factory workers

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Factory With 'Heartbreaking' Virus Count Is Shut Down

Los Angeles Apparel is closed until it complies with public health mandates

(Newser) - A Los Angeles clothing factory with four coronavirus deaths and 300 confirmed cases has been shut down, CNN reports. County health officials said Friday the Los Angeles Apparel facility had violated mandatory health orders and refused to let health inspectors inside. "The death of four dedicated garment workers is...

43 Die in New Delhi Factory Fire
India Factory Fire Kills Dozens

India Factory Fire Kills Dozens

Workers were sleeping where they make purses for $2 a day

(Newser) - A fire believed to be caused by an electrical short circuit engulfed a building in New Delhi on Sunday where handbags and other items were made by workers earning as little as $2 per day. At least 43 people were killed, the AP reports. The blaze in the capital's...

Obamas' First Film for Netflix Seen as 'Anti-Trump'

An Oscar-nominated duo from Ohio directed Sundance winner 'American Factory'

(Newser) - The first project from Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground Productions arrived on Netflix on Wednesday. American Factory , a documentary showcasing tensions between Chinese and American attitudes at an auto glass-manufacturing operation at a former General Motors plant in Ohio, comes from Dayton directors Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar,...

H&M: We'll Pay Living Wage to Bangladesh Workers

Clothing company announces new plan

(Newser) - H&M is doing something to combat the terrible conditions that so many garment workers in Bangladesh and Cambodia endure: The cheap clothing giant will make sure the workers making its products in those countries receive a living wage, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Swedish company (fun fact: Its...

Pope: Doomed Bangladesh Workers Were 'Slave Labor'

As thousands participate in May Day protests in Dhaka

(Newser) - Pope Francis has strong words on the Bangladesh factory collapse that killed at least 402 people: Workers in the doomed factory were living on just $50 a month, which he condemned as "slave labor" at a private mass this morning, the AP reports. The Telegraph has his full quote:...

Another Garment Factory Fire Kills 7 in Bangladesh

5 injured in latest blaze

(Newser) - A fire swept through a two-story garment factory in Bangladesh's capital today, killing at least seven female workers and injuring another five, police and fire officials said. The fire at the Smart factory occurred just two months after a blaze killed 112 workers in another factory near the capital...

Murder Charges Filed in Deadly Pakistan Fires

Pakistani government officials have also been charged

(Newser) - The Pakistani government has filed murder charges in the wake of yesterday's devastating factory fires in two separate cities. Government officials and the factory owners are the targets of the charges, which claim that "utter negligence to provide adequate security to the factory workers" was to blame for...

This American Life Retracts Foxconn Story

Says piece on Apple's China factories had 'significant fabrications'

(Newser) - A compelling account of the abuses at Apple's China factories became This American Life's most popular podcast ever, with 888,000 downloads, but now the radio show is retracting the story due to "significant fabrications." The 39-minute piece by monologuist Mike Daisey was excerpted from Daisey'...

Apple Proves It: Jobs 'Aren't Coming Back' to America

Asia provides workers, flexibility that US can't match

(Newser) - Last year, President Obama asked Steve Jobs whether iPhones could be made in the US instead of Asia. Jobs was blunt: “Those jobs aren’t coming back." The New York Times takes a long look at why. In short, Asia has a surplus of engineers and factory workers...

Report Blasts Safety at Apple's China Factories

Company ranks dead last, say Chinese environmental groups

(Newser) - Chinese environmental groups say Apple hasn’t responded to health and pollution concerns at supplier factories. A report ranks 29 multinational tech companies on their responsiveness to inquiries about conditions at supplier factories; Apple comes in last, the Financial Times reports. The report cites Apple’s failure to respond to...

Battered MAC Cancels Tasteless Juarez Line

Entire Rodarte collection is off after controversy

(Newser) - First it apologized. Then it said it wouldn't sell its "Juarez" line in Mexico. Now, more than a month after MAC created quite a stir by partnering with Rodarte on products with names like "Factory" and "Ghost Town," some of which basically looked like blood , it's...

9th Apple Plant Worker Commits Suicide

China suicide cluster baffles manufacturer

(Newser) - A 21-year-old man who jumped out a window to his death Saturday marks the ninth suicide of a worker at Foxconn, the Taiwanese-owned manufacturer of iPhones and iPods. The deaths of young employees—combined with the fact that the company says it has prevented some 30 suicides in the past...

Plastics Chemical Linked to Male Sex Problems

Widely used BPA comes under more fire

(Newser) - A study of workers exposed to high levels of bisphenol A—a chemical widely used in plastic bottles and packaging—have a much higher incidence of sexual dysfunction than their counterparts. The study of Chinese workers found those exposed to BPA were 4 times more likely to report erectile dysfunction...

13 Stories