This week I watch two videos and in the two videos, I saw the comparison of labor rights, the equal rights amendment, and suffrage. Suffrage is when women were fighting for the right to vote in the United States. Labor rights are what I saw a lot of in these two videos labor right is for employees to have a proper and safe workplace which the employer has to provide. The equal rights amendment is the legal right for Americans regardless of their sex. These rights are all related because going out and casting your votes makes a difference on which law/rights are passed. For example, if you wanted to make a difference in labor rights you will have to vote in order to see that difference. Labor rights are also a gender justice issue because within labor right you are also fighting for gender equality. As labor rights are put in place, they work in conjunction with gender equality because the rights are put in place to make sure everyone is treated equally. It helps everyone regardless of their gender expression thrive within the workforce. These historical issues act in today’s society because they have led the way for workers to be treated fairly and equally no matter what gender ethnicity you are you are. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire changed the condition in factories in the United States for the better because protesters, protected for a proper and safe workplace, but it also change for the worse as companies went overseas to produce their products while paying those workers lower wages and provided unsafe conditions in their workplace, for example, the fire in Bangladesh it was very similar to the fire in New York City both places paid low wage and had unsafe conditions and also doors have locked the employers to ensure that none of their products were stolen in the results of doors being locked people jumped out of the window so that families can have a proper memorial service for them when their bodies were recovered. In my opinion, these employers in both Bangladesh and the United States have no regard for human life or human rights. I say this because how could you know there’s a fire and just lock the door because the employers did not want the employees to steal products. As they worried more about material things than human life.
3 thoughts on “Nia Brown DISCUSSION 8”
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Hi Nia!
Great post, I did want to note that the employer’s neglect was not intentional even though it was extremely harmful to the workers. They didn’t lock the doors on purpose once the fire started, the exits were already locked which further proves how they did not care about the safety and wellbeing of their employees. Had they trusted that nobody would steal, the doors would be unlocked and would not have been a problem furthering the chaos of the fire.
Hello Nia,
During both historical events what stood out to me aside from them both being exactly similar, was that those incidents could have been prevented from the start. Management ended up locking those doors simply because they feared that the employees would steal materials/products. Yet at the same time, if it wasn’t for the first incident The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, many of the changes that have been done today wouldn’t have occurred. Many factories wouldn’t have ceiling sprinklers in case of a fire, or have better emergency fire escapes installed. I will not deny that there are still many parts of the world that still has employees working in poor conditions but I will say that through the use of our voting rights and through the use of our own voices we can come together to demand and get change for the better.
Hello Nia, I agree with your statements about how labor rights are also fighting for gender justice. Labor rights let people of all gender and sexualities have a form of protection. Also, I think that the door was always kept locked not that they purposely locked them so that they wouldn’t steal during the fire.