“Only 4 out of the top 10 nations that have the highest number of suspected sweatshops have an hourly wage that exceeds $1 per hour.” (“Calculating Profitability Index Examples.”) Sweatshop workers hardly make a livable wage even though they work for hours everyday. They also have to deal with working in terrible physical conditions. The treatment these workers are receiving is atrocious and there should be more things done to stop it. Cambodian Sweatshop Conditions Due to the harsh working conditions in the sweatshops of Cambodia, “more than 900 {people} in {the} first 8 months of 2012, and 2000 in total in 2012” fainted on the job. One worker at a Cambodian garment factory, Chem Chan, says, “The air is bad, the toilets are dirty, the machines are so loud, and you have to breath all the stuff coming off the …show more content…
cloth”(Kane, Page 7). These conditions are unacceptable and action should be taken to help better these. Bad physical working conditions are not the only thing that harm these workers. Women in these sweatshops also have to deal with sexaul harrasment. “The forms of sexual harassment that women reported include sexual comments and advances, inappropriate touching, pinching, and bodily contact”(Muscati). Women should not be treated in such manners as these. The fact that this goes on and there is nothing done about it shows how much the companies really care about their workers and the environment of their workplace. The employees, however, have tried to take action to have a better working place. Unfortunately, whenever these people try to take action to try to be treated fairly, they are “brutally crushed”(Muscati). Physically harming people for just trying to make themselves a little more comfortable is outrageous and there is no need for such violence. It should be a priority of these companies to make their workers feel comfortable and safe in the workplace and it is obvious they have no intention of doing that. Cambodian Workers Pay Another thing that makes the conditions of sweatshops in Cambodia infuriating is the wages these workers are being paid. As of November 2014, Cambodian workers had a wage of $128. That is not even half of the “estimated living wage of $283”(Kane, Page 2) for the Cambodian people. Most workers also have to “spend approximately $15 to $20 for a rented room per month”(Tolson). These workers still have to pay to rent an apartment with “two to seven people”(Tolson) with their hard earned money. The companies do not even try to help give their workers a comfortable living space. They also take a decent amount of their workers paychecks based on what workers are paid in a month. The garment workers of Gap, H&M, etc., are also only being paid “about $3 a day”(Tolson). These wages are not even “enough to eat much less afford housing”(Tolson). Whenever workers try to protest and get higher wages, it ends “in a military crackdown and riots”(Tolson). These crackdowns have gotten people injured or even killed. “Four garment workers were shot dead, another was shot in the chest and is missing, and more than 30 were injured”(Tolson). These people are only trying to take initiative and fight for their rights to be treated fairly. Sadly, some of them die trying to get the rights owed to them. Cambodian Workers Underpayment and Forced Overtime To make things even worse, these workers are also being forced to work on the days they are suppose to have off.
Even though “forced labour”(Kane, Page 8) is illegal, some garment factories still force the workers to work. These companies that own the factories are not getting in any real trouble for this. The owners can go on with their everyday lives while workers are being forced to work in horrible conditions. The factories are hardly making any effort to fix the terrible conditions, yet they expect the workers to work whenever they need them with very little pay. One H&M factory went so far as to make their employees work on Sunday “but without overtime pay”(Muscati). Forcing people to work on the one day they have off and not even giving them a penny of their labor is outrageous. These people put so much of themselves into the job, and it is a real shame that the companies do not return the favor. Working in sweatshops may be a better option for some of these people, but it still does not give the companies the right to treat them they way they do. These companies could still “provide better wages and working conditions”(Carson, Page
1). Treatment of Argentina and Bolivia Sweatshop Workers Cambodia is not the only country to have a problem with how they treat their employees in these sweatshops. Argentina and Bolivia sweatshop workers are also being forced to “live and work in the same space”(Root, Page 636). The employees of these clothing factories are practically slaves to the owners. They are not even allowed to leave the “factories without permission”(“Zara Faces Inquiry over Sweatshops”). It is infuriating to think of how these people(the workers) are not even allowed to have a life outside of work without permission from their employers. They work “13 hours a day”(“Zara Faces Inquiry over Sweatshops”) and the only thanks they get is restrictions on being able to have a personal life. Both adults and children are living “in places where they worked”(“Zara Faces Inquiry over ‘Sweatshops’”). These people were living in “terrible conditions” and they were being “held against their will”(“Zara Faces Inquiry over ‘Sweatshops’”). The workers of these factories, whether old or young, are having to follow every single instruction given to them by their employers. These instructions have began to interfere with their personal life and it is unjustifiable. These children are not even being allowed to play and be a real child. They are having to live their lives in factories and horrible conditions. The employees of these sweatshops, although they may be classified as “free”, are really not. People cannot be “coerced and forced to work as slaves”(Carson, Page 2) and still be considered free. They, the company employers, are taking the personal lives of their employees away by doing this. Argentina and Bolivia Working Conditions and Actions Taken to Stop Them Besides being treated like slaves, the Argentina and Bolivia sweatshop workers have to deal with horrible working conditions too. The only reason people began making clothing in sweatshops was to “keep retail prices competitive”(Root, Page 633) and “designers and consumers sought more transparency”(Root, Page 633). They did not start sweatshops out of concern for the quality of the clothes or the benefit of the employees. This has been made very obvious by the awful working conditions and lack to help employees feel comfortable. The “Argentine sweathops owner sell their merchandise to medium-sized and large stores for much more than they pay their workers”(Valente). These workers are working very hard to make the clothing for these companies and they are not even getting close to their fair share of money. These working conditions consist of things such as “cramped quarters with little ventilation and, often, limited access to water and gas”(Trigona). These workers work for hours everyday in these conditions, and there has been no move by the companies to change them. These conditions can only cause more harm and fatigue on the workers. If the workers are going to be forced to live and work in these factories, than the companies should take an initiative to help keep them comfortable. These companies force their employees to work “18-hour days for a weekly wage of 50 pesos (a6 dollars), in overcrowded conditions”(Valente). These people are being forced to work long hours in horrible conditions for barely anything. Luckily, there has been some action taken to try to get rid of the sweatshops in Argentina and Bolivia. “The Buenos Aires city government’s new offensive against slave labour has resulted in the closure of 30 clandestine textile sweatshops in the Argentine capital”(Valente). This movement is helping to stop some sweatshops and will hopefully scare the remaining sweatshops into treating their employees better. The Minister of Production of Buenos Aires is also taking an initiative to try and put an end to these sweatshops. “30 out of 54 workshops inspected this were closed, due to the appalling conditions in which about 300 Bolivians were working”(Valente). Over half of the workshops they inspected were shut down due to bad working conditions. This act helped some people get out of dangerous working conditions and it may also inspire other workshops to make better working conditions for their workers. Sweatshops in Cambodia, Argentina, and Bolivia all seem to have very poor physical working conditions and poor morals on how to treat their workers. Even though some people get hurt or possible killed in trying to end these conditions, some places are actually making progress in putting an end to the sweatshops. Hopefully more attention will be brought on the real conditions of sweatshops so that we can put an end to the terrible treatment of the workers.
It is often said that products made in sweatshops are cheap and that is why people buy those products, but why is it behind the clothes or shoes that we wear that make sweatshops bad? In the article Sweat, Fire and Ethics by Bob Jeffcott is trying to persuade the people and tell them how sweatshops are bad. Bob Jeffcott supports the effort of workers of the global supply chains in order to win improved wages and good working conditions and a better quality of life of those who work on sweatshops. He mentions and describes in detail how the conditions of the sweatshops are and how the people working in them are forced to long working hours for little money. He makes the question, “we think we can end sweatshops abuses by just changing our individual buying habits?” referring to we can’t end the abuses that those women have by just stopping of buying their products because those women still have to work those long hours because other people are buying their product for less pay or less money.
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.
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
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.
The mere idea of sweatshops, let alone their existence, seems cruel and unusual to people like us, especially in today's day and age. After all, in sweatshops "workers are subject to extreme exploitation. This includes... (not) enabling workers to cover ...
The factory workers are stuck in a complicated position where they are taken advantage of and exploited. While “exploitation occurs on any level” these factory workers do not have the opportunity to exploit others because they are the ones being exploited (Timmerman 7). Tension is created between the corporations, factory owners and workers, because the factory owners force the workers into harsh labor and intense working conditions that they were told
...e their product. Sweatshops are found usually all over the world and need to make a better decision as in more labor laws, fair wages, and safety standards to better the workers' conditions. It should benefit the mutually experiences by both the employers and the employees. Most important is the need to be educated about their rights and including local labor laws.
What do we think of when we hear the word sweatshop? Many people associate that word with female immigrant workers, who receive very minimal pay. The work area is very dangerous to your health and is an extremely unsanitary work place. The work area is usually overcrowded. That is the general stereotype, in my eyes of a sweatshop. All if not more of these conditions were present in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. This company was located in New York City at 23-29 Washington Place, in which 146 employees mainly women and girls lost their lives to a disastrous fire. “A superficial examination revealed that conditions in factories and manufacturing establishments that developed a daily menace to the lives of the thousands of working men, women, and children” (McClymer 29). Lack of precautions to prevent fire, inadequate fire-escape facilities, unsanitary conditions were undermining the health of the workers.
I don’t necessarily agree with people working their butts off, basically for nothing. The people that work in these sweatshops are under paid and over worked but that is why US companies send their business over to these foreign countries because they make more product for less labor. In some cases, it is a very sad situation. Companies do not operate ethically in these areas that condone human right abuse. Is it right, no but they still do it because it makes the company a profit along
What is found at sweatshops though, is quite the opposite. The highest wage within a sweatshop goes to the senior operators. The already low salary of a sweatshop worker, is actually decreasing, as the median wage for a senior operator at a sweatshop decreased by 29 percent from 1994 to 2010. These senior operators are of the highest rank, and according to Niagara Textiles, located in Bangladesh, now earn only 20 cents an hour, or 488 dollars per year. In fact, the same sweatshop have reports of workers being beaten for asking to receive their pay on time. They are also forced to work 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, with one day off at most. These workers have the longest hours, worst treatment, and most tedious conditions and still barely get paid enough to sustain themselves, let alone families. Sweatshops are completely immoral, and are under complete violation of the codes of
This happens all the time in different countries every year, and this can definitely impact a nation economy. It is inhumane from big successful corporations like Nike or Forever 21 to do to their workers. A change definitely needs to be made so that these workers get paid fairly and not only within the U.S, but also in other countries all around the world. NAFTA (North American Trade Organization) is being blamed for sweatshops called Maquiladoras found along the U.S borders on the Mexican side where: “The overabundance of workers enables the factories to pay $50 for a 48 hour week. Yes, that is about one U.S. dollar per hour! If the factory were on the California side of the border, the minimum wage would be $8/hr. (the federal wage would be $6.55)” (Villagran, G. 2009). Clearly, anti-sweatshops laws could be enforced so that every workers have equal rights, benefits, and pay. On the other hand, in countries such as Honduras, people want to work in sweatshops because they are the best jobs available to them and it is their best and only option to be able to make a little money. Sweatshops can be described positively mainly
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
Sweatshops increase the standards of living for the workers and their communities. The comparison between working conditions in the United States against
...every corner of the globe. When those low costs occur as a result of inferior, and even illegal, working conditions, then sweatshops are a major global problem. A possible solution would be to change, or at least modify, the conditions under which sweatshops continue to function. Universal workers rights, with minimum age and minimum wages could be a solution. Still, certain countries will always have the advantage of low cost labor and will exploit that advantage in the international marketplace. However, the disparity between the great differences in labor cost can be lessened, but it can best be done by continuing to promote world free trade and continuing to improve the quality of life in developing nations, where low cost labor is most abundant.
“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight, and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived, and died in cotton fields, and sweatshops.”- Stephen Jay Gould. Sweatshops exploit people, and children. They take advantage of their poverty, and there need, for a better life. Sweatshops are one of the worst things that ever happened to the business world, and poor people around the world. Sweatshops should be stopped, and ended.