Sweatshops Research Paper

A sweatshop is defined as a factory where manual workers are employed at very low wages for long hours in unsafe working environments (Oxford Dictionary, 2011). Sweatshops are especially associated with clothing industries, such as Nike, Gap, Walmart, Primemark and other brand names. Sweatshop history begins in 1830 with clothing factories in New York City and London, even then the working conditions were poor, e.g. rat infestation. Since the 1850s worker unions have improved “sweatshops” conditions in the first world, and the term “sweatshop” is more associated with factories in the developing world. The statement that ‘sweatshops in developing countries are better than no jobs’ has many arguments for and against them, which will be

Sweatshops are large dim lit factories. Hours are incredibly long, normally from 6 am to 10 pm. The air is dusty and dirty, which makes it very hard to breath. Blisters and sores are not uncommon to be found on the hands of these workers. Most importantly, at the end of the day you will have only earned a whopping 27 cents. This is insane and should be considered a form of slavery. It should not be allowed for people to be treated this way and worked like this. Children are even put to work in these sweatshops. Children who are well under 16 and need to help support their families, so they are put to work at these young ages. Americans cannot possibly think that this is okay.

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.

     As companies grow larger and more competitive, they are looking for cheaper ways to produce their wares and increase their profit. That is, after all, how companies are able to succeed, by giving their customers a comparable product for a cheaper price. This increases sales and the overall bottom line. Which seems to be a beneficial plan for both the companies and the consumers. That is, as long as the consumers don’t know how the product is being produced. The places that produce these products for an extremely cheap cost are called “Sweatshops”. A sweatshop is a small manufacturing establishment in which employees work long hours under substandard conditions for low wages. Sweatshops came about

They often use child labor, lack workers’ benefits, and use intimidation as means of controlling workers (Boal, Mark). Typically, sweatshops are found in developing countries, however, they are also a prevalent problem in many first world countries including the United States. Many manufacturers claim that sweatshops exist in order to keep prices down for consumers, while allowing profit. On the contrary, there is also substantial evidence that goes against these beliefs. For instance, a study showed that while doubling the wage of sweatshop workers would increase consumer price by 1.8%, consumers are willing to pay 15% more with the assurance that the product was made with fair labor (11 Facts About). This, however, is a hard argument seeing as the circumstance was hypothetical and if prices were actually raised, there is no way to assure that consumers would react the same way. Either way, both sides of the argument can agree that the conditions are not good, it is just a matter of analysing the cost vs. the benefit to determine their necessity. This leads to several questions: Are sweatshops a necessary evil, how could they be abolished, and what realistic goals regarding the bettering of worker conditions can be met? Through the answering of these questions, it is easy to see that despite claims of sweatshops bringing opportunities to

Firstly, if sweatshops were not as low paid and the working conditions were not as pleasant compared to first world countries, then companies might as well employ citizens of first world countries, who would probably be healthier. This would not benefit the people in the third world countries, who would slip into poverty and starvation.

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

There are many views with the problem of utilizing sweatshops in developing economies. Many insist that utilizing sweatshops in developing economies composes exploitation. In certain circumstances, this may be true, but not all. It is an ongoing controversy of demolishing sweatshops and changing the laws of labor. Many anti-sweatshop activist supports the idea of demolishing sweatshops. Activist commonly focus on work conditions and low wages causing them to be ill – formed of the economy as a whole. Taking a deeper look into these developing countries, it is with out of doubt that these countries benefit from sweatshops. Sweatshops should not be demolished because the employees are benefited with income, their economy receives growth and

"Public Disclosure of the Sweatshop Practices of American Multinational Garment/Shoe Makers/Retailers: Impacts on Their Stock Prices." Competition & Change, vol. 7, no. 1, Mar. 2003, p. 23. EBSCOhost, cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=s8419239&db=bsh&AN=10077067&site=ehost-live. The article gives details about the anti-sweatshop movement such as the time it started in the 1990’to where the movements affected. The article contains a list of the specific occurrences of what happened at a retail store whether negative or positive to demonstrate the change caused by movements and legal action. There were many political involvements when discussing sweatshops such as the Clinton administration creating apparel partnerships to combat the conditions of sweatshops. There are also stockholders introducing no sweat labor codes that ultimately help not only the workers in sweatshops but the stockholders as well. There is the introduction of specific store names such as Walmart as well as the countries affected by the stores being named to target the emotional view of the public. The article discusses and mentions all the positive effects that movements and social action have created as well as the cause of laws that help prevent abuse at such a large scale to continue to

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.

Sweatshops are factories that are used around the world that major brand companies use to make products. These factories have gained media attention and controversy for the long hours and low pay given to the workers. Many people say to boycott these factories because of the latter reasons, but consumers shouldn’t boycott companies that make sweatshop products. The first reason consumers shouldn’t boycott these products would be people actually deliberately take these jobs because in developing countries most jobs don’t pay that much. The second reason consumers shouldn’t boycott sweatshop products would be that it allows a lot of people in the developing worlds to rise out of poverty.

The last source I used to answer my question was from Practical Argument called “Sweatshop Oppression” by Rajeev Ravisankar. Ravisankar wrote the article because many people don't know what it takes for sweatshops to function. His purpose is to let his readers know how sweatshops treat their workers. For example, with long working hours, less pay and harmful working conditions. To summarize Ravisankar story, he addresses what it takes for sweatshop labors to go through for consumers to get low prices.

This text became immediately implemented to a target market that has slender view of that sweatshops equal unfair pay and unfair remedy, but Kristof's article helps explains to his audience that sweatshops are an exceedingly safe and efficient process to households in growing international locations. The author attempts to persuade the audience to inspire greater sweatshops to be constructed in third world countries. Kristof

Sweatshop Labor is a term for a workplace that has poor and unacceptable working conditions. The work may be underpaid, difficult or dangerous. This is the type of labor where pay is almost non-existent, and is running the potential of many young children worldwide. It has been defined by the United States department of Labor as "a factory that violates two or more labor laws." Disregarding the conditions and age requirements that we find acceptable, people who live and work there don’t always think of sweatshops as negatively. Their other choices of employment are: prostitution, farming, and crime. It’s a controversial issue to whether or not sweatshops should remain open and for what reasons. In my opinion although sweatshops are very common

It’s your birthday and after a long day of celebrations you can finally open your presents. You receive a few shirts, some new stuff for the house and a few accessories. You thought you were done, but see one last box at the back of the pile. You get through all the wrappings and bags and picked up the rather heavy box. You curiously tear through the wrapping and find a new pair of dark blue Nike's. You were hoping for one after seeing all your coworkers sporting a pair and were very happy to try them on. As you sit there with your brand new shoes, what you fail to realize is that for you to get that pair of shoes, someone across the ocean is working long hours, in a sweatshop to making a few cents to make them. Many big corporations such as