...Hiromi Ochi ENG112 Professor Ashley Farmer Unit 2 Essay Sweatshops and the benefits of Fair Trade The great Abraham Lincoln once said, “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” In many countries worldwide, people are being exploited on a daily basis by factories around the world known as sweatshops. A sweatshop is a term used to describe a working environment, commonly factories manufacturing textile goods that are deemed dangerous due to poor working conditions. Workers who work at these sweatshops often endure sexual, physical and mental abuse, who work long unreasonable hours with no leave, lacking any health care benefits whatsoever for meager wage. These sweatshops often employ the usage of child labor and women, as they are easier to control. Today, my research essay will be on sweatshops and how the benefits of Fair trade and anti-sweatshop activism in the long run, can be beneficial. I will explore the poor and harsh working conditions of these workers, how working in a sweatshop can affect their health both mentally and physically, how child labor is being employed in these sweatshops and how women and children are mainly the ones being exploited in these sweatshops. More often than not, many Americans assume that these acts are not ongoing today, and are oblivious to the ways we as consumers, are actually supporting these organizations unknowingly. Authorities should further...
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...Boycotting Sweatshops Name: Guangzhen Lyu Student Number: 300772748 Professor’s Name: Catherine Boote Date of submission: Nov 28, 2014 Boycotting Sweatshops! The sweatshop is like a juicer exploiting cheap labor. At present, going with the development of economy, cost of manufacture is increasing rapidly; many companies are building factories in developing countries. Because it can help them to reduce the production costs. Unfortunately, some factories are sweatshops. And what is sweatshop labour like? Sweatshop laborers generally work 60-80 hours per week and are not paid enough money to put food on the table; they sometimes receive only pennies a day for their labor. Often, the sweatshop environment is unsafe – workers are harassed, intimidated, forced to work overtime, and made to work in dangerous and unhealthy environments, even while sick. Workers handle toxic chemical paints, solvents, and glues with their bare hands. (Michael Conlan, 2010) And the workers of sweatshops are working in terrible working environment, enduring the huge working pressure, and losing legal rights. One of the reasons why do we against sweatshops is they usually with the uncomfortable and unsafe environment. Firstly, sweatshops can not provide...
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...Sweatshop is Conflicts With the Moral Standards PMP 400 Quan Zhang ( Lyla) Royal Roads University Elvira Perrella March 9, 2015 Sweatshop is Conflicts With the Moral Standards Green, B., & Norton, S. (2011). Reading. In. W, Anne & M. Laura ( Eds.), Essay essentials with readings (pp. 336- 341). Toronto, ON: Nelson Education Ltd. In the article, before the research, like many people, the author’s attitude was old, but after the research, the author’s attitude changed. The author chose the country of Bangladeshi to illustrate her point that working in a sweatshop can be a positive experience for women in developing countries by focusing primarily on one country. First, she argued that sweatshops offer jobs for women and give them the opportunity to improve the quality of their lives. Second, women can experience some independence about managing their finances and choosing their marriages although they have the small income. In this article, the author used others’ opinion, details and facts to develop her topic. The data and cases were enough to prove the argument, and the evidence was very creditable and believable. Although this article argued in the opposite way with me, it gave my article a new perspective about the sweatshop labors. What's more, the author gave me a good evidence about counterargument, which work at the sweatshop is better than no jobs. Then I can refutation this counterargument that the sweatshop conflicts with the moral...
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...Sweatshops are immoral The vast majority of Americans are shocked by reports of brutal conditions in overseas factories. The U.S. itself has a proud practice of unions and human rights groups that work to prevent such abuses like child labor, refusal to pay overtime pay, exposure to poisonous chemicals, and unsafe working environments. Every day, people from other countries come to America for a chance to work hard in return for better treatment, higher paying jobs than the jobs they can find in their native country. Consumer demands affect a company’s business decision in many cases. Fashion being so fast paced with many companies competing for the global dollars. Every company has cut prices which in turn has them searching for ways to reduce labor costs. Unfortunately the first thing companies do is outsource and turn to sweatshops for cheap fast labor in order to make a profit and to be competitive in the market. Different ethical perspectives guide ethical decision making in the right direction, wrong direction, and walking a fine line direction. Some companies use ethical decision making as a tool to keep their company out of trouble by using proper moral judgment. While other companies could care less if they are being ethical. The ones with unethical practices will do anything to make a dollar. There are also companies that walk a fine line when it comes to sweatshops. They usually know what regulations they can bend but not break. All in all the last two...
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...working conditions has caused people to form groups to make standards for every country. These groups are fighting against sweatshops and fighting for labor right on behaves of the poor. A couple of the larger groups are, The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, The International Labor Rights Forum formally non-as the National Labor Committee. While there are people fighting against sweatshops, there are also people fighting for sweatshops and educating people on the impact that they have in the communities and in the countries. So what is a sweatshop? According to Global Exchange (2015) sweatshops can defined in many different ways: “The US Department of Labor, a sweatshop is any factory that violates more than one of the fundamental US labor laws, which include paying a minimum wage and keeping a time card, paying overtime, and paying on time. The Union of Needle trades Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), the US garment workers union, says any factory that does not respect workers’ right to organize an independent union is a sweatshop. Global Exchange and other corporate accountability groups in the anti-sweatshop movement would add to this definition any factory that does not pay its workers a living wage—that is, a wage that can support the basic needs of a small family.” What countries and companies are being affected by these anti-sweatshop groups and what is considered a “living wage”? A few of the countries that are affected are: Thailand, the Philippines...
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...Your interpretation of this writing piece is very similar to mine in that we both acknowledge that most of us have heard of sweatshops, but we do not know what makes them so horrible. Most of us imagine a dirty factory, but Ravisankar reveals that there are many other terrors. You later mention that colleges try to buy apparel from companies that pay their employees fairly. Before reading this editorial I was not aware that most universities did this, and now I am curious as to whether or not this is why their clothes are so expensive. Later, you write that it is not the labor-rights activists fault that a company relocates, because it is a company’s decision to move to a different location. The activists are not trying to destroy the workers...
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...Sweatshop Labor Tiffany Carter PHL 320 April 18, 2016 Douglas Reed Sweatshop Labor Sweatshop labor is used to increase production and profitable revenue within a company for the least amount of extra time and money. Using sweatshop labor is often times used to keep up with consumer demands, while the ethical perspectives of the company are jeopardized leaving the company's ethical environment extremely questionable. Sweatshop labor is against more than two labor laws and is a environment which is prevalent all over the world. Laws have been created to help eliminate and punish companies which use sweatshop labor. Consumer demands often times drive companies to utilize sweatshops for production. When demands from the consumer increase companies look for ways to increase production at the lowest cost possible. They fail to see the unlawfulness and ethics violations that go along with labor law violators. The rise in revenue for companies which use sweatshops is very benefiting if the company is not found to be using sweatshops. Decisions like these normally come from high ranking officials who are only thinking about the bottom line of revenue and not the violations and fines the company will have to pay for. Different ethical perspectives guide decision making when the gains are better than the current situation the company may be experiencing. The unethical decisions which are made normally benefit a few select members of a company for only their personal gains in...
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...In America, the term, sweatshop, was properly coined in during the (American) Industrial Revolution. (Liebhold & Rubenstein, 1998) The very word, sweatshop appears intimidating because of the horrid history behind it and the very pillars in which the idea was based upon even the official definition of the word “sweatshop” means “a shop or factory in which employees work for long hours at low wages and under unhealthy conditions,” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). On the other hand, though the term is looked down upon, corporations still exist to this day using sweatshops as a form of labor in order to produce the product(s) they desire (Liebhold & Rubenstein, 1998). In order to completely comprehend the idea of why the proposal of the sweatshop...
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...economies. Rate of trade within the countries have increased with the removal of trade barriers. Trade protection policy is made which protect the trade. Another force that drives globalization will be the enhanced technology in this new era. Digitalisation and invention of technology at a lower cost have massively integrated national markets. No doubt that it has opened new and better area of expansion to the multinational companies. For example, Mc Donald has seized the chance to expand itself and establish its name in the entire world by using the influence of social media. 2.0 Other Causes of Sweatshop Countries such as China and India are commonly known for their high poverty rate compared to other countries around the world. Also, we need to highlight that the amount of sweatshops in these two countries are fairly high as well. The cause of the existence of sweatshop is mainly due to capitalism. According to a graduate student from University of Denver Justin Guay, labourers today are economic terms, short term, and capital investments with high rates of return. In 1995, Newman, a...
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...It is no secret that sweatshops are horrible areas of employment. The prevalence of child labor, poor working conditions, and little pay has given sweatshops notoriety amongst the economic and political world. However, when placed in the context of the respective areas sweatshops reside in; sweatshops take on a much more favorable form. Sweatshops arise in poor areas around the world, and this actually plays a major factor when looking at the positive aspects of sweatshops. These aspects include a greater source of income than other local jobs, a better alternative mean of making money, and a positive impact upon women in poor countries. Sweatshops are infamous for providing low wages, but when analyzed in the context of other employment industries in countries where sweatshops are common, sweatshop wages are actually a steady source of income. For example, ninety percent of countries that contain sweatshops produce income that is larger than the overall average income of that respective country. In some cases, up to half of sweatshop countries yield earnings up to three times the national average (Powell). In terms of income, sweatshops allow a superior means of making money than other jobs. Any movement that tries to prohibit sweatshops has to realize that the removal of sweatshops discards a remarkable source of money that citizens desperately need and cannot get anywhere else. The growing movement towards abolishing sweatshops not only removes a decent source of pay, but...
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...Sweatshops in America Having a globalized economy provides easy access to just about anything we want or need; however we almost never know where these items come from or how they were produced. You don’t need to go to a third world nation to find a sweatshop as they are very prevalent in California and New York. Sweatshops exist because large retailers don’t produce their own clothing. They hire manufactures to coordinate production, and the manufactures typically enter into contracts that require quick turnaround. Sweatshops in America produce a big portion of the shirts, dresses, blouses, and skirts on the shelves of big American retailers. Retailers often claim they are unaware of the conditions in which their clothes are produced. The retailer reaps the benefits of this labor; without, taking responsibility of the cheap production. Sweatshops are back in America because in recent decades, many garment manufacturers have moved overseas and unions have become less powerful. Devastating budget cuts severely limited the U.S. Department of Labor policing of garment factories. There are now only 800 wage, and hour inspectors employed by the Department of Labor. They inspect six million work sites of all kinds in the USA making it easy to avoid inspection. It is estimated that 4,500 of New York’s 7,000 garment factories are sweatshops. These sweatshops are often mobile operations, making them even more difficult to regulate. The only equipment that is really needed...
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...ABC co. 253 Broadway New York, NY 10007 www.abcCO.com Phone- 212-577-7020 Contact: John Doe FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tel. 212-555-999 Cell Phone: 347-852-9555 Email: abcCO@gmail.com New policy to improve sweatshops work conditions and labor ABC co is proud to release a new policy to improve our work environment and labor in the sweatshops. To prevent any problems with the sweatshop we are releasing a new policy. The new policy will features strict supervision, safer environment, and provide enough income for the employees. Although there are many sweatshops, ABC co intends to offer more, having a new policy means safer work environment. In order to commit to this new policy the company supplier has to agree to it and sign a contract. This way ABC co will know what is going to be done to the factories. This new policy will have an impact on all of us not just ABC co. The consumer would be pleased with the products they purchase comes from a safe work environment. The employees will know there will be no forced labor and they will have their rights. We as a company would like to improve our work environment since most of the sweatshops work conditions are really in bad conditions. We want to have our reputation as an excellent company. We know by releasing this new policy will make a change to our company. This would be great opportunity for the company to get known as a company that have a safe work environment and treat the employees...
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...Sweatshops are factories established all around the world where globalized companies such as Wal-Mart force cheap labourers to work for more than 16 hours a day in tough condition, resulting in making $1-$2 as their daily income. Fortunately, as a nation, we all can do something about this crisis that these labourers are facing. In order to stop sweatshops, we need to spread more awareness all over the world by using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or by starting a group of protesters to go against sweatshops. If we use one of these options, we will be able to gain more attention from the media and spread further awareness to people who do not know about this problem. Another way to help prevent...
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...Sweatshop Labor and Ethics What is sweatshop labor and is it unethical for clothing companies to engage in such practices? Sweatshop labor is a practice in which workers are taken advantage of by companies paying sub-standard wages and overworking them in difficult situations or dangerous environments. Sweatshops are most prevalent in the “apparel and shoe industries and in toy making.” (Meyers, 2004) Even if such exploitative relationships are mutually beneficial and driven by market demands, manufacturers are engaging in unethical labor practices and companies should forego such conduct “even when the conduct is legal.” (Mayer, 2007) Consumer Demand It can be argued that consumer demand can directly impact how companies make business decisions. Consumer demand can dictate the production of goods, which can cause companies to look towards the bottom line in order to maximize profits while minimizing cost. This can lead companies to make decisions that fall into an ethically grey area. Ethical Perspectives Ethical decision making can be guided by each individual’s ethical perspective. While each perspective has its own strengths, it also has its own weaknesses. Examining the business decisions resulting in the Challenger disaster in 1986 through a behavioral ethics perspective, analysts are able to demonstrate that ethically ambiguous decisions plague companies to this day. At the time, NASA was notified by the contractor that there was statistical information that...
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...Labor Practices - Sweatshops Astrid Vargas PHL/320 April 6, 2015 Jennifer Stephens A “sweatshop” is defined by the United States Department of Labor as a factory that violates two or more labor laws. The use of questionable labor practices, popularly knows as “sweatshop labor”, is widespread in the production of consumer goods (Paharia, 2013). Major international brands such as Nike and Apple are some of the high-profile companies that have been exposed to such labor abuses. Most members of society automatically consider sweatshops as an unacceptable source of labor because they are known for subjecting employees to dangerous and unsanitary labor conditions. Research organizations have consistently found that while economists and activists disagree about the costs and benefits of such practices, consumers have a strong preference to purchase products made without sweatshop labor. Mostly because consumers are concerned and often disturbed when labor abuses occur but the demand for products that guarantee favorable working conditions remains low. Unfortunately, there are a variety of reasons that explain why this is an ongoing, conflicting situation. While surveys and research suggest that people do not endorse the use of sweatshop labor, actions speak louder than words. If consumers really cared as they stated, there would be more demand for sweatshop free products and companies to profit from such products. Consumers may not really disapprove of these practices and instead...
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