Sweatshop Thesis

Introduction: Sweatshop is mainly a small factory or shop in which workers are poorly paid and work under adverse conditions. This type of sweatshop is mainly common in textile industry in the beginning of twentieth century.

Thesis Statement: Sweatshops have major impacts on economy, workers, and their health.

Considering the effect of sweatshops on economy, the impact can be explained by getting into two main aspects: Business and sweatshops exploitation. Firstly, from the perspective of business, sweatshops have been a factor in the production of goods around the world for centuries, but the globalization of business has led increasing numbers of major corporations to take advantage of low-cost sweatshop labor in developing countries. These are overwhelmingly lucrative since they capitalize on low-wage labor in developing countries and significantly reduce production costs. Many major clothing and footwear companies, for example, have been linked to sweatshops. Brands such as Nike, GAP, Converse and Levi’s, have all been
guilty of numerous violations of requirements for reasonable working conditions in their production facilities.“Free trade” agreements that are supposed to increase the global standard of living actually undermine it – through lowering workers’ wages, eroding workers’ rights, increasing unemployment, and creating a global ‘race to the bottom’ that pits workers against each other instead of promoting global worker solidarity.Next, sweatshop conditions are also horrific for around two million farm workers - exploited, living in sub-poverty misery, without benefits, a living wage, overtime pay, or other job protections, even for children. Because state and federal oversight are lax, Florida workers have been chained to poles, locked in trucks, physically beaten, and cheated out of pay, yet are intimidated to stay silent. Workers are subject to extreme exploitation, including the absence of a living wage or benefits and arbitrary discipline, such as verbal and physical abuse. They are trapped in an awful cycle of exploitation.

The major impact of sweatshops can be find on workers.They are mainly suffering from unfair wages, unreasonable hours of work and even child labour.
Sweatshop workers are paid less than their daily expenses, they are never able to save any money to improve their lives. Some people work for as little as 1 US cent per hour, often more than 100 hours per week in conditions of poor air quality and extreme heat. Workers are forced to work on late nights and irregular timings without any particular schedule.Sweatshops are not an ideal place of work for anyone; however risks are often doubled for children. Children most often do not receive proper training and are not adequately supervised. Another aspect that workers are worried of is, safety. Workers often work in dilapidated buildings where pest infestations and dirty facilities are common.The restrooms in their workplace are often dirty and have poor plumbing, which can attract unwanted
pest.

Sweatshop workers are lining in a hazardous working conditions which includes, life threatening accidents and long term health disabilities were common by-products of employment in the textile mills. Cotton dust caused lung and respiratory diseases. The noise was deafening and impaired hearing. The lighting was poor, the hours long, the work tedious, and the machinery and belting dangerous. Workers are exposed to a slew of toxic chemicals, some of the substances are known carcinogens and reproductive toxins, while others are completely untested, and could carry all sorts of health consequences. Waste from the sweatshops is landfilled or incinerated, a host of toxic chemicals, including carcinogenic heavy metals, can be released into the ground, air, and water which can damage the environment at high scale.