I need to rent China Blue. I've not seen it but it sounds interesting. I've heard all sorts of stories on NPR on underpaid garment workers. Not to mention the family stories from my cousin and aunt who worked in various garment factories when N.C. still had them.
When you are paid by the number of garments you produce, not by the hour, you want to speed through as many as you can, so you get more money for your kids. And when you are doing piece work, which often means the same seam over and over (attaching shoulder seams, so the next person can attach sleeves, so the next person can do side seams, etc.) it gets repetitious and boring, real freaking fast, which means, it's really easy to make mistakes, like sew things backwards, put the seam on the wrong side, etc. (I've had to take a break from sewing because I sewed a seam wrong and had to pick it out. I hope to feel awake enough to get back to it today as I've still got a pile to get through this week.) These people don't get to take the types of breaks necessary to avoid these sorts of mistakes.
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Date: 2010-07-31 09:06 pm (UTC)When you are paid by the number of garments you produce, not by the hour, you want to speed through as many as you can, so you get more money for your kids. And when you are doing piece work, which often means the same seam over and over (attaching shoulder seams, so the next person can attach sleeves, so the next person can do side seams, etc.) it gets repetitious and boring, real freaking fast, which means, it's really easy to make mistakes, like sew things backwards, put the seam on the wrong side, etc. (I've had to take a break from sewing because I sewed a seam wrong and had to pick it out. I hope to feel awake enough to get back to it today as I've still got a pile to get through this week.) These people don't get to take the types of breaks necessary to avoid these sorts of mistakes.