Living Wage Calculator - Introduction to the Living Wage Calculator. Two aspects of women's workload in West Africa. THEME: Poor farm women not only work longer hours than men but often perform physically demanding work.
It is now commonly recognized that in poorer households, women farmers usually work longer and harder than men. A 1999 IFAD Assessment of Rural Poverty confirms this pattern in the West and Central African countries. In the first place, poorer rural women in West Africa usually work longer hours a day than males in similar circumstances. The Subhuman Conditions That Slaves And Child Laborers Face In India Are Worse Than You Imagined. During the largest firsthand investigation into slavery and child labor, a group of Harvard researchers documented more than 3,000 cases of forced labor in India’s handmade carpet sector.
And they say that figure is just "the tip of the iceberg. " Eight researchers from Harvard University’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights found that the practices of forced and child labor are thriving and many workers in the world’s largest exporter of handmade carpets are subjected to abhorrent conditions. Alarming figures The researchers documented 3,215 cases of forced labor under Indian law, 1,406 cases of child labor and 286 cases of human trafficking during the investigation. But they also noted that these figures are likely much higher. Subhuman conditions Workers were subjected to frequent beatings and abuse and were often assaulted with sharp tools or scissors. Many workers suffered from eye disease or loss of vision due to insufficient light. Gross underpayment U.S. involvement How to help. NYC Domino's Settles For $1.3 Million Over Unpaid Work. Twinkies Maker Hostess Going Out of Business, CEO Blames Union Strike.
Hostess, the makers of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, is going out of business after striking workers failed to heed a Thursday deadline to return to work, the company said.
“We deeply regret the necessity of today’s decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike,” Hostess CEO Gregory F. Rayburn said in announcing that the firm had filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to shutter its business. “Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders.”
Hostess Brands Inc. had earlier warned employees that it would file to unwind its business and sell off assets if plant operations didn't return to normal levels by 5 p.m. Hostess suspended bakery operations at all its factories and said its stores will remain open for several days to sell already-baked products. “It’s over,” he said. "The strike impacted us in terms of cash flow. The living conditions of garment workers in Cambodia. Sweatshops. Leslie T. Chang: The Voices of China's Workers. Is Bangladesh's new minimum wage enough? 15 November 2013 The minimum wage for garment workers in Bangladesh has been raised.
But will workers get the full benefit? Inflation has soared in Bangladesh since the minimum wage was last increased in 2010, and the amount was widely agreed to be inadequate. In the aftermath of Rana Plaza, the Government set up a tripartite wages board. Now it has recommended an increase of 77% in the minimum wages for the garment industry. With support from the ILO, the tripartite Wages Board has done a reasonable job, visiting two countries with large garment sectors to learn how they manage minimum wages: Cambodia and Vietnam (which has itself just moved from determining the minimum wage by government decree to a tripartite board).
The minimum wage (MW) in the Bangladesh garment industry is not a single figure, as in the UK, but stepped with a different minimum rate for different grades. Two questions remain: Is the new wage enough? Is it enough? Opinions on the minimum wage will be divided. Two Sisters, A Small Room And The World Behind A T-Shirt : Planet Money. Hide captionMinu (left) and her younger sister Shumi worked on the Planet Money men's T-shirt.
Kainaz Amaria/NPR Minu (left) and her younger sister Shumi worked on the Planet Money men's T-shirt. Part of the Planet Money T-shirt Project.