Sweatshops In The United States

Many people believe sweatshops are a thing of the past, but the sad reality is they are still prominent, not only in foreign countries but also right here in the United States. Sweatshops violate human rights, and many big companies we are familiar with are at fault. The term “sweating system” or “sweatshop” first originated in the 1840’s. The earliest definitions of the term did not relate to the actual conditions of the workshops, instead it referred to the relationship between the workers, producers, and designers. How it originally worked was designers of garments would contract with many different small shops. The early sweatshops were in homes, and each shop would work on a part of the garment and would be paid by the piece they completed
(“Sweatshops in America”). Today’s definition is no longer based on the production of the garment, but instead focuses on the working conditions. The United States government describes a sweatshop as an “employer that violates more than one federal or state labor law governing minimum wage and overtime, child labor, industrial homework, occupational safety and health, workers’ compensation, or industry regulation” (“Sweatshops in America). The harsh reality is many big name retailers’ clothing gets produced in factories that are considered “sweatshops” and workers are paid dirt-poor wages yet people in America overlook that issue because they benefit from the cheap labor in foreign countries. One of the biggest issues pertaining to sweatshops is the fact that Americans are not aware that this is happening in their very own home country, the United States. Many Americans turn a blind eye to the fact that sweatshops exist in foreign countries because they benefit from the cheap labor, as the clothing and products they buy are less expensive because companies outsource to other companies and produce items for a much cheaper cost. Here, in the Global North, even the United States faces issues with sweatshops. In 2012, there was a huge raid in Los Angeles. Garments being made inside one single factory were being produced for big name retail stores including Forever 21, Burlington Coat Factory, and Urban Outfitters. During the investigation it was found that the workers were only being paid for the garments they produced and they were not being paid a minimum wage. Federal regulators blocked the shipment of the garments until the retailers paid the workers over $300,000 back in wages. (“Sweatshops in America”). Another big name company that was shamed for its sweatshop practices was Nike. Many consumers in the United States buy Nike products, but did not know that they were only paying their workers in Indonesia 14 cents an hour. Nikes business model was based on outsourcing its manufacturing to foreign countries and using the money it saved on marketing campaigns to draw in even more customers and expand their economic growth. However once people got a hold of this information, Nike changed their ways and rose the minimum age of workers; significantly increased monitoring; and adopted U.S. OSHA clean air standards in all factories. In 2005, they became the first in their industry to publish a list of all the factories they contract with. Nike even created “the Fair Labor Association, a non-profit group that combines companies, and human rights and labor representatives to establish independent monitoring and a code of conduct, including a minimum age and a 60-hour work week, and pushes other brands to join” (Nisen). Although the United States has stricter labor laws in place, that does not mean it is free of sweatshop like conditions. Countries in the Global South such as Cambodia, China, and India are full of sweatshops that produce products for the United States. As more American companies outsource to these countries for cheaper labor we see more sweatshops developing. Many are forced to work, at times abducted, work for less pay than adults, and are denied an education and normal childhood. Some are confined, brutally exploited, beaten, and sexually abused with no one looking out for their welfare. For example in 2009 in a factory in China that produced products for Dell, IBM, and Microsoft it was reported that workers were prohibited from talking, were fined for things such as arriving a minute late, had to wait for scheduled bathroom breaks, and overtime was mandatory. In this specific case done by the National Labor Committee it was found that for 75 hours a week, including overtime, workers made $57.19 or 76 cents an hour (Lendman). Workers are forced to work under these harsh conditions and are exploited as companies continue to expand into foreign countries and find the cheapest and most vulnerable workers.
Sweatshops are more prevalent in the Global South than the Global North, this being because of the social and economic conditions that leave workers vulnerable in these areas.
Sweatshops are attractive to people in places that have fewer employment options, a lack of social services, and impoverished living conditions (Radin, 265). This is often the case in underdeveloped countries. In developing countries sweatshops often involve child labor as well, and the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 250 million between the ages of 5 -14 work in sweatshops in developing countries (Lendman). The United States has a much stricter policy on age in the workplace, and under the Fair Labor Standard Act legally one must be 14 to work and minors under the age of 16 are limited to work a certain amount of hours and are prohibited to work under hazardous conditions. Despite the fact that child labor in sweatshops is not a big issue in the United States, sweatshops still remain an issue. In fact, “In America, the US Department of Labor estimates that half or more of the nation's 22,000 garment factories are sweatshops, mostly in the apparel centers of New York, California, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta”
(Lendman).
Turning a blind eye to sweatshops deprives people from the basic human rights they are entitled too. By turning a blind eye people are basically condoning sweatshops and the harsh conditions people must work under. Sweatshops violate numerous human rights. These violations include Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” However, sweatshop workers are not given the same rights. They are deprived from things in the workplace such as bathroom breaks and are often forced to work an inhumanly amount of hours. The rights these workers are deprived of are basic rights that people often take for granted and any other human would not work under these conditions, yet we as Americans believe it is ok for workers overseas to be treated in this manner. Another article violated is Article 5, which states, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” In regard to sweatshops, this article is violated heavily as workers are basically forced to work and there have even been cases where workers are held against their will in workplaces that are dangerous and unhealthy. Article 23 states that “Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work” yet this is far from reality. People who work in sweatshops do not receive the same pay as other people who work in different factories doing the same job, in fact sweatshop workers do not even receive minimum wage. These workers work torturous hours and are often forced to work overtime and do not receive compensation. This violates Article 24 that states “Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay” (Mapp 222-227). A dehumanized global workforce is ruthlessly exploited, denied their civil liberties, a living wage, and the right to work in dignity in healthy safe environments when they work under sweatshop like conditions (Lendman). Many Americans know of these so called sweatshops or the horrible conditions people in foreign countries work in in order to produce our products, but we still continue to buy from these companies who have expanded globally.
”It is illegal to sell garments made in domestic sweatshops, but many retailers will turn the blind eyes and feign ignorance of labor problems in their supply chain” (Tarver-Wahlquist). Retailers’ primary goal is to make money, and because of this many companies regret to consider the conditions in which people work in their factories overseas. Instead, these companies outsource to the cheapest place possible so they can provide consumers here in the United States a better deal on products which in turn benefits them because consumers will purchase more of their products. So retailers ultimately benefit from sweatshops as they can produce for a cheaper price and continue to make money in their home country by reducing prices for consumers. This is harmful because we continue to buy these cheap products knowing they are made in sweatshops, and these products are so cheap because of the small wages these people are being paid in other countries. For example a big retailer H&M sells cheap clothing and many people buy from this company because of the cheaper prices, but what most people don’t know is many of their factories in different countries have lockable doors that might prevent workers from leaving the factory in an emergency, and these doors are
also not fireproof. Recently, in a Bangladesh factory in February 2016 a fire broke out and some workers were injured but if it had taken place an hour later 6,000 workers would have been inside that factory and it could have been disastrous. In 2010, 21 workers died in an H&M supplier factory because they lacked proper fire exits. “The Bangladeshi workers who sew H&M’s clothing continue to risk their lives at work each day, in many cases lacking the most urgent and lifesaving fire safety measures” (“Join Workers”). Companies need to stop neglecting the issues that go on in these factories overseas and take responsibility to ensure their supplier factories are safe. The United States and countries such as Cambodia, China, and India are connected in the sense that the United States outsources to these foreign countries. In doing so, the United States is partaking in the issue of sweatshops in order to produce cheap goods. “Sweatshops are often established to lower the cost of labor in production and to bring about higher profits for managers and shareholders” (Radin, 265). These countries however in reality rely on the United States also because many people cannot find jobs so they are required to work under these horrible conditions. Garment and textile exports are crucial for the Cambodian economy, even though most of this work is done in sweatshops. “In 2013, Cambodian global exports amounted to roughly US$6.48 billion, of which garment and textile exports accounted for $4.96 billion; export of shoes accounted for another $0.35 billion” (“Work Faster”). Companies in the United States selfishly exploit these people in foreign countries, as they know they are vulnerable and in need of work and often out of desperation they accept these jobs in sweatshops because they are in need of some source of income. This is where we often see issues such as lack of education and women’s rights come into play. People in foreign countries often do not receive that great of an education so they are left with no choice but to accept a job in a sweatshop under the degrading circumstances. Also, “90% of the workforce is female, between the ages of 15 – 25” (Lendman). Women in foreign countries are often denied jobs and cannot avoid these poor working conditions. As companies continue to engage in outsourcing and the use of sweatshops many programs have evolved to address the social issue. One is the Human Rights Watch organization that investigates human rights abuses that are linked to the economic activities of businesses; they expose harmful practice done by multinational corporations that can have drastic impacts on vulnerable communities. Another organization fighting sweatshops is Global Exchange; they are dedicated to promoting social, economic, and environmental justice around the world. Their campaign is called “Sweatfree” and the goal of the campaign is to ensure that taxpayers dollars are not used to underwrite worker exploitation and that clothes, uniforms, and other products bought by our cities and states are not made in sweatshops (“Sweatfree”). There are many organizations out there that are trying to put the spotlight on the social issue of sweatshops and make the general public aware of its impact in these foreign countries. Before purchasing a product people need to take into consideration where this product was made and consider the pain and suffering a worker overseas may have endured to make that item.