Class Participation 4/9

http://www.globalissues.org/article/57/corporations-and-workers-rights

Part 1:
1) Rhetorical Devices, Techniques, Fallacies:

Shah uses rhetorical fallacies by not backing up her evidence. She states, "Nike, as mentioned above, as well as many other retail companies, use cheap labor in South East Asia, where they can get away from the tighter enforcement and regulations of USA and Europe." Yet she doesn't quote where she got her resources from. How can we know this is true?

2) Summarize the argument:
This article argues how many big companies such as Nike and Coca-Cola have abused companies and worker’s rights. Shah not only explains what the problem is but also describes how we can move on from this and what the exact problems are of paying fair wages.

Part 2:
Shah lists many examples of scenarios of situations all around the world where companies abuse their worker's rights. She even lists them in bullets and says "Take the following as examples (by no means exhaustive!)". What does that even mean? Why would she give such detailed descriptions of these workers that appeal to our emotions if in reality we shouldn't consider them because she doesn't even source them? How can we know these stories are real and not just appealing to our emotions to take her side of the argument? However, Shah does give links to where she gets her statistics from but how do we know we can trust these links as well? If makes me wonder if she if using trustworthy facts or if she is just using surprising facts to get to out emotions. Such as, "In April 2002, as Alternet.org reports, Levi Strauss & Company, “a brand practically synonymous with the U.S.A., decided to shutter virtually all domestic production and shift its manufacturing overseas.” Earlier, in 1992, the Washington Post had exposed Levi’s exploitation of Chinese prison labor to make jeans and throughout the 90s, various apparel companies had been accused of various forms of exploitation and sweatshop labor in poorer countries. Levis tried to introduce a code of standards, but it seems that Levis too has been feeling the competition pressure and in order to maximize profits and reduce costs, now also feels compelled to join the herd, so to speak, and go for cheaper labor costs."