Sweatshops

All over the world it is happening. Companies such as Nike, Reebok, Disney, Wal-Mart, and other main-steam retailers are moving overseas to produce their goods. Due to a large number of underprivileged countries who suffer from lack of strong economies, low-priced labor and a willing work force are widespread. Companies can achieve massive production while paying their workers well below a living wage. While this may be extremely helpful to the company getting this cheap labor, how is this affecting the life style of these workers? Is this really such a bad thing? If the workers are willing, is there no way to improve their pay and work-place conditions?

Many people will look at the situation and immediately take a side. Supporters of sweatshops say they are good for the developing a country and people who refuse to buy from these companies are hurting that country's development. While activists against sweatshops argue they are abusing the workers and not providing enough pay or adequate working conditions. However, the situation is more complex then a one-sided argument. To really understand what is going on, there has to be a median where the two sides meet and agree.

Foremost it is important look at the ugly side of sweatshops. "For all the controversy that surrounds the issueÐ'...one thing is perfectly clear: conditions in sweatshops are usually horrible (Zwolinski)." It is not uncommon for workers to pass out from exhaustion or become sick from poor sanitation. The workers are usually crowded into rooms that are only designed to hold half of the people working there. Many of these factories have little to no ventilation system, and the air is impure. When seasons change there is often no air condition or heat, forcing workers to keep themselves comfortable. Bathroom breaks are rare, with only one or two per day. Furthermore, bathrooms are usually unsanitary without running water and limited in number (Given).

Factory supervisors verbally harass, physically abuse, and assault their workers. Since women make up about 90 percent of the sweatshop labor, the physical or verbal assaults are usually sexual in nature. Most of these women working are between the ages of 15 and 22, and have missed the chance for an education because they must work long hours to support their family (Given). It is not morally acceptable to allow this to continue.

The wages that sweatshop workers are given is not enough to support a proper lifestyle. Food, shelter, clothing, and other basic human necessities are not being provided for by paying these workers only a fraction of what they should be making. Countries such as Pakistan have sweatshops that only pay workers 23 cents per hour. Compare that with the CEO's of companies that employ these people, and there is 20,000% difference in wages (Sweatshop Watch). I guarantee that if a CEO spent a day in the life of a sweatshop worker, they would be forced to raise wages.

Some may question why these individuals chose to work at such a horrible job. Their motives for taking such a job must vary from person to person. One worker may be there of their own free will, while others are being forced by their families or threats. "If those individuals had a better alternative, they would have taken it. Of course, this argument only holds where workers are not physically coerced into working at a particular plant. Cases of sweatshops hiring armed guards to ensure that their workforce does not leave exist, but they are rare (Zwolinski)." In the US most sweatshop workers are in the country illegally, and have no choice but to work for the low wages they receive. They run the risk of being caught by leaving the job or looking for a new job elsewhere (Given).

So what can be done to improve the situation? There are many paths to improve and possibly eliminate the problem all together. Corporations have distorted precedence when it comes to money. Numerous companies are putting expenses like CEO income and advertising cost before the welfare of their workers. In one such case, Nike, who is well known for using sweatshops to create shoes and other apparel, could improve its workers life very simply. If Nike would just devote 1% of its advertising budget to workers' salaries each year, it could pay all its individual workers enough to feed and clothe themselves and their families (Given)!

"Corporations set up sweatshops in the name of Ð''competition'. In reality these corporations are not facing profit loses or bankruptcy, just too little profit! During this century, workers real wages have gone down while CEO's salaries have skyrocketed. In 1965 the average CEO made 44 times the average factory worker. Today, the average CEO makes 212 times the salary of the average worker (Given)."

Now that the ugly sides of sweatshops have been identified, it is now time to look at how sweatshops are having a positive effect around the world. Even though there is a load of things that are being done wrong, there are also some things that are good about having sweatshops present.

Sweatshops can improve the life of people who work at them. Even though there are a lot of bad examples of sweatshops there are also some good ones. In Pakistan, Ahmed Zia, a 14-year-old boy who works in a carpet factory, makes 2 dollars per day and he loves it. "Carpet-making is much better than farm work. This makes much more money and is more comfortable," Zia said (Chalifoux).

More examples are present worldwide. "Nike used to have two factories in Cambodia, but the factories were closed after the Western world created a public outcry. As a result, more than 2000 Cambodians, mostly women, were jobless. Some became caught up in the country's sex