Colin Buckley
Thibodeau
English 12
May 15th,2017
Although sweatshops get a bad name for their conditions, it has been shown and documented that sweatshops actually benefit people by occupying them with jobs they wouldn't get anywhere else, as well as help boost the economy. Sweatshops have been known to boost economies in areas where poverty is an issue.They offer jobs and shelter from the streets. When someone hears the word sweatshop they think of child labor, Most people are too focused on the negative side of sweatshops that they can’t see the side that benefits and aids the people of its surroundings. In the grand scheme of things, The good of sweatshops outweighs the bad. Even though the positive side of sweatshops outweighs the negative side, their is still an opposing opinion that many people stand by. They stand on the side regarding sweatshops, the working conditions they provide and that they should be outlawed. In the article titled “Crammed into squalid factories to produce clothes for the West on just 20p a day, the children forced to work in horrific unregulated workshops of Bangladesh”, Photographer Claudio Montesano Casillas, documents the horrible yet intriguing conditions of a “Garment Sweatshop” in Bangladesh. She states that they produce clothes on just 20P a day, and are forced to work in horribly unsafe conditions. From this article, you can tell that Casillas is not for sweatshops. Most of the children in the factory, do not have the
Sweatshops have been around for centuries, beginning around the late 1880’s. Sweatshops are classified by three main components, long work hours, very low pay and unsafe and unhealthy working environments. Sweatshops are usually found in manufacturing industries and the most highlighted production is clothing corporations, who take full advantage of the low production costs of their products. Many may think sweatshops are a thing of the past but they are still affecting many lives across the nations. There are many ways sweatshops affect lives, but a recent article titled “New study finds ‘more sweatshops than Starbucks’ in Chicago” explains that there are many low wage industry jobs that are violating labor laws in the United States alone. The article also reports how employees who are working in such conditions won’t speak up in fear of the retaliation employers will implement. Analyzing Sweatshops through the lens of the Sociological perspectives will help us better understand the illegal conditions of workplaces that still exist today.
Sweltering heat, long hours, unfair working conditions are a few descriptive words that Americans use to describe a sweatshop. I believe our judgment is being misguided by the success of our nation, and it is imperative we redefine the word “sweatshop”. Individuals that endure life in third world countries know hardships that Americans could not imagine. If we were to recognize these economical differences it may shine a light on why these workers seek sweatshop jobs. In many of these cases, children must work to aid in the family’s survival. If these jobs are voluntary and both parties agree to working conditions, it results in a mutually beneficial arrangement. One of the worst things we can do as outsiders, to help these impoverished
Sweltering heat, long hours, and unfair working conditions are a few descriptive words that Americans use to describe a sweatshop. I believe our judgment is being misguided by the success of our nation, and it is imperative we redefine the word “sweatshop”. Individuals that endure life in third world countries know hardships that Americans could not imagine. If we were to recognize these economical differences it may shine a light on why these workers seek sweatshop jobs. In many of these cases, children must work to aid in the family’s survival. If these jobs are voluntary and both parties agree to work conditions, it results in a mutually beneficial arrangement. One of the worst things we can do as outsiders, to help these impoverished
A majority of the clothing worn and purchased today in the United States has been manufactured overseas in sweatshops. Since the beginning of factories and businesses, owners have always looked for a way to cut production costs while still managing to produce large quantities of their product. It was found that the best way to cut costs was to utilize cheap labor in factories known as sweatshops. According to the US General Account Office, sweatshops are defined as a “business that regularly violates both wage or child labor and safety or health laws”. These sweatshops exploit their workers in various ways: making them work long hours in dangerous working conditions for little to no pay. Personally, I believe that the come up and employment of these sweatshops is unethical, but through my research I plan to find out if these shops produce more positive than negatives by giving these people in need a job despite the rough conditions.
Time and time again, there have been opposing views on just about every single possible topic one could fathom. From the most politically controversial topics of gun control and stem cell research to the more mundane transparent ones of brown or white rice and hat or no hat—it continues. Sweatshops and the controversy surrounding them is one that is unable to be put into simplistic terms, for sweatshops themselves are complex. The grand debate of opposing views in regards to sweatshops continues between two writers who both make convincing arguments as to why and how sweatshops should or should not be dealt with. In Sweat, Fire and Ethics, by Bob Jeffcott, he argues that more people ought to worry less about the outer layers of sweatshops and delve deeper into the real reason they exist and the unnecessariness of them. In contrast, Jeffrey D. Sachs writes of the urgent requirement of sweatshops needed during the industrialization time in a developing country, in his article of Bangladesh: On the Ladder of Development. The question is then asked: How do sweatshops positively and negatively affect people here in the United States of America and in other countries around the world?
Cambridge dictionary defines sweatshop as a small factory where workers are paid very little and work many hours under bad conditions. People working there are deprived of any kind of worker’s benefit. Child labor is very common in sweatshops. Workers in sweatshops are often missing key pieces of safety equipment such as face masks to ensure safe breathing or work in environments with insufficient means of emergency exit since employers may lock the doors and windows to prevent theft during working hours (Hartman ). The workers are abused, beaten, kicked, and shoved, even if they are sick or pregnant. Sweatshop is nothing but a modern form of slavery, because the workers are forced to work in harsh condition for a little wage, and they are denied any fundamental human rights .
First, sweatshops have poor working conditions. Examples of poor working conditions are factories are not ventilated; no toilets, have to work for longer hours, there is no emergency exists and minimum wages are given. There are some owners of sweatshops who forced their employees to work for longer hours but pay a minimum wage. This is proved in a case called Two Cheers for Sweatshops, Mongkol’s daughter had to work for nine hours straight but she is only paid $2 a day. She also works six days in a week. The poor working conditions actually can affect a person mental and physical
Sweatshops greatly impact the lives of people all across the world; people are forced into incredibly tough labor along with unbearable working conditions. According to the writer of English Blog, “22 million children die annually due to the hazardous conditions in the sweatshops.” (English Blog RSS) Besides the low pay and awfully long working hours, the
"Teens in Sweatshops." Junior Scholastic, vol. 106, no. 8, 24 Nov. 2003, p. 8. EBSCOhost,cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=s8419239&db=prh&AN=11430419&site=ehost-live. This article focuses on teenagers that work in sweatshops, specifically in the United States. The article contains personal interviews and examples from real teens that were most likely immigrant workers working in sweatshops. The article describes events of a variety of different people working in different sweatshops and the effect it had on them. There are direct quotes from not only workers from sweatshops but also from workers in corporate companies speaking about their side on sweatshops. With statistics and facts being used in the article important information can easily be read through and understood. The article is important because it easily sums up sweatshops from what they are to what they do and how it affects others. With the article being so small and easy to read people with varying reading levels can read the information being presented and know about the abuse that is happening. Moving accounts from people and specific names of popular clothing stores serve as important details that impact a reader’s opinion on
Ben Powell’s “In Defense of ‘Sweatshops’” article offers an uncommon point of view regarding the necessity of sweatshops. Powell knows that people know about sweatshops, but he offers another angle to the topic. The point he tries to get across is how sweatshops can actually be beneficial to the people in the third world countries, rather than them being a terrible thing. Throughout the article, he brought up some relatively good points, but not all he had to say was backed up with evidence. Therefore, Powell’s article was semi-effective.
Prior to the collapse of the Rana Plaza conditions of the Bangladesh sweatshops can only be described as a prisons for helpless, innocent humans. Conditions that no human should be forced to work within, that wasn't the case though. Many workers say that to meet demand they were locked in their factories past working hours. Not only being overworked and having to use dangerous machinery without breaks but also being abused verbally, physically and emotionally by their corrupt managers. There's no ethical standard upheld by the employers of these workers all they cared about was the products produced.
Almost everyone knows sweatshops are not acceptable places to work or support. Sweatshops, per definition from the International Labor Organization are organizations that violate more than two labor laws (Venkidaslam). There are several arguments against sweatshops. First, is that these organizations exploit their workers. They provide them low wages and some pay below the minimum wage of the home nation. Moreover, these workers are forced to work more than 60 hours per week and are mandated to work overtime. In addition, workers are subjected to unsafe environments and sexual abuse. Finally, sweatshops are known for their child labor, where children below the legal working age are paid extremely small wages. Anyone who is against sweatshops will say, choosing to partner with these organizations are unethical.
Sweatshop is defined as a factory or workshop, especially in the clothing industry, where manual workers are employed at very low wages for long hours and under poor conditions. Sweatshops also referred to as the “sweat factory”, creates a hazardous and unhealthy working environment for employees such as the exposure to harmful materials, dangerous situations, extreme temperatures and abuse from employers. Sweatshop workers work for long hours, sometimes without taking any breaks, and these workers are not paid for any overtime hours or the minimum wage, although it is mandatory by law. These conditions are considered risky for any person, but the worst part is that in many countries, children are being forced to work in these sweatshops.
Sweatshops can be defined in many different ways. Sweatshops are factories that don’t follow U.S. fundamental labor laws. This includes; if the workers are getting paid enough; or if they are getting taken advantage of because of age. Sweatshops are factories that mostly make clothing, and have workers that work long hours at low costs in terrible conditions. In fact, this happens mostly in underdeveloped or developing countries. According to the website, “dosomething.org” in the article “11 Facts About Sweatshops” it states, “In developing countries an estimated 168 million children ages 5 to 14 are forced to work.” Sweatshops also make products such as cotton, brisks, and coffee among many others. In the same article it says, “The majority of child laborers are found in Asia and the Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence, with one in five children in child labor.” The main question is should the United States of America support the sweatshops in undeveloped countries to help the international problem or not?
In many sweatshops, however, the workers are there voluntarily. Even the meager wages earned are more than the undocumented immigrants workers would earn in their home countries. As long as there is a supply of willing workers, sweatshops will flourish.