Sweatshops

A detailed Summary of Sweatshops

How do Sweatshops tie into our Nation's Products?

Many companies and schools in the United States buy their products from factories that have their workers working in horrible conditions. That is employing over 50,000 workers to work in these conditions. They have the workers work from 5 A.M. until nighttime inhaling dangerous chemicals and working in temperatures that get as high as 130 degrees. These high temperatures cause heat stress, burns, and injuries to workers. Many of the factories that the United States buys from are in another countries. In these countries they have horrible working conditions. Working in these places called sweatshops should be banned. Sweatshops are "a shop or factory in which employees work long hours at low wages under poor conditions."

These factories cause problems for their workers later in the worker's life. Occasionally these problems lead to death. Many workers do not get to see a doctor when they are ill. Workers choose to go work to make money rather than see a doctor. Most do not receive regular vaccinations that help their body fight against "smallpox, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, and diphtheria". A sweatshop factory brings visions of dangerous, filthy, and cramped conditions.

The conditions of these factories are not safe for anyone to work in. The factories are not kept clean, so many workers contract diseases making it easier for anyone to become ill. The chemicals used in the factory gives off many fumes, which make people sick. Many workers become ill and are not able to go home. There are not very many windows in the factory for the fumes to escape. Workers contract respiratory diseases, like asthma, or even death, making it difficult for them to work. These unsanitary conditions are horrible for anyone to work in. There is one bathroom and 100 other people use it. Most factories only allow one bathroom break per day. The lighting in these factories is not very good. Poor lighting cause eyestrain and eye injuries. The factories should make sure that their workplaces are clean and that their workers cannot inhale the fumes before hiring any workers.

The apparel industry has over 4.9 million employees. Apparel stores in the US like the Gap in Central America, Wal-mart in Honduras, and Nike shoe products in Indonesia, are produced in sweatshop factories. Other apparel stores like J.C. Penny, K-mart, and Walt Disney use sweatshop factories as their providers. Nike shoe for example charges the consumer $85 for a pair of shoes, and charges the store $20 per pair. However, the person who makes the shoes will only earn up to sixty-eight cents for that hour that they made the shoe. Where does all the money go, that Nike makes? Nike's stock is worth over $4.5 billion and the workers making the shoe will only get $2.20 for that day. For a company that makes that much money why can't they pay the workers who are making their product more? With that much money they should be able to make the conditions in their factories better to work in. What does Nike do with all their money that they make? Since they are not bettering their working conditions in their factories.

These factories should be doing something to help out these workers. Companies should be getting penalized for making workers, work in these conditions. Many sweatshop factories claim that they made changes to their factory but did they really? A spokesperson from the Global Exchange, Michael Shellenberger said, "This is a step backwards. These companies will be able to market their products as sweatshop free without actually making any changes to their factory. Why are these factories able to claim that changes were made, even if nothing was done? When a young boy had gotten hurt by one of the machines, why did the owner do nothing to prevent it from happening again? An owner of a factory said that they do not have accidents in their factories, once in a while a finger or foot is smashed, but that does not amount to anything". The owners of theses factories should have more respect for their workers, but they do not. These workers risk their life for just pennies a day. The owners could at least make sure the conditions are safe for anyone to work in. They should also make sure that when an accident occurs that it will not occur again.

Many of these sweatshops do not pay their workers the right amount. "In Bangladesh and Myanmar, they pay ten to eighteen cents; in China, Pakistan, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia they pay twenty to sixty-eight cents per hour. Why do owners pay their workers so little? The wages they give these workers should be different.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2411
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: People