Case Study on OK Jamaica Shoes by J.Sheridan

This article was a winner in Ms Sypropoulos' 4th form class competition for the best case study.

Ok Jamaica shoes
(Case study)

A T.N.C (Trans National Corporation) is a company which operates in many different countries in the world.
Some jobs that are done by the workers are cutting and butchering which is done at the first stage where they slaughter and take the skins off the cows in a place called a slaughter house/ abattoir. The next stage is where they turn the cow skin to leather with the use of chemicals, this job is call tannery. The next and last stage of making the shoes is where in the OK Jamaica shoes factory they put the shoe together ( 800 pairs per day) with 100 Ethiopian workers doing the jobs of sewing, cutting and sticking. After that they simply export the shoes to more economically developed countries for example the U.S.A, Europe and some African countries.
The problems faced by the workers from killing the cow to putting the shoe together is that they have extremely low pay for the amount of hours that they work. For example, a worker who works at OK Jamaica shoe factory earns £14 per month, which is 50p per day whilst their monthly house rent is £10…so overall their profit after all that hard work is £4 per month, which is 14p per day!...
Other problems faced are that in the slaughter house/abattoir the workers who dissect the cows are wearing no gloves. So if a worker cuts himself doing something and he touches the inside of the animal, then he risks getting infected. But if they only get £4 he will not be able to afford medical treatment, and if he took time off work he would not get paid at all. In the jobs in the first stage such as where you have to skin the cow, the rooms are very hot and the work is very physical, and to replace that energy used or salt lost you have to eat energy rich food or any food. But, if you are on a very tight budget and can’t afford much food, you will have no energy in you. Not eating food will weaken your immune system and therefore you coul potentially catch a virus.
The only good points about working in a type of factory like OK Jamaica shoes is that it’s better than nothing, and at least you’re getting regular income.

By J.Sheridan