This review of a report by the International Labor Rights Forum was published on the American Prospect website on January 8, 2016: http://prospect.org/article/inside-bangladeshi-factories-real-story
Bringing Labor Rights Back to Bangladesh
This longer article was published in American Prospect on July 12, 2015 and is available at: http://prospect.org/article/bringing-labor-rights-back-bangladesh After a horrific factory collapse in 2013, pressure from global unions, human rights groups, and reputational damage to big fashion brands led to…
Why Voluntary Standards Won’t Make the Global Garment Industry Safer
Robert J. S. Ross June 8, 2015 American Prospect After voluntary codes of conduct failed to prevent the Rana Plaza disaster, garment companies pass the blame. AP Photo/A.M. Ahad In this Monday, April 20, 2015 photo, Mahamudul Hasan Ridoy, 27,…
Two Years After the Rana Plaza Disaster, Are Reforms Real
Two Years After the Rana Plaza Disaster, Are Reforms Real? Robert J. S. Ross April 23, 2015 American Prospect A series of garment factory fires in Bangladesh spurred reforms in the industry. But will they bring meaningful change? Rijans007/Flickr Two…
Inequality and the Global Race to the Bottom
The chase after ever cheaper sites for manufacturing is causing rising inequality, low-wage misery, and unsafe workplaces in many parts of the world, the United States included. The Rana Plaza, an eight-story commercial building in Bangladesh, collapsed a year ago…
Ralph Lauren and the Olympic Uniforms (from the LA Times)
Op-Ed Hey, Ralph Lauren, sweatshops aren’t chic Olympic gear shouldn’t come from such factories — ours or theirs. By Robert J.S. Ross July 19, 2012 Ralph Lauren, the crown prince of preppy, received more than $30 million in compensation in…
Bread and Roses: Dignity and Respect in Working Class Struggles
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 From This week in Sociology Bread and Roses: Dignity and Respect in Working Class Struggles by Robert J. S. Ross, Clark University, Professor of Sociology On January 11, 1912 a group of Polish women textile workers…
Workers’ Wages in China and Bangladesh
Author’s note: this letter made the NYT website, but not the grown-up newspaper. link » July 23, 2010 Workers’ Wages in China and Bangladesh To the Editor: Re “As Labor Costs Rise in China, Textile Jobs Shift Elsewhere” (front page,…
In Chains at the Bottom of the Pyramid : Gender and Sweated Labor in Global Apparel Production
Published on the blog site This week in Sociology OCTOBER 25, 2011 Robert J.S. Ross – Clark University Sweatshop conditions refer to long hours, low wages and oppressive conditions – dangerous unhealthy, psychologically abusive or squalid. In the global assembly…