Printed on clothing tags or the back of most packaging are the commonly found words: “Made in China”. Large corporations such as Apple or Microsoft continue to outsource more of their production overseas to subcontractors in China. There have been various stories and rumors of Chinese workers being exploited by their wealthy factory owners and supervisors. Working conditions may appear to be improving in China, but most people are not able to view what is happening overseas. There are hazardous conditions as well as death and suicide in sweatshops that produce goods for these large corporations, particularly Apple, Microsoft, Dell, and Nike. These multinational corporations are motivated to obtain large profits by taking advantage of China’s lack of effective enforcement of labor laws.
China’s history of sweatshops and factories has grown because of economic motives and government conditions. Multinational corporations such as Apple or Microsoft are “large corporations that sell goods and services throughout the world” (O’Sullivan 456). In order to maximize profits, these corporations have to find ways to cut corners and reduce input costs. All of this is done to provide the cheaper prices that American consumers enjoy. Asian subcontractors do not provide their workers with the benefits and wages that are found in the U.S. In China, wages are much lower, labor movements are repressed, and labor laws are not enforced effectively (“Working Conditions”). Many Chinese workers do not even know about trade unions or collective bargaining, which is a tool that laborers have been able to take advantage of in America. By outsourcing production overseas, these corporations seek to take advantage of cheaper labor in China, a ho...
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The controversial issue of sweatshops is one often over looked by The United States. In the Social Issues Encyclopedia, entry # 167, Matt Zwolinski tackles the issues of sweatshops. In this article Matt raises a question I have not been able to get out of my head since I have begun researching this topic, “ are companies who contract with sweatshops doing anything wrong?” this article goes on to argue that the people who work in the sweatshops willingly choose to work there, despite the poor environment. Many people in third world countries depend on the sweatshops to earn what they can to have any hopes of surviving. If the sweatshops were to shut down many people would lose their jobs, and therefore have no source of income. This may lead people to steal and prostitution as well. this article is suggesting that sweatshops will better the economy by giving people a better job than what they may have had. Due to this the companies contracting with sweatshops are not acting wrong in any way. This was a deductive article it had a lot of good examples to show how sweatshops are beneficial to third world countries. Radly Balko seemed to have the same view point as Matt Zwolinski. Many people believe the richer countries should not support the sweatshops Balko believes if people stopped buying products made in sweatshops the companies will have to shut down and relocate, firing all of the present workers. Rasing the fact that again the worker will have no source of income, the workers need the sweatshop to survive. Balko also uses the argument that the workers willingly work in the current environments.
In today’s world, increasing big companies open factories in developing countries but many people said it is unethical and the factories are sweatshops. Most of the sweatshops were opened in east Asia and third-world countries and regions. The companies open the sweatshops in order to get more benefits is a kind of very irresponsible behavior. For example, Apple's factories in China are not good and unethical. Audit finds
Look down at the clothes you're wearing right now, chances are almost every single thing you are currently wearing was made in a sweatshop. It is estimated that between 50-75% of all garments are made under sweatshop like conditions. Designers and companies get 2nd party contractors to hire people to work in these factories, this is a tool to make them not responsible for the horrendous conditions. They get away with it by saying they are providing jobs for people in 3rd world countries so its okay, but in reality they are making their lives even worse. These companies and designers only care about their bank accounts so if they can exploit poor, young people from poverty stricken countries they surely will, and they do. A sweatshop is a factory
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.
In China, Kelsey Timmerman spent time with a couple who worked at the Teva factory, traveled to the countryside to meet the couple’s son, insert name, who hasn’t seen his parents in three years due to his parents working long hours and it being expensive to take a train ride. In the US, the author visited one of a few clothing factories in the US to talk to the workers about his shorts, and the decrease of American garment factories. Timmerman wants the consumer to be more engaged and more thoughtful when mindlessly buying clothes. By researching how well the brands you want to buy from monitor their factories and what their code of ethics details, you can make a sound decision on if this is where you would want to buy your clothes. The author writes about brands that improve employers lives like SoleRebels, a shoe company who employs workers and gives them health insurance, school funds for their children, and six months of maternity leave. Brands like soleRebels that give workers benefits most factory workers have never even heard of help improve the lives of garment workers and future generations. From reading this book, Timmerman wants us to be more educated about the lives of garment workers, bridge the gap between consumers and manufacturers, and be a more engaged and mindful consumer when purchasing our
In his article “Sweatshops, Choice, and Exploitation” Matt Zwolinski attempts to tackle the problem of the morality of sweatshops, and whether or not third parties or even the actors who create the conditions, should attempt to intervene on behalf of the workers. Zwolinski’s argument is that it is not right for people to take away the option of working in a sweatshop, and that in doing so they are impeding on an individual’s free choice, and maybe even harming them. The main distinction that Zwolinski makes is that choice is something that is sacred, and should not be impeded upon by outside actors. This is showcased Zwolinski writes, “Nevertheless, the fact that they choose to work in sweatshops is morally significant. Taken seriously, workers' consent to the conditions of their labor should lead us to abandon certain moral objections to sweatshops, and perhaps even to view them as, on net, a good thing.” (Zwolinski, 689). He supports his argument of the importance of free choice by using a number of different tactics including hypothetical thought exercises and various quotes from other articles which spoke about the effects of regulation business. Throughout the article there were multiple points which helped illuminate Zwolinski’s argument as well as multiple points which muddle the argument a bit.
Under Capitalism, America's free market system offered opportunities of advancing personal interests for laborers while at the same time meeting the labor requirements of our economy. However, once the Chinese immigrants were in the country, capitalism yielded different results for them. The earliest Asian immigrants into any US territory were Chinese laborers in the Islands of Hawaii as early as 1836. These immigrants left a long-lasting impression on industrialists and wealthy European-American through their dedication and hard work (Takaki 21-23). Eventually this led to massive importation of Chinese labor to build everything from cities, bridges and even railroads throughout the rest of 19th century. Since owner can control or decides the labor wage, they had lowered the wage of those jobs to gain the maximum profit. In the west coast numerous Chinese laborers were massively imported as late as early 1900s to build cities. Eas...
All of my life I have considered myself as a person who loves children. I enjoy playing with them, helping them, and just being around them. So when I first agreed with corporations who use child labor I shocked myself completely. After examining two articles; one “The Case for Sweatshops”, by David R. Henderson, and two “Sweatshops or a Shot at a Better Life”, by Cathy Young, I came to the conclusion that in some cases when young children work under proper conditions it can keep them out of the streets and be helpful to them and their families.
Since its creation, Nike has proven itself as a popular brand and it has created niches by selling products such as footwear, apparels and various types of sports equipment. This paper will attempt to trace the product development of Nike shoes from its origins in conception and design to the manufacturing and production process located in contract factories in developing countries to advertising and marketing of Nike as a cultural commodity and finally, the retailing of the footwear around the world.
Heffernan, Margaret. "What happened after the Foxconn suicides." CBS Money Watch . (2013): n. page. Web. 16 Sep. 2013. .
They can have the workers make their product for way less than what it is actually worth. Sweatshops also make products much faster than a regular factory. “In a Mexican sweatshop, workers have a quota of 1,000 products a day, but in order to produce this, they’d have to make one item every minute.” (Clothing). Another factor into this is the fact that America doesn’t produce enough laborers to make the products for them. Where it would take America months to find enough employees, it only takes China 15 days (Social, slide 7-8). In 2011, the US department of Labor reported that 130 typed of goods in 71 different countries were produced by forced labor, child labor, or both (Meinert, 24). This means that consumers are subconsciously endorsing forced labor. The consumers then buy the products that are made by forced laborers; however, most consumers do not realize the history of the clothing that they wear
Americans do not realize the amount of clothing we wear on a daily basis is actually made in Cambodia, such as Adidas and even the Gap. The women that work for these sweatshops in Cambodia sew for 50 cents an hour, which is what allows stores in America, such as H&M to sell inexpensive clothing (Winn, 2015). The conditions these Cambodian workers face are a noisy, loud, and extremely hot environment where people are known for having huge fainting attacks. When workers were on strike a year ago, authorities actually shot multiple people just because they were trying to raise their pay. There is plenty of evidence of abuse captured through many interviews of workers from different factories, and is not just a rarity these places see often or hear of. Factories hire children, fire pregnant women because they are slow and use the bathroom to much, scream at regular workers if they use the toilet more than two times a day, scam hard working employees with not paying them their money they worked for and more, and workers are sent home and replaced if 2,000 shirts are not stitched in one day. Expectations are unrealistic and not suitable for employees to be working each day for more than ten
Abrams, Rachel. “Walmart Is Accused of Punishing Workers for Sick Days.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 June 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/business/walmart-workers-sick-days.html?mcubz=0.
Zhu, Y. & Warner, M. (2000). “An Emerging model of employment relations in China: a divergent path from the Japanese?” International Business Review, 2000, Vol.9 (3), pp.345-361. [03 April 2014]
Foxconn has factories in Asia, Europe, Mexico and South America why is it that only China’s Foxoconn was in highlight and not any other country? While the Chinese factories happened to be the largest factories in China, these factories are also facilitated with dormitories and other infrastructure to host the workers and provide workers to go back at end of the 12 hour shift to relax and reenergize for the next shift. A quarter of the employees live in these so called dormitories. My Case study will analyze how the various news sources revealed the global sweatshop to the world and the reactions by the companies who were using Foxconn to manufacture electronic goods. The Chinese newspaper displayed Foxconn employees having social and psychological reasons leading to suicides whereas US news showed it as human rights violation. Both of them did not acknowledge the social justice and world economy aspects and steps that were taken by the electronics giants to rectify the problems that were being faced in Wuhan, China.