Why Do Sweatshops Exploit Cheap Labor

In The myth of the ethical shopper, Hobbes (2015) states that although boycotts may have been successful in 1990, they are failing in 2105. He asserts that the way in which our clothes are now made has changed and so advocacy campaigns just don't work. One of the problems is that retailers don't have direct contact with their factories. Production is outsourced to the lowest bidders. Chains of sub contractors are set up and production is being split between thousands of factories. Labels from JC Penny, Wal-Mart and Joe Fresh were all found in the rubble of Rana plaza (O'Connor 2014), but none of them directly contracted those factories. With multitudes of middlemen accountability is difficult.

Sweatshops a big issue in today’s society, even though their existence can sometimes stay hidden from the public’s eye. A famous author named Berry states, “ most of us get all the things we need by buying them and most of us know only vaguely, if at all, where those things came from; and most of us know not at all what damage is involved in their production. We are almost entirely dependent on an economy of which we are almost entirely ignorant.” The majority of people in the US have no idea where the clothes they are purchasing are actually coming from. Most people would not support the exploitation of their own race of people. If they were able to see and come to realization about what is actually happening they would have a much different change of heart.

Inside the United States factory there are violations of basic rights, the environment is not clean, there are many safety issues, and there is no clean drinking water in many of the factories. Majority of the workers in L.A. factories are undocumented Latinos and about 20% are Asian immigrates. Many of the workers have to work ten hours a day and are not paid for over time and a lot of them get paid by the number of garments they sew and not by the hours they work. Doesn’t this sound similar to factories in Bangladesh? Just because something is made in America doesn’t mean that the product was made in an ethical way. The number of sweatshop workers are going down every year but they are going down very slowly. Americans need to be more aware of this serious problem. The more consumers are aware, the more a company is going to suffer and make a change a for their

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.

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 .

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

This is a good question but not an easy one to answer. Some people may think that we should not but from sweatshops overseas because we are buying from people who risk their lives to make these products. But the people who are making these products may not think that the deplorable conditions that they are working in are bad at all. What we as Americans see as deplorable they may see as a better way of life than working in a field or other back breaking jobs. We as Americans have to think, if their wasn't a demand for their goods then sweatshops wouldn't exist. I don't feel that we should boycott third world sweatshops because in reality we are hurting the workers and not the factory owners. We have to keep in mind that people who work in these

Don't we have the consumer and political power to pressure our corporations to end sweatshop wages paid to the people who make these goods? These workers are not demanding stock options and Jazzercise studios. Women in Bangladesh say they could care for their children if their wages rose to 34 cents an hour, two-tenths of 1 percent of the retail price of the Harvard hat.

"Many defenders, some of whom are Catholic, claim that by refusing to buy such merchandise, we harm the poor." They say due to boycotting, factories will go out of business and the people wont have jobs. In an article, "Governments should not boycott sweatshop production", written by Cheryl Grey, says, "Boycotting goods made by sweatshops labor only hurts the workers." "It's a painful fact that boycotting goods made by sweatshop labor only hurts the workers not the factory

Most of these people, who have families that they have to feed, spend their days ravaging through the trash in the streets in search of plastic for which they get 5 cents a pound in order to get food for themselves and their families. While this may be true, It gives rich powerful companies no excuse to mistreat and enslave their factory workers in 3rd world countries. These companies have billions of dollars and make millions yearly, but are not able to give their workers safer machines, cleaner factories, or decent benefits let alone a decent pay. As the buyers and customers, we have the power to impact and change these companies by how we use our money. For example, if a significant amount of people stop buying a certain product that we know comes from sweatshops and instead buy that same product but produced humanely, companies will take notice and start using production companies that treat their workers

Did you know that the conditions inside of a factory in Shenzhen have caused 18 employees to kill themselves (according to Rob Cooper)? Sweatshops are a growing problem in the world. The definition of a sweatshop is a workplace that breaks two or more labor laws every year. To make it worse they are extremely difficult to catch in the act of breaking laws because they figure out ahead of time that inspectors are coming so the factory owners change pay just for that one day. Therefore the inspectors can not catch them. These deplorable factories rarely change if not forced to by the government. Also employees are to worried about being fired too complain and strikers get attacked and shot in the streets. Sweatshops using unfair labor that is

Also, developed countries can specialize in the areas in which they do best, unlike third world countries. Supporters of sweatshops claim that the low-wage employment offered by sweatshops is better than not being employed at all, and that sweatshops provide a way for poor people to climb out of poverty.

I have chosen to side with Benjamin Powell who concludes that sweatshops in third world countries are acceptable due to the fact that they offer more benefits to sweatshop workers than they would if they were eradicated. If we were to eliminate sweatshop labor we would be eliminating the opportunity for people in the third world countries to have some type of income. I understand that there are health risks to working in the sweatshop environment but there are also risks that come with not having an income at all. Many of these workers, if laid off due to the destruction of sweatshops, may resort to finding an income elsewhere in ways such as prostitution. Also, compared to the wages of people not working in sweatshops and those working in

You might think zippers are an ordinary material, but zippers have much importance in our life that we have no thought about. For example zippers are mostly used for clothing, luggage, bags, purses, sport materials, and camping gear. According to Global Industry Analysts, the market for zipper is around $8.2 billion in 2013 and is expected to hit $11.7 billion by 2018. Zipper company’s make zippers in 9,500 colors and in 20 shades of black! Manufactures make billions of zippers every year, but zippers weren’t always a great success. In the early stages of making the zippers, zippers went through design revisions, unsuccessful marketing  and a few name changes. Zippers are popular today due to the patience of investors, an engineer who gave

Nice post this week! I agree that when the majority of people hear or think if sweatshops it is in a negative way. I know I did until I learned more about them and what they do for people. I believe that sweatshops are still not okay in my opinion, but for what they are they are starting to improve and are more beneficial and safer for workers. I totally agree it is wrong, but when looking at it from both sides I can see where these people are coming from. Being who I am I will probably never be okay with the thought of sweatshops, but some people need it to survive and support their families. Plus, if we do stop buying from them it will only make it worse for them. I cannot even imagine how much worse it could get! I agree with you that sweatshops function in the framework of globalization. It is crazy how a $2 wage is something to brag about in China, but in the United States, it would not cut it at all. I think if I were running my own business I would use them because I know if I do not it just makes the problem worse, but I would make sure that everyone is treated fairly and has good working conditions. I also really liked your analogy about CSR being the underrated bass player in a rock band! I agree. Nice job this week!