sweatshops (1)

8/3/2019 Sweatshops (1)

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Sweatshops



Ethical Questions

• How do we determine the

responsibilities of corporations

for the well-being of workers,

especially internationally?

• How do we create structures

that allow people to achieve

their human dignity through

their work?



What Are Sweatshops?

• Workplaces characterized by harsh, unhealthy conditions and

violations of workers rights, whose employees work excessivehours but are paid very low wages

• Most common in garment-manufacturing and shoe industries

• 19th century immigration influx led to

sweatshops in U.S. and continental Europe

• 20th century industrialization sprouted

sweatshops in Asia and Latin America

• By the mid-20th century, sweatshop practices

outlawed in most developed countries

• Sweatshop locations include: Indonesia, China, Taiwan,

Cambodia, Mexico, Saipan, NYC, LA, Miami, El Paso,

Chicago, Philadelphia, etc.



Arguing the Sweatshop Issue: Pro Laborers choose to work in sweatshops. It’s easier for children than

toiling in a field and better than prostitution.

Wages earned in sweatshops supply workers their only

source of livelihood. They want/need the jobs.

Sweatshops stimulate the economies and developmentof third world countries.

Without sweatshops, both consumers and corporations lose money.

Prices in developing countries are lower; therefore, low wagessuffice.

If corporations are forced to pay higher wages, they will cut jobs(unemployment).



Arguing the Sweatshop Issue: Against

Wages are below the cost of living (i.e. 10 cents per

hour, 30 cents per hour, 60 cents per hour, yetcompanies charge high prices for products.

Human rights are continuously violated insweatshops, where workers are beaten, verbally

abused, and sexually harassed.

Those in developed countries have no right to livewell at the expense of those in developing nations.

All people deserve the same standard of living.

Sweatshops have no ventilation, no toilets, and noemergency exits. They are crowded and dirty, andworkers are often exposed to toxic chemicals.



Against Sweatshops (ctd.)

Children are forced to work rather than attendschool.

Workers feel as though a sweatshop is all theyhave/deserve. It is not free choice.

Workers risk death if they call for improvements infactory conditions.

Those opposing sweatshops don’t wish to close thefactories and take away jobs; instead, they want all

workers to be paid a living wage in healthyconditions.



Mariana Islands Sweatshops•14,000 sweatshop workers contribute 65% of itseconomy--second most profitable industry is tourism

•April 9, 2005 -- A flood of cheap clothing fromChinese labor forced laid-off sweat shop workers inSaipan to choose between working in China for afraction of the wages or pursuing legal aid withoutmuch hope of success.

•Saipan's annual clothing shipment is roughly equalto one month of China's

•minimum wage in Saipan: $3.05; minimum wage inChina: 30¢

•Under the Clinton Administration, Congress worked

to pass a bill stripping the Mariana Islands ofexemption from immigration and minimum wage laws;legislation passes. However, Republican lobbyistJack Abramoff and Texas Rep. Tom DeLay killed thebill in the House on the grounds that the low taxesand free enterprise of the Mariana Islands should be

left alone.



Sweatshops and Wal-Mart




• Wal-Mart products

• Produced in 48 different countries

• Products mainly from Asian and Central

American factories

• Produced using sweatshop labor




• Wal-Mart as an importer

• 10% of all Chinese imports are imported by Wal-Mart

•Own global procurement division

• The Wal-Mart Squeeze

• Endless quest to squeeze countries for lower wages and

cheaper goods

• Lowering working standards where ever they go




• Textiles and Wal-Mart

• Produced by young women 17 to 25 years old

• Forced to work seven days a week

• 12 to 28 cents an hour

• No benefits

• Housed in crowded and dirty dormitories

• 24-hour-a-day surveillance




• “Toys of Misery” and Wal-Mart

• Seventy-one percent of the toys sold in the U.S. comefrom China

• 13- to 16-hour days molding, assembling, and spray-painting toys

• 20-hour shifts in peak season (Christmas)

• Seven days a week

• Paid as low as 13 cents an hour

• Live in Shacks or Dorms

• No medical care or safety equipment

• Poor Conditions




• Not just China

• Bangladesh

•El Salvador



Who’s wearing NIKES?

Please check your shoes to see if theywere manufactured in Vietnam, China, orIndonesia

If they were, they were produced in asweatshop!



Sweatshop-fueled: the Biggest OffendersNike

• Factories in Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, and China.

• Workers receive: $2.00 a day.• Cost of shoes: $65.00 (“Air Force Chrashin”) to $125.00

(“Zoom Lebron III”). (according to Nike.com) • Nike pays superstars like Lebron James and Tiger Woods

$90 million - $100 million to endorse their products.

Abercrombie & Fitch•Factories in Saipan.

•Workers receive: up to $3.05 per hour•Cost of polos: $40.00; Cost of jeans: $148.00 (accordingto Abercrombieandfitch.com).

•Net income per year: $158 million



Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic• Factories in China, Taiwan, South America, Mexico,

Russia, Cambodia and Saipan.• Pay for a Cambodian Gap sweatshop employee: $0.21

per hour

• Cost of Gap jeans: $.58.00 (according to gap.com).• 2005 net income: $1, 150 million.

Disney•Factories in Vietnam, Haiti, China

•Workers receive: $0.11, $.0.17 per hour•Cost of pajamas: $40 (according to Disney.com).

•Disney’s sales: about $25 billion per year.

J. Crew•Sweatshops in Los Angeles, Saipan.•Workers receive $2.00 per hour.•Cost of J. Crew sweaterL $248.00 (Jcrew.com).•J. Crew makes 21 million dollars a year.

http://www.jcrew.com/home.jhtml



Alternatives to Sweatshops

• Minimum wage facilities

• As a single person you could stop buying things fromsweatshops.

• It was hard to find an alternative…because it is hardto find people who would work in place of those whoare currently in sweatshops being mistreated.

• *people currently working in sweatshops in the U.S.

are usually illegal immigrants• Abolish child labor and open schools

• Establish health and safety codes



Sweatshops & Cycles of Poverty, Violence, and

Despair

• Cycle of Poverty- they get paid solittle that it is hard to dig themselvesout of that hole of poverty, whichthen creates an ongoing cycle.Their children then grow up in

poverty and from the generations itcontinues on.• Cycle of Despair- People lose

hope that they can get out of thehorrible situation, which then makesit tougher for them to get out of thesituation because they feel like no

matter what they do things aren’tgetting better.

• Cycle of Violence- Because theycant afford enough for their families,they then turn to violence. Betweenthese three things they are all

linked together and build off of eachother.



Agencies Against Sweatshops

•Fair Trade Federation -- a group of wholesalers and retailerscommitted to providing their workers with fair wages andworking conditions.

• International Labor Organization -- focuses on labor policy and laws,especially child labor.

• National Labor Committee -- is dedicated to educating people aboutsweatshops and does research on sweatshops around the world and thecorporations who abuse them.

• Sweatshop Watch -- a coalition of organizations dedicated to eliminating

sweatshops.

• United States Against Sweatshops -- a nationalcoalition of students formed in 1998.



Ethical Questions Revisited•

How do we determine the responsibilities of corporations for the well-being of workers, especially

internationally?

• How do we create structures that allow people to

achieve their human dignity through their work?

sweatshops (1)

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