By moving its production sites to places like Asia, Nike is able to pay workers sub-minimum wage, on top of allowing the corporation to dodge responsibility for the treatment of its work force. Nike strategists have certainly managed to devise a plan to escape the responsibility and liability of insuring that it assembly line sites are safe, healthy and fair labor places of work, by subcontracting to foreign owned and governed factories. South Korea, the " sneaker capital of the world" is one of these places.

According to the article "The Globe Trotting Sneaker" the workers in these assembly factories are predominantly women. The article

The women working in these factories of South Korea endure numerous difficulties, low pay, poor work conditions etc.. For many years they remain silent. In the 1980's the silence was broken, but not shattered. For the first time, women workers organized, separate from the men and brought their issue to be heard. They began to rebel against not only the companies for which they worked, but against the government. Eventually, they won the right to organize, and they created the Korean Women Workers Association. (KWWA) This union was a major political and economic feminist move. Prior to its creation, women enjoyed no representation or benefits from their anti-union government. The trade agreements that South Korea entered into were for monetary reason only, with no worker consideration or rights.

The Global assembly line affects every part of the factory workers life both U.S and Korean. This is due to the fact that at any given time, the corporation may decide to pick up and move to a neighboring country because the labor is cheaper and the restrictions fewer.

The KWWA won the right to organize unions as well as seeing as allowing workers to see an increase in their wages. This political move posed a threat to the government by way of setting a precedent, opening a door for other groups to follow.

This movement affects the global assembly line because it makes room for higher wages, an increased production cost and more human rights considerations. As previously mentioned, Nike is able to use sub-contractors as a means of evading responsibility when the treatment of its workers comes into question. In Asia, the demand for work is so high that workers are willing to accept more harsh work environment for less pay than U.S workers might be. Asian women and children make up the bulk of the factories work force, so they are the ones being mistreated the most. They are also the ones that live in a culture that holds men as the more valuable, powerful source. Another cultural attribute connected with the Southern Korean women is that she works not only to support herself, but often her parents and children as well. This makes a hard to come by job even more valuable, and the threat point of loosing it more significant. Therefore the woman may be less apt to complain or create noise out of fear of loosing her job

The lack of political influence directly affects these assembly line workers in both continents. Neither group has the money to devote to politics and as a result politicians do not have the drive to champoin any rights for them. So they remain without a voice.

Though the KWWA has not changed the government dramatically, it has made a motion in the right direction. It brought not only laborers rights into the picture, but women laborers right as well. The latter is particularly important because the majority of the workers are women.

The Global assembly line affects every part of the factory workers life both U.S and Korean. This is due to the fact that at any given tim

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2049
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)