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There are two sides to the issue of using cheaper labor in other countries. Some can argue that using cheap labor in developing countries constitutes exploitation. In some extreme cases, this is potentially true. For example, by making empty promises time after time, diamond cartel De Beers has repeatedly taken advantage of the lack of governmental regulations and communication in African nations. It could be argued that the developing countries house factories that not only use cheap (though market rate for the area) labor, but unfairly exploit employees. Examples of this exploitation could include using physical force to detain workers to make them product more product, or promising them a certain pay, but reneging come paycheck time. Some could also make a case for the prevalence of human rights violations, such as the recent case when the life of a Chinese factory worker mysteriously ended just days after an iPhone prototype went missing.
The aforementioned hypothetical or one-off scenarios, while serious, are far from being the norm. The truth is that by using cheaper wages in developing nations, we are not only improving our standard of living, but are improving the goodwill of the planet as a whole. For example, if a laborer in China is able to put an American out of work, it would, at first, be viewed negatively. However, due to the advanced research and development facilities the United States possesses, that worker could, potentially, work as a pharmaceutical researcher – an option unavailable to someone in a developing nation.
Many seem to forget that the impoverished today are, in many ways, better off than the rich of the nation were less than 100 years ago. Much of this is due to our globalized econom...
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... by groups that convince Americans that “sweatshops” are terrible – while unaware of the true picture (an important fact to consider is that many anti-sweatshop groups are heavily funded by organized labor groups).
The strongest argument against artificially high wages for foreign workers is, however, the distortion this would cause local economies. For example, after the public relations storm that caught Nike off guard, they immediately doubled the wages of many of their employees. In doing so, “sweatshop” work suddenly became more lucrative than jobs such as medical care, teaching, fire fighting, and engineering – due to a higher pay without needing a college education. After local officials voiced their concerns, Nike quietly reverted to the prior pay scale, though ripple effects of the temporary drought of educated professionals continued for several years.
With the continued rise of consumer "needs" in "industrial" countries such as the United States, and the consistently high price that corporations must pay to produce goods in these countries, companies are looking to "increase (their) profits by driving down costs any way possible... To minimize costs, companies look for places with the lowest wages and human rights protections" (Dosomething). Countries with lax or unenforced labor laws grant multinational corporations the leeway to use cheap foreign labor to mass-produce their commodities so that they can be sold in countries like America. These inexpensive, sometimes borderline illegal, establishments are known as sweatshops. In his book Timmerman discusses the topic of sweatshops in great detail. Originally in search of "where (his) T-shirt was made(;) (Timmerman) (went) to visit the factory where it was made and (met) the people who made (it)" (Timmerman5).
Is it only a sweatshop to earn more money for the multinational company? Second, what is the present status of workers in developing countries? Then the most important one is the wages that multinational companies pay employees and the multinational companies’ relationship with workers in developing countries.
Sweatshops are similar to factory or workshop where workers work for long hours at very low wages and are forced to work in a poor working condition. Sweatshops have also been known widely in the world for its ethical issues. Although it seems to be lucrative by paying low wages to the workers, it still violates the fundamental requirements of the workers’ welfare and working condition. From the perspective of the businesses, paying low wages means reducing the cost of production and increasing in the profits.
The controversial issue of sweatshops is one often over looked by The United States. In the Social Issues Encyclopedia, entry # 167, Matt Zwolinski tackles the issues of sweatshops. In this article Matt raises a question I have not been able to get out of my head since I have begun researching this topic, “ are companies who contract with sweatshops doing anything wrong?” this article goes on to argue that the people who work in the sweatshops willingly choose to work there, despite the poor environment. Many people in third world countries depend on the sweatshops to earn what they can to have any hopes of surviving. If the sweatshops were to shut down many people would lose their jobs, and therefore have no source of income. This may lead people to steal and prostitution as well. this article is suggesting that sweatshops will better the economy by giving people a better job than what they may have had. Due to this the companies contracting with sweatshops are not acting wrong in any way. This was a deductive article it had a lot of good examples to show how sweatshops are beneficial to third world countries. Radly Balko seemed to have the same view point as Matt Zwolinski. Many people believe the richer countries should not support the sweatshops Balko believes if people stopped buying products made in sweatshops the companies will have to shut down and relocate, firing all of the present workers. Rasing the fact that again the worker will have no source of income, the workers need the sweatshop to survive. Balko also uses the argument that the workers willingly work in the current environments.
This report analyses how American Companies started offshoring or moving white collar and blue collar positions to other countries with low pay since the 1960’s. Also, the purpose of this report is to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of offshoring jobs to countries with low pay. This report will analyze how the consumers, communities, and corporations are beneficiated and/or affected.
Large corporations such as Nike, Gap, and Reebok and many others from the United States have moved their factories to undeveloped nations; barely pay their employees enough to live on. Countries such as China, Indonesia, and Haiti have readily abundant cheap labor. There should be labor laws or an obligation of respecting workers to provide decent working conditions, fair wages, and safety standards.
What are sweatshops? The Miriam-Webster dictionary defines sweatshops as: A shop or factory in which employees work for long hours at low wages and under unhealthy conditions. These factories are mainly located in Third-World countries, although there are still a few in the United States. Many popular, name brand companies like Nike, use sweatshops around the world. Today there is much controversy about sweatshops and whether they should be banned and closed. In reality, the conditions of these factories are terrible. The employees are paid very little, even after working long, hard hours. The supervisors of these shops are often cruel, malicious, and brutal. Sadly, these factories are often the only source of income for Third-World workers. As bad as these sweatshops might be, they have pulled many countries and individuals out of poverty. So, are sweatshops beneficial?
Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn are Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalists who spent fourteen years in Asia doing research on the country as well as the sweatshops of that country. In their article "Two Cheers for Sweatshops" they sum up clearly the misunderstanding of sweatshops by most of the modern world. "Yet sweatshops that seem brutal from the vantage point of an American sitting in his living room can appear tantalizing to a Thai laborer getting by on beetles." The fact of the matter is that sweatshops in the eyes of the actual workers are not as bad as they are made out to be, by many activists. Though many organizations that oppose sweatshops and their labor practices try to make the point that sweatshops do not have to exist. But one must consider the fact that, the companies that use sweatshops are creating at least some type of jobs for people that gladly accept them.
“When they try to organize unions to demand better conditions, they are often threatened, beaten, and fired instantly. Sweatshops also frequently include other worker abuses such as child labor, dangerous or toxic working conditions, unreasonably long working hours, sexual abuse, beatings and humiliation for mistakes. Most of the clothing and footwear --- and a significant portion of many other products --- that we buy are made in sweatshops in the United States or in other countries.” Sweatshops are bad because they are dangerous, unhealthy, and exploitative.
The lack of ethics concerning global issues can be found in the sweatshops of underdeveloped and third world countries. This issue has developed from the indiscretion of industries and employers. Industries treat their employees poorly; moreover, employees are subjected to extremely poor working conditions, poverty wages, and little to no benefits or union representation. The competition of industries has created these oppressive practices. According to research done by Jay Mandle at Cambridge, in countries such as Bangladesh, sweatshop workers are paid only 13 cents per hour in US money. These workers are subjected to extremely overpopulated sweatshops, being that an astounding 3.5 million workers make up the workforce of 4,825
Most sweatshops have been known to be unlawful, but yet it doesn’t stop them to still be around today. Workers working in sweatshops are known to be getting paid small amount of money while working long tiring shifts, sometimes without being allowed to take a break. Many corporations have their products produce in third-world countries such as Guatemala, Pakistan, Vietnam, etc. where it costs them less to produce goods since they are paying their workers almost nothing. It is believed that it
Sweatshops are factories that violate two or more human rights. Sweatshops are known in the media and politically as dangerous places for workers to work in and are infamous for paying minimum wages for long hours of labour. The first source is a quote that states that Nike has helped improve Vietnamese’s’ workers lives by helping them be able to afford luxuries they did not have access to before such as scooters, bicycles and even cars. The source is showing sweatshops in a positive light stating how before sweatshops were established in developing countries, Vietnamese citizens were very poor and underprivileged. The source continues to say that the moment when sweatshops came to Vietnam, workers started to get more profit and their lives eventually went uphill from their due to being able to afford more necessities and luxuries; one of them being a vehicle, which makes their commute to work much faster which in turn increases their quality of life. The source demonstrates this point by mentioning that this is all due to globalization. Because of globalization, multinationals are able to make investments in developing countries which in turn offers the sweatshops and the employees better technology, better working skills and an improvement in their education which overall helps raise the sweatshops’ productivity which results in an increase
In the article, “Where Sweatshops Are a Dream,” Nicholas Kristof describes the dumps in Cambodia, “The miasma of toxic stink leaves you gasping, breezes batter you with filth, and even the rats look forlorn” (Kristof). This garbage dump is where many people in Phnom Penh, Cambodia are forced to scrap together a living. When compared to life in a dump, sweatshops are actually considered safe and clean. Kristof goes on to explain the local view of sweatshop work as, “[A] cherished dream... the kind of gauzy if probably unrealistic ambition that parents everywhere often have for their children” (Kristof). The second important thing to note is that people are not forced to work at a sweatshop. This fact alone implies that a factory job is no where near the worst working situation. As Matt Zwolinski points out in “Sweatshops, Choice, and Exploitation” published by Business Ethics Quarterly, “For the most part, individuals who work in sweatshops choose to do so. They might not like working in sweatshops, and they might strongly desire that... they did not have to do so. Nevertheless, the fact that they choose to work in sweatshops is morally significant” (Zwolinski 2). One of the major reasons people believe sweatshops are harmful is because they pay very little for grueling labor. From the perspective of most Americans, the equivalent of two dollars a day seems cruel, but when compared
...every corner of the globe. When those low costs occur as a result of inferior, and even illegal, working conditions, then sweatshops are a major global problem. A possible solution would be to change, or at least modify, the conditions under which sweatshops continue to function. Universal workers rights, with minimum age and minimum wages could be a solution. Still, certain countries will always have the advantage of low cost labor and will exploit that advantage in the international marketplace. However, the disparity between the great differences in labor cost can be lessened, but it can best be done by continuing to promote world free trade and continuing to improve the quality of life in developing nations, where low cost labor is most abundant.
These concerns typically include the rights of the children, the responsibility of the parents and employers, and the well-being and safety of the children. In Stefan Spath’s “The Virtues of Sweatshops,” it is made very clear that he, like many others, feel that the general public is highly misinformed on what sweatshops are and what they actually contribute to their respective communities. In the eyes of someone from a developed country, sweatshops and child labor that takes place in them seem primitive and are interpreted as simply a means by which companies can spend less money on employers. He states that when labor unions claim that companies which establish operations in developing nations create unemployment in America, they aren’t really explaining the whole story. The author claims that those who are adamantly protest sweatshops are only telling half the story with a claim like this. He points out in this part that the American people can rest assured that high skilled jobs will not be taken over to developing countries because “– high-skilled jobs require a level of worker education and skills that poorer countries cannot