Essay about Ethics and morales in the supploy chain

Ethics and Morales in the Supply Chain of Making a T-Shirt Jeremiah S. Bencker Abstract In This paper I will cover how ethics morals and laws impact the people in the supply chain of making clothing. I will cover how the introduction of labor unions has impacted the working conditions and the lives of the workers in the garment making industry. I will also go over what you as a consumer can do to ensure that the products you buy are not adding to the problem. Ethics and Morales in the Supply Chain of Making a T-Shirt The apparel industry has historically relied on a contracting system that has allowed brand-name companies to eschew legal liability for the working conditions of those who actually sew their garments. A race to the†¦show more content†¦Many of the individuals that take on that task have faced threats from the managers of the shops. In Human Rights Watch interviews conducted in Dhaka from October 2013 onwards, many of the interviewees described abusive practices. One female worker said that when the workers in her factory presented their union registration form to the company owner, he threw it in the dustbin – then threatened the workers, saying he would never allow the union to start. Workers complained that in one factory a supervisor said that any woman joining the union would be stripped of her clothes and thrown into the street. Elsewhere a manager said that a female union organizer was â€Å"polluting† his factory and should go and work in a brothel. A union organizer in a different factory said he received a phone call telling him not to come to work again and threatening to kill him if he did so. Others said that factory managers refused to meet them. Labor activists also complained that some of the unions in factories are not genuinely independent, but are so-called â€Å"yellow unions† that have been established by the factory owners themselves to control workers and prevent them from establishing or joining the union of their choice. (Human Rights Watch, 2014) The prevalence of substandard garment factories that lack basic protections for workers safety is not an issue isolated to the manufacturing industry in Bangladesh but it is particularly