Shouldan Companies Follow American Laws When Doing Business Abroad Case Study

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.

Large corporations such as Nike, Gap, and Reebok and many others from the United States have moved their factories to undeveloped nations; barely pay their employees enough to live on. Countries such as China, Indonesia, and Haiti have readily abundant cheap labor. There should be labor laws or an obligation of respecting workers to provide decent working conditions, fair wages, and safety standards.

Dexter Roberts and Pete Engardio in “Secrets, Lies, and Sweatshops,” writes about the various struggles that the United States has with production factories overseas. Wal-Mart claims they have rules for the sweatshops to follow but China still violates the labor laws by hiring consultants to give tips to sneak around auditors. The American people enjoy their everyday items at a low price, which Wal-Mart demands to the sweatshops. The sweatshops are struggling to provide these low price items to Wal-Mart and keep their working conditions humane. Roberts and Engardio explain in the article how companies that have overseas production are attempting to provide the managers and employees with skills to make the overtime required more effective.

Using cheap labor from the poor countries, US companies gain the massive profit. For example, Walmart is the biggest retailer in America, because the most products of Walmart import from China. To against the competitors, Walmart reduces the prices, but to hold profit stable, the company has to use the cheap labor. Walmart has the biggest numbers of employees, which is over one million workers, but the wage and working condition are horrible. The hourly wage is three cents, and the best workers receive ten cents. Walmart’s workers also include children and women, and these workers even get paid less than a man, even though they have the same amount of work. Walmart is famous with the cheap electronic products, but the quality isn’t good as

A significant byproduct of the industrial revolution is the development of sweatshops, which has become a problematic issue within society. Most sweatshops serve the purpose of manufacturing clothes for cheap in order for corporations to make a profit. Corporations thrive using this money-making scheme at the cost of the lives of many sweatshop workers, who barely makes enough money to support their families, let alone themselves. Corporations who outsource to developing countries to manufacture goods in sweatshops are overlooked by the host country’s government, in fear of losing the economic benefits these corporations bring with them. The United States government can stop the use of sweatshops by implementing legislation that restricts

Cheap clothing is something that almost everyone has in their wardrobe right now. Stores like Forever 21, H&M, and Uniqlo are all examples of companies that use extremely cheap labor in return of cheap, low quality clothing. Considering, capitalism being a large attribute to the low wages given to workers in sweatshops, people simply do not care to think “Since this item is such a low price, how much did it even cost to make this?” For a pair of $17.99 jeans sold at Kmart, the labor in the United States would cost $2.08, but in Nicaragua it would cost $0.14. Big companies tend to not care how their workers are treated or how much they make at the end of the day. The lowest price they can end up getting for an item, the more money the company makes. “A manufacturer will tell me he has 2,000 twelve piece bonuses he needs swen. I tell him I need at least $10 per blouse to do a decent job on a garment that complicated. So then he tells me to get lost-he offers me $2. If I don't take that, he tells me he can have it sent to Taiwan or South America somewhere, and have it done for 50 cents. So we haggle-sometimes I might bring him up to $4 per blouse.” (Ross 134) In the end, cheap labor equals low wages making it hard to pay for the expenses of

Rubi Garyfalakis in her article “No sweat?” supports her point of view that sweatshop can be considered as a good solution for women in the third world to live by their own, and that sweatshop sets them free from early arranged marriage (Garyfalakis, 2016). However, those are only the visual surface of an iceberg. What about 91% of the iceberg below the surface of the water of the terminology: sweatshop? A sweatshop is defined as “a shop or factory in which employees work for long hours at low wages and under unhealthy conditions” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Therefore, it is not strongly recommended to fight for things that consequences are overweighed benefits it would bring back to a part of the society including child labor, violation of law, and increasing rate of unemployment.

Imagine having to work in an extremely dangerous environment where you were treated as less than a human been. Imagine having to deal with slave-like conditions in extremely harsh working environments. Imagine speaking out for your own good and only receiving bruises and getting fired. Imagine working at a Nike sweatshop. This is the reality that many sweatshop workers consider a day of life for the rest of their lives. These workers are taken by the factories that they work for and the companies that own or run the factories don’t regulate working conditions for all the workers in developing nations and countries.

These types of situations are ones that are being allowed by sweatshops around the world. While one may be quick to point the finger and blame the underdeveloped countries, U.S. countries are also part of the problem. Companies like the ones in the U.S. are partly responsible for these wages. The Slaves to Fashion Article talks about how big companies go around and pit bidders against each other searching for the lowest production price possible (Cumbler par 6). As a result, the production sites must lower their wages to compete with other sweatshops to produce the products for a cheaper price. This is a downward spiral that leaves workers with an unsustainable wage. Schilling talked to a woman that said for every suit priced at 120 dollars

As corporations started to grow in scale and influence, they acquired the ability to globalize their workforce without the limitations of international boundaries. This practice allows companies to save significant amounts of funding by acquiring outsourced laborers who were not insured by the minimum wage protections mandated in domestic factories. While this change helps companies save considerable sums of money by hiring cheap labor, the American work force suffered greatly. Unable to compete with the exceptionally low wages of foreign competition, domestic workers lost their ability to collectively bargain in fear of being fired or replaced. Faced with constant job insecurity, employees began to actively abstain from rallying for improved

Inexpensive clothing has been the major trend due to the cheap laboring in Asia. Though we take granted for inexpensive clothes, we know little about how those clothes are made. In some manufacturing factories, people have died because of the companies’ neglects on maintaining buildings, providing equipment for better production and improving the working environment. Some factories use children for even lower wages. Sweatshops are the manufacturing factories with low wage, long working hours and poor conditions; they violate human rights and are unethical. Knowing this, should companies stop laboring in developing countries? The answer is no. In short, sweatshops are necessary parts of supply chains that fulfill the demands for jobs. Because sweatshops provide cheap labor and make inexpensive products available, those companies should be responsible for the welfare of the

Overview of Environmental, Health and Safety Laws in Singapore. (n.d.) Corporate Learning and Consultancy. Retrieved on September 26, 2010 from http://www.psb-academy.edu.sg/clc/detail/159/0/Overview-of-Environmental-Health-and-Safety-Laws-in-Singapore/

Many companies state that labor exploitation is necessary in order to increase corporate profits however; the amount of increased profits is small. According to David Barboza (2008), a writer for the New York Times and winner of the Pulitzer prize for international reporting, “In 2007, factories that supplied more than a dozen corporations, including Wal-Mart, Disney and Dell, were accused of unfair labor practices, including using child labor, forcing employees to work 16-hour days on fast-moving assembly lines, and paying workers less than minimum wage. (Minimum wage in this part of China is about 55 cents an hour.)” The amount of savings seems huge with minimum United States wage around eight dollars an hour; however, very little of the price increase makes it to the consumers. According to B. Powell and M. Zwolinski (2011), professors at the University of Boston and San Diego respectively, estimate that “for US and Mexican firms, a 100% wage increase would only require a 2–6% increase in the retail price of the garments. U.S. consumers were generally willing to pay between 15 and 25% more to ensure that products were not made under sweatshop conditions.” The small amount of price increase to the consumers illustrates how companies will not be significantly affected by the increase in labor cost, since the exploitation of laborers is only for a small personal gain the conditions in which people work need to be more strictly

A large majority of Americans do not realize where the clothes they purchase are produced. Unethically made goods are predominantly less expensive than goods made outside of sweatshops. With the increase in investigations, it is apparent major brands such as Nike, Disney, Reebok, the Gap and others are involved in the use of sweatshops. Sweatshops are commonly known for having poor working conditions, unfair wages, unreasonable hours, child labor, and a lack of benefits for workers. In foreign countries, sweatshops have around 168 million children ages 5 to 14 forced into child labor (“11 Facts”). Labor conditions are violated, and are often ignored by the US Department of Labor. Sweatshops are still ongoing due to the ignorance or lack of care for the people involved in a sweatshop corporation. With the awareness of where the majority of inexpensive clothing is manufactured, the public and major American companies should reconsider supporting sweatshops.

When companies look for labor they seek the cheapest, most efficient means of making their product. Many brands start out with American manufacturers and move production overseas in an effort to lower cost and increase profit. While overseas hiring may subsequently lower production cost, it subjects those countries working class citizens to the high demands of western companies. We are all familiar with the Walmart slogan “Everyday low prices”; Walmart among other companies strives to keep prices low to succeed in competitive capitalist markets. It is that competition between companies, in and effort to meet consumer demands, that eventually leads to overseas hiring and in turn unethical manufacturing. Anna McMullen from CNN describes why unethical and unsafe working conditions arise. “As the demand for cheap clothing grows in the west, brands continue to look for ways to race to the