Sweatshop Labor.. Paper 2

Kassandra Weierke

Paper 2

Sweatshop Labor

There is no true dictionary definition of a sweatshop because they are complex and no two are the same. For writing purposes they can be explained as an industrial unit that disobeys at least two or more labor laws. The laws broken are related to human right violations. Sweatshop laborers are subjected to many forms of abuse including low wage, no benefits, very poor working conditions, extreme punishment, and sexual harassment. These companies are relying on women in poor countries that have a limited number of employment opportunities making them the cheapest to employ. (Seager, 2009) Sweatshops are dangerous, with long working hours, and they are using young women and children. Sweatshop employees face long hours, little pay, and dangerous working environments; sweatshops are used all over the world including the United States.

Employees of sweatshops face working 100 hours per week with no overtime pay and limited bathroom breaks. (Martinez, 2001)   Most the time women are not even paid. Women that are employed in these sweatshops are not able to provide basic needs, like food and shelter, let alone any form of health care. Often times their only paid pennies a day for their labor; the environment is unsafe and laborers are often harassed, intimidated, and forced to work overtime. The employees of sweatshops are made to work in dangerous and unhealthy environments that can affect their health. Sweatshops do not give their employees the proper equipment to handle very toxic and poisonous substances. Laborers are expected to handle lethal chemical paints, solvents, and glues with their bare hands. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007)

There are different reasons why sweatshops exist. One main reason is because of the increasing use of products globally. Companies are able to increase their profits by decreasing there costs in as many ways as possible and they set up very low-costs factories that are dangerous. These sweatshop factories try to minimize costs by looking for places that have the lowest wages and poor human right protection policies. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007)  Many places have sweatshops but some of the only documented places are Central and South America, Asia, and regions of Europe. It is believed there are undocumented sweatshops in the U.S. including New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007) A factory in L.A. is able to pocket at least 8.7 million dollars a year while only paying the average Chinese woman $5,464 and Mexican women $6,500 annual. (Martinez, 2001)  Sweatshop companies out of the U.S. control a quarter of the global economy.  (Kristof, 2000)

Studies have found that there are sweatshops in the United States. Studies show that 67% of factories in Los Angeles and 63% of New York factors have violated the minimum wage and overtime laws that exist in the United States. Los Angeles factories are also violating health and safety requirements by performing under conditions like blocked fire exists, unsanitary bathrooms, and poor ventilations. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007) All these things are health hazards and can physical harm their employees. In the United States many retailers have ties to sweatshops. They do this by contracting manufacture firms to produce their goods.  Retailers separate themselves from the products they are buying, so they are able to claim they are unaware and not accountable for the conditions the laborers are working under. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007) The reality of it is the retailers actually dictate the labor standards of the suppliers they buy from because of the demand of inexpensive merchandise causing the manufactures to cut employees’ wages and risk the safety of their employees. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007) Foreign governments set the minimum wage below basic living needs to boost their national economic gain, and American companies are able to get away with this system because U.S. Labor Department requires only inside monitoring. Due to this manufactures are able to lie about their working conditions. Chinese companies consistently shortchange their employees on wages, they withhold health benefits and expose their workers to dangerous machinery and  harmful chemicals, such as, lead, cadmium and mercury. (Barbosa, 2008) If companies are found breaching any human rights they are only held to a minimal fine compared to the profits they are making by out sourcing there products. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007)

Major retailers in the U.S. such as Wal-Mart, JC-Penney, Sears, The May Company (owns Lord  & Taylor, Hecht’s, Filene’s and others) and Federated departments (owns Bloomingdales, Macys, Burdines, and more) rely on sweatshop labor for products. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007) Studies show that Guess Clothing Company is one of the worst offenders. They have been cited several times for abusing labor and they were suspended form the Department of Labor’s list of “good guys” because the manufactures they contract out too have many sweatshop violations. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007) Some of the companies who set up operations overseas to get around the labor laws in the U.S. include Nike, Disney, Wal-Mart, Reebok, Phillip-Van Heusen, the Gap, Liz Claiborne, and Ralph Lauren. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007) These companies get away with using sweatshops because of the internal monitoring. Nike has been found to actually pay private firms to assess the working conditions in the factories they use overseas. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007) Companies like Wal-Mart and Dell have used sweatshops in china that use unjust labor practices, including child labor, 16 hour works days on fast moving assembly lines, and pay their works less than 55 cents an hour. (Barbosa, 2008)  Wal-Mart is one of the world’s biggest retailers and in 2006 they sourced $9 billion in goods from China, everything from hammers and toys to high-definition televisions. (Barbosa 2008)  It disturbs me that even when these companies are busted violating human rights they only receive a small fine and are able to continue using sweatshop labors and risking lives of the employees which most often is women and children.

Ten of thousands of sweatshops around the world have millions of workers, 85% of them are young women ages 15-25. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007) In industrial work it is believe that more than 20 % of working women where employed in industrial sectors in 2003. (Seager, 2009) Even though there are human right agreements international and domestically most countries don’t protect their workers. Most the time they are physical and mentally abused. In Japan the Thai women trafficking produces cheap labor with debt that bonds them to slavery and are forced to work. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007) Indonesia and Bangladesh woman who work in sweatshops are making less than a $1 a day. On average a dress that is retailed at $100 only $1.72 goes to the sewer. (Martinez, 2001) In  Pearl River Delta region near Hong Kong factory workers lose or break about 40,000 fingers on the job every year. (Barbosa, 2008) The worldwide industries of sweatshops include things like electronics, toys, shoes, plastics, and auto parts; also locally based sectors like healthcare, restaurants, construction, food processing and clerical work. (Martinez, 2001)   Some women are held in slave-like conditions and are bought and sold to different employers. These women are forced to work without wages until the debt or fee it took to buy them is paid off. This could take women years to pay back their debt so intern they work for free. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007) The women in sweatshops are exposed to sexual harassment physical abuse and extremely long working hours. Women of childbearing age in some Mexican and Central American plants have to take the depovera shot to prevent pregnancy because the companies don’t want to pay maternity leave. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007)  If the sweatshop women refuse the shots, or becomes pregnant she faces the likelihood of being fired.

Many time sweatshops employ young children because children work for less money and do not complain about the poor working conditions. ("Background on sweatshops," 2007)  Children do not complain about working conditions because this is what they know and they don’t understand that the working conditions are hazardous.  Some sweatshop managers are so cruel they expose these children to dangerous chemicals, deny bathroom breaks, demand sexual favors, and force children to work double shifts. (Kristof, 2000)  Over 160 million children under the age of 14 are engaged in child labor, many in sweatshops because their families are not able to provide enough funds for the basic needs of life. (Seager, 2009) These children are unable to have any form of education and are unable to be kids. Children in sweatshop are sometimes confined and beaten and often times denied the right to leave the factory to go home. (Embar, 2004) Some factories have even abducted children and force them to work. According to the International Labor Organization over 250 million children between the ages of 5 to 14 work in developing countries including Asia, Africa and Latin American. (Embar, 2004) Children are hired, bought, and stolen to provide factories low labor cost. Child labor is most common in the shoe industry most often with sneakers and athletic shows. The next most popular product for child labor is clothing. Children are expected to work a minimal of 60 to 80 hours a week without minimum wage and no overtime pay in harsh working environments. Many clothing products are bought by US Companies to export from overseas with low costs. Clothing is very often made in sweatshops and with the use of child labor. (Embar, 2004) A man named Mongkol admitted that his 15 year old daughter worked in a factory making clothing that export there product to America. His daughter made 2 dollars a day for a nine hour shift; twice Mongkol’s daughter had a needle go all the way through her thumb and was expected to go back to work. (Kristof, 2000)

Sweatshops are companies that break at least two major human right policies. They not only break laws and endanger their employee’s lives and health but they endanger lives of kids and take away important life values like education. The women and children who are working in sweatshops are exposed to sexual abuse, and sexual favors. Females of child baring age are sometimes forced to take forms of birth control to prevent pregnancy because these companies are too cheap to pay maternity leave.  Sweatshop labors are exposed to hazards chemicals without the right equipment which is cause for injury and major health risks later in life. What is disturbing is how many of the companies in America are knowingly using sweatshops across seas to get a cheaper product. Some of these major retail companies such as Wal-Mart and Nike have been found guilty and fined. Our own government only fines and scolds these retail industries using sweatshop; but there are no other repercussions and they are able to continue using sweatshops.  Even with the United States labor laws there are still sweatshop found here today. These sweatshops are providing work for many families, but the conditions are disturbing. I believe these companies and the people that are pro sweatshops need to think about what is actually happening. Yes it is giving poor families a job and helping developing countries economically but would they want to work for a company for $1 a day, 10 hour shifts, 7 days a week with no benefits, no overtime pay; would they want their daughter, sons working in such conditions. People need to look at the facts, the risks, and the benefits and not just the dollar amount of what is actually being done.

References

Background on sweatshops. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/background-sweatshops

Barbosa, D. (2008, January 5). In Chinese factories, lost fingers and low pay. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/business/worldbusiness/05sweatshop.html?_r=1

Embar, W. (2004). Sweatshops and child labor. Retrieved from http://www.veganpeace.com/sweatshops/sweatshops_and_child_labor.htm

Kristof, N. D. (2000, Sep 24). Two cheers for sweatshops. New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. SM170-SM170. http://ezproxy.mnsu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/91333792?accountid=12259

Martinez, E. (2001). Sweatshops, Firsthand. Nation, 273(16), 30-33. http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=8&sid=9e768ec8-d9a6-415f-89f2 12dd73d94af5%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=5535550

Seager, J. (2009). The penguin atlas of women of the world. (4th ed., p. 64, 72).  Penguin Books.