the fashion world which often goes unheard of. While outworkers are facing poverty, Australian teenage fashion consumers are oblivious to this extreme ethical issue. Young people should be addressing the outworking industry in Australia in an attempt to improve the current and future economical and ethical situations. This essay will investigate the working conditions of outworkers, the amount of knowledge young Australians have about outworkers, the effect of the outworking industry on the wider community and will provide recommendations on how young Australian consumers can improve the situation in the outworking industry.
Outworkers live in disgusting, unhygienic living conditions because of their incredibly low income, while Australian teenagers are oblivious to this and the story of the person behind the machine who has made their clothing. A sweatshop is a manufacturing facility where workers endure poor working conditions, long hours, low wages and other violations of labor rights (Oxfam, 2012). Sportswear brand Nike illegally forced people in Vietnam to work 65 hours per week, for 15cents per hour, Nike publicly denies violating the legal minimum wage of $45 per month, but their own secret studies prove otherwise, as do pay stubs. Nike’s Dartmouth study naively trusts factory managers instead of examining pay stubs (Lormand, E, 2012). A survey conducted at Carmel College Thornlands revealed that students were shocked about the low wage of outworkers; while 2 out of 3 teenagers were concerned about outworkers (Refer to Appendix A) 3 out of 3 teenagers would still buy products from Nike knowing the poor income outworkers receive. It is possible that Australian teenagers do not realized how lucky they are, immigrants Katheran and Tina Tran have been outworkers since they were ten, at the moment they go to school during the day and spend all night
Outworkers live in disgusting, unhygienic living conditions because of their incredibly low income, while Australian teenagers are oblivious to this and the story of the person behind the machine who has made their clothing. A sweatshop is a manufacturing facility where workers endure poor working conditions, long hours, low wages and other violations of labor rights (Oxfam, 2012). Sportswear brand Nike illegally forced people in Vietnam to work 65 hours per week, for 15cents per hour, Nike publicly denies violating the legal minimum wage of $45 per month, but their own secret studies prove otherwise, as do pay stubs. Nike’s Dartmouth study naively trusts factory managers instead of examining pay stubs (Lormand, E, 2012). A survey conducted at Carmel College Thornlands revealed that students were shocked about the low wage of outworkers; while 2 out of 3 teenagers were concerned about outworkers (Refer to Appendix A) 3 out of 3 teenagers would still buy products from Nike knowing the poor income outworkers receive. It is possible that Australian teenagers do not realized how lucky they are, immigrants Katheran and Tina Tran have been outworkers since they were ten, at the moment they go to school during the day and spend all night
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