Out Of Sight: The Long and Disturbing Story of Corporations Outsourcing Catastrophe

Description

When jobs can move anywhere in the world, bosses have no incentive to protect their workers or the environment. The laws that protect us from rapacious behaviour remain tied to national governments. In Out of Sight, Erik Loomis follows the thread that runs from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911 to the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh, in 2013. The truth is that our systems of production are just as dirty and abusive as they were during the industrial revolution, but the ugly side of manufacturing is now hidden in faraway places.

Praise for Erik Loomis: "A detailed and devastating critique by a brilliant historian." John Nichols, The Progressive "The arrival of Out of Sight could not have been better timed. Erik Loomis prescribes how activists can take back our country for workers and for those who care about the health of our planet." Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) "The rise of unbridled corporate power has been a disaster in so many ways including the ability of the 1 percent to intimidate the rest of us into remaining silent lest we displease our masters. The story told here is tragic and important." Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy "Erik Loomis has globalized [Upton Sinclair's] The Jungle. He shows that the most important reason for U.S. corporations to produce abroad is to avoid the regulations that books like The Jungle produced. Perhaps Out of Sight can prompt a similar movement on behalf of workers around the world, our planetary environment, and, yes, we who wear the clothes and eat the sausage that 'they' produce." James Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me "In this dazzling overview of industrial history, Erik Loomis shows how we can no, we must fight for both decent jobs and a clean environment. We can do so by not letting the corporations escape 'out of sight.' We need to think and act as globally as corporations do, and force them to respect rights wherever they go. This book is a must-read for people who care about jobs and the environment." Aviva Chomsky, professor of history at Salem State University and author of Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal "Well-written and informative . . . shows the many strong connections between workplace catastrophes, poor working conditions, diseases, and environmental disasters. Highly recommended." Kalpona Akter, executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, Dhaka "A passionate condemnation of the power that corporations hold over our lives, Erik Loomis shows that capitalism's geography is a central element in class conflicts." Andrew Herod, Distinguished Professor of Geography at the University of Georgia "Erik Loomis shows that our systems remain broken, and it is our planet and her people, particularly the most marginalized communities, who are paying the price. However, there is hope in collective action." Jacqueline Patterson, director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program "One of the top voices chronicling the struggles of the twenty-first-century labor movement. Loomis's blunt, witty, take-no-prisoners style always promises an exciting read." Sarah Jaffe