Displacement of people means an increased risk of human trafficking and exploitation.

Legislation that is open to interpretation, has led to a complex and unjust situation for migrant workers in the fashion sector in California. Unable to secure status, many workers accept less than the minimum wage and work in pitiful conditions, to manufacture trendy clothing that retails at exorbitant prices.
 
In an article in the Los Angeles Times of 31 August, 2017, Natalie Kitroeff and Victoria Kim write that ‘’…sweatshop wages are the hidden cost of the bargains that make …stores impossible to resist.’’  
In our demand for cheap clothes, cheap shoes and cheap goods, we overlook the harsh reality of life for those slaving away for little or no wages, in order to feed our consumption.
For more on that reality, please see: http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-forever-21-factory-workers/
Prepared by Anne Kelleher, RENATE Communications Person.