SWEATSHOPS(HUMANITIES)

SWEATSHOPS

Q.1 What is a sweatshop and how bad is the problem?

The United States Department

of labor considers sweatshop as an illegal factory that violates two or more labor laws that pertain to fair wage, tax and benefits, working hours and child labor. Anti-sweatshops advocates sweatshops, as a factory that doesn't pay a reasonable living wage, working conditions are unfavorable, does not provide for sick leave, maternity leave and enforce strict work hours to workers to avoid being tag a sweatshop.

This problem is bad worldwide, because no single definition exists(also because sweatshops don't want to show their identity) and it's difficult to determine the worldwide scope of the problem. Adding to this problem is the " the race to the bottom", which means that sweatshops factories don't stay in the same place, if they can shift their company from ever-cheaper and less-regulated locations(they shift because they are aware of their illegal market). For example: The number of sweatshops in Mexico that ascend in 1990s, were entice by the NAFTA companies to close their US operations and move south, and this cause lots of companies in Mexico to move to Asian countries because, of global manufacturing costs continued to shift in Mexico.

Q.2Doesn't low-wage sweatshop employment help alleviate poverty; aren't sweatshops a necessary step on the road to economic development?

Absolutely not. Sweatshops doesn't helps alleviate poverty but instead they put their own workers in a cycle of exploitation that rarely helps benefit their economic situation. The Green America's Corporate Social Responsibility Program Director, Todd Larsen says, that many countries minimum wages are insufficient to climb out of poverty. This example shows us that, sweatshops aren't a necessary step on the road to economic development(in fact, i would say it is a way to the downfall of economic development)and even if they were a road to economic development, why aren't them in the world's most developed economies, but yet still they remain uncovered. For example PBS premiered the film "Made in LA" documenting the fall of sweatshop abuses in Southern California, in 2007.

Q. 3 But if companies have to cut costs to stay competitive, aren't sweatshops inevitable?

No, sweatshop aren't inevitable, if companies have to cut costs to stay competitive, besides low prices are only one of many factors that consumers take into account, when they shop, while most

consumers don't purchase goods made in sweatshops.

Sweatshop expert John Miller(who teaches in Wheaton College about sweatshops) explains how paying decent wages to workers at the beginning of the supply chain has little effect on a company's competitiveness. "Political Economic Research in Mexico industry, found that doubling the pay of non supervisory workers would add just $1.80 to cost of a $100 men sport jacket,"explained Miller.

THINGS MADE IN SWEATSHOPS

SHOES

CLOTHES

RUGS

TOYS

COFFEE

FACTS ABOUT THE THINGS MADE IN SWEATSHOPS

Shoes:- The shoes mostly made in sweatshops are swimming shoes or Nike

Coffee:- Many farmers sell their coffee for less than the cost of production, forcing them into poverty and debt

Rugs:- Almost 1 million children are illegally employed, for making rugs worldwide. 75% of carpet-weavers in Pakistan are made by children under 14.

Toys:- A lot of toys are made in China, Malaysia, Thailand or Vietnam. Workers earn about 30 cents per hour.