Levi's Children: Coming to Terms with Human Rights in the Global Marketplace

by Karl Schoenberger

Over the last decade, ugly allegations of corporate complicity in human-rights violations have exploded into one of the most controversial issues of our time. Companies are being held responsible by human-rights advocates for the injustices that are the unintended side effects of economic globalization: union repression in China, forced labor in Burma, child workers in Pakistan, and sweatshop abuse throughout the developing world. Using the story of Levi Strauss and Company as a guide, Karl Schoenberger offers a highly readable assessment of the challenge that the human-rights scourge poses to international business. Schoenberger is sensitive to the interests of activists, politicians, and multinationals, and as a result his call for active corporate engagement and rigorous accountability in promoting the rights of overseas workers carries enormous resonance. Simultaneously impassioned and evenhanded, Levi's Children is a work of profound importance, one that may help us chart our course in the next century. "Thorough, well-informed and chatty ... Schoenberger's conclusion is intriguing." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, great book looking at how companies balance labor, human rights, and development goals with the reality of global market forces, localized corruption and compliance issues from offshore sourcing, etc. The Levi Strauss case is a really interesting one - a values-oriented firm dealing with these issues in periods of growth as well as decline, trying to be a leader in corporate social responsibility despite a reclusive, privately-owned management structure reticent to engage too heavily with NGO's and even in larger public dialogue. Other cases included many apparel/retail/fashion leaders like the Gap, Wal-Mart and Nike, also featuring firms representative of energy, oil and gas, and other industries.