Worked Over
From May Day to Labor Day, we explore the human cost of what’s been called a “race to the bottom.” The hyper-accelerated movement of capital, jobs and resources from the world’s corporations — manufacturing, agriculture and service — to the lowest bidder. In an era of diminished expectations, broken promises and sleight of hand, these are labor stories of governments, employers, unions and workers.
This Special Report, produced by The GroundTruth Project, appeared on GlobalPost.com in 2012.
Questions remain about Bangladesh factory fire
Foxconn moves into Indonesia, worrying labor groups
Argentina’s fair trade wineries help workers weather shaky times
Government crackdown on labor groups worsens in South China
Lonmin killings test South African democracy
Caterpillar sets tough precedent in beating Illinois strike
US electronics industry feels heat on conflict minerals
Inspecting the Inspectors: Walmart and Chiquita immune to labor oversight in Honduras
Damming the future? Livelihoods at stake on Mekong River
Mexico City: A union dismantled, with gruesome results
Informal economy swallows Latin American workers
Tile by tile, Palestinians build Israeli settlements
Walker’s victory: Fair or not, for unions, hard times bring hard lines
Locked Out: Canadian workers pay heavy price in foreign acquisitions
Slave labor on the rise in Russia
Technically legal, Brazil’s sex workers left out of unionization push
The mysterious murder of a Bangladeshi labor activist
Analysis: After decades of outsourcing, manufacturing jobs coming home to US
Nicaragua’s Marxist government gets religion on free trade zones
