the clothes on your back

Several months ago, The Toronto Star published  a series of articles and videos on the global supply-production-consumption chain of clothing, The Clothes on Your Back. The series examines such interrelated topics as slave labor in Uzbekistan cotton fields, clothing production in Asian sweatshops--particularly involving child labor, and the current retail boom in Canada.

Plant Money makes a T-shirt

Consider the global supply and production chain involved in making a simple clothing article, such as a T-shirt. NPR's Plant Money recently did, and from it created this enlightening rich-media series. Each of the five parts (cotton, machines, people, boxes, you) is comprised of a short overview video, followed by images, text, graphics, and links to additional resources, deconstructing the process. The series was initially funded as a Kickstarter project, in which the intent was to finance the manufacture of 2,000 shirts; 25,000 were ultimately made. Note: the deadline for ordering a project T-shirt is December 31, 2013. (YouTube playlist available at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2Zod7Sd3rQ&list=PLp-wXwmbv3z8aAJrhyttiqPMiKy0WVJym).

PhDs as indentured servants

Source: Online-PhD-Programs.org

PhDs in many fields face significant obstacles to gainful employment in academia. This information graphic defines the problematic nature and scope of the current exploitation of adjunct professors.

ex-GM workers on hunger strike in Colombia

See this video and others about the strike against GM at Real News.com

"right-to-work" in Michigan?

 

In a surprise move yesterday, the Republican-majority state legislature signed bills to make Michigan the nation's 24th "right-to-work" state. Michigan has long been seen as a strong union state, and the bill, if passed, would make union membership no longer a condition for employment at a unionized workplace. In effect, non-union workers would receive the benefits conferred by a union without paying union dues. While backers of the bill claim that their action is not anti-labor (see Fox News interview with Governor Rick Snyder), protestors and Democratic legislators who walked out of the session at the state capitol obviously disagree (see above video and CNN story).

Happy Labor Day!

Today's Labor Day edition of The Washington Post includes a brief animated video depicting the status of labor relative to the pro-deregulation position that is being articulated by Romney-Ryan. In your opinion, does this cartoon provide further support for claims by conservative critics, as suggested in this video, that mainstream media evinces a decided "liberal bias"? 

May Day

May 1 is commonly celebrated as a workers' day around the world. In many nations, in fact, it is an official holiday. Compare the findings in this video with the common disregard given workers in our society (see a video interview on the origins of May Day with historian, David Green).