afternoon break. . .Our guides said that during the week each room would be filled to capacity. There was no air conditioning. Open windows allowed the stale air in the workrooms and narrow halls to circulate and even let in a fresh breeze every once in a while. . . None of the workers would speak unless spoken to. Punishments for speaking during working hours, one of our guides told us, could range from physical punishment to firing. . . we distributed leaflets about workers' rights on street corners all over the garment district, one worker refused to take a flyer, pointing out that his boss was watching from a few feet away. (2) Conditions such as these are terribly unfair. Not only is the worker forced to bear through hazardous conditions,such as the heat and the intimidation of losing their job, but when Given tried to hand out leaflets informing the workers of their rights, the fear of the boss made them wary. On top of all of that, the conditions they work in are so bad that they can be sometimes deadly. Perhaps the most well known case of sweat shop fatalities occurred on March 26, 1911 in New York. This is the infamous Triangle Fired. A fire was sparked in this building but conditions didn’t allow fire escapes so many workers, 141 to be exact, either burned or leaped to their death. If there had been proper fire escapes then many more could have survived. In addition, all the doors of the building opened only from the outside, that is, they opened inward. With these doors, no one was able to escape. This lapse in architectural judgement turned out to be a fatal one. Taking all these facts into account, raises one question: What is being done to help the workers? We as individuals can give a hand and put an end to current sweatshop working conditions. One of the most widespread actions being taken to protest sweatshops is a boycott. Many organizations such as NCL, Corporate Watch and The Bangor ...
