Sweatshops
Get things made fast! The cheaper you can get it done the better! All this seems common thoughts when you hear or visualize a sweatshop. I can clearly picture a place just like this. Young and old, even children, working extremely hard at mass producing products for companies so they can make that profit. This has been noted as being a big element in the clothing and textile world. The goal is to produce as much as possible and forget what the workers might deserve. Pay the least amount as possible. CoOp America stated that “The search for cheap products that can be sold for greater profit is fueling a race to the bottom where we all lose—our families, communities, farmers, workers, and the environment. Corporate greed and global competition to produce goods at the lowest possible price are the main reasons for the existence of sweatshops.”
To me, sweatshops are somewhat a form of child abuse. Children are being abused by working in a sweatshop and barely being paid. They are under age to be working in the situation to begin with. Production companies have engulfed these children by exploiting their skills and consuming their opportunities in an extremely horrendous situation. Not only does this affect them now, but later, “workers most often find conditions getting worse instead of better.” Children are children, not workers at the hand of someone with no compassion for the betterment of the child, but for the dollar and prosperity of themselves.
Finally, sweatshops offer no future for their workers. These type of situations need to be remedied in any quick way possible. Sweatshops should not be allowed to operate. Retailers and manufactures should be open and searching for other positive producing opportunities that remedy the current situation in production of goods. CoOp America states that “a good way to help improve conditions for workers is to contact the retailers and manufacturers of the products you buy and ask for guarantees that their workers were paid a living wage and given basic rights.” There was a positive move by the retail and garment manufacturers toward guarding against the sell and production of sweatshop merchandise. The suggestion was made by Nikki Bas, director of Sweatshop Watch. He stated that, “If companies are able to send representatives to inspect the quality of a garment, they can inspect the quality of their factories as well.” I feel that we need eliminate the sweatshop business.
http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/sweatshops/whattoknow.cfm