What a Sweatshop Is - Essay Example

Sweat Shop In this paper the topic that will be discussed is the issues created by the sweat shops which result in the violation of social, ethical and legal values of the society and law. Before we go to the issues created by sweatshops, it would be better to understand the term. Therefore, this paper will explain to you what a sweatshop is in the first place. A sweat shop is a term that is used to refer to a business or work place which does not meet the basic standards of the Labor Authorities of a country. It must be kept in mind that this term has a negative connotation and these factories or work places are not considered human friendly, rather these places are such where dreams of living respectful lives are shattered and thrown to the waste bins. It is a place where labors are not given appropriate wages or pays. The working environment in such a place is not comfortable as well. In other terms it can be said that a sweatshop does not recognize the workers as human beings. Neither their financial needs are considered nor does their physical limit. It is also not considered by the owners of the factories that such behavior with the workers will decrease the productivity of the factories. The human body can take pressure of work in adverse conditions to a certain limit. Working beyond that limit will deteriorate the health of the workers and the quality and effectiveness of the work is also compromised by doing so. On the other hand, if the workers are given sufficient and agreeable wages and comfortable premises to work, that limit of the human body to work hard can be extended and more work can be drawn out of the same number of workers. Similarly if there is a trend of giving bonus to the workers on working well and other little benefits like free benefits can act as fresh blood being pumped into the veins of the workers. These steps would not cost much to the owners of the sweatshops, but will definitely do wonders for the workers’ will to excel and raise their scale of performance. The owners of a sweatshop focus on their own profit and benefits and in doing so they do not give any consideration to the basic human rights of the workers. It is strange to think that how can a person deprive the people of their rights who are working day and night for him. More specifically a sweatshop is a place which the U.S Department of Labor defines as a kind of factory which does not abide at least two laws of labor. These sweat shops does not offer workable conditions, fair money and that is not all. The working hours are normally painfully long, and workers are not paid for any overtime. The law for the minimum age of a labor is also violated and children under the authorized age are hired mainly because children would agree to minimal of the wages unlike the adults. These children are forced to work because of their financial conditions or social issues, as they normally do not have any other options to earn. The owners of the sweatshops take advantage of this thing and force them to work on the terms which the owners have decided. In developing countries the rate of child labor is too high, around 250 million children between five and fourteen years of age work in such sweatshops. The phenomenon of the sweatshops is not just restricted to the developing countries where the law enforcement agencies are likely to allow some of the violations to deceive their eyes. Reality is this that a developed country like America cannot guarantee the hundred percent sweatshop free society too. There are several factories which succeed to hide their existence and their injustice to the workers from the authorities which are responsible to enforce the human rights, the labor rights and other bodies which govern these rules and regulations regarding the workers rights and standards which should be met by the factory owners. These sweatshops normally are the manufacturers of garments, shoes, toys and carpets etc. These are the items which need manual work which is done with the hands as in case of hand stitched garments and shoes which normally have greater demand and likings among the buyers world wide. The factory owners earn huge profits through the hand made stuff but the hands which have shaped these things are not even paid to earn bandage in case of injuries. There is usually a large number of workers to meet the production deadlines. It creates another problem for the workers. The large number of workers is hard to be accommodated in small factory premises. The result is suffocation, lack of space causing hindrance in the work and eventually the workers are fined because of the chaos created in the working hours. Because of these problems the owners of the factories create long and odd timing hours for the workers in order to manage the space and the number of workers required on the work. One of the facts that show the evidence of the unfair profit margin earned by the sweatshops is that even if these factories increase the wages hundred percent, the increase in the consumer item will be just 1.8 percent. It is also believed that if a customer gets to know that the item is manufactured in a Sweat shop, they do not prefer to buy the item. Hence it is a false belief of the owners of the sweatshops that by depriving the poor workers of their basic rights does ensure that they will earn big profits. This infers that the sweatshop are not only disliked by the workers but also not supported by the consumers of the items which those factories manufacture. The reason for this hatred is that both the workers and the consumers are human beings and the consumers think that if they buy such products coming from sweatshops they would be equally responsible for the criminal negligence as shown by the owners. Identification of the Issue The workers are paid criminally low as compared to the time they work for the factory and the total absence of any reward, appraise and incentives, make it really hard for the workers to live a life that can be called far away from respectable. The most alarming thing is that such deprivation from a reasonable life despite of so much hard work; the workers are forced to take some other paths to earn a sufficient amount of money but there lies a big problem in doing so. The workers spend so many hours in the factory that they are not left with time to do any other part time job to make both ends meet. What eventually happens is that they ask the owners for the increase in the wages in return to which they are given the threat of being fired from the job. Then the workers are not left with any other choice but to think of some illegal means of earning. This tendency of the workers is basically because of the injustice done to them by the owners of the factories which are named as sweatshops. This possibility of giving more criminals to the society is the result of wrong and illegal business decisions that are being taken. In this way it is a business topic that shows some thing unethical and illegal going on in the society. Consideration of the Issue Considering this behavior with the workers the biggest first person to come under the threat is the owner on such a factory because he is responsible for the miserable lives of the workers, he should be the first one to pay the price. This is a general social trend for justice if it is not given in the first place. This issue is not only related to the factory, he people working in it and the owner of the factory. It also poses its threats to the whole society as law and order situation of the whole area is disturbed. Once the human beings are on revenge, they do not think realistically and logically. As a result they start targeting even those people who are not at all responsible for the injustice done to them. The reason is that these actions taken by the workers are not merely acts of revenge; instead these are attempts not to die of hunger. The workers have to earn something that can fulfill the basic requirements and necessities of their families. In that regard they are at the end forced to do whatever is needed, no matter its right or wrong because by working hard for the whole day, thirty days a month and three hundred and sixty five days in year and yet they do not earn their right. In their dictionaries the works like justice, law and order and respect are deleted and replaced with the words like revenge, anger, helplessness and envy. The greediness of one sweatshop owner can result in the desperate criminal actions taken by the poor workers which can threaten the lives and money of many members of the society. It cannot be said that doing business is wrong and the owner has no right to earn profit from the factory. Every one of the society members has the right to get to a respectable position and status in the society, but only through the legal, ethical and correct ways. Sucking the blood out of your workers and not even thinking of them as human beings and increasing your profit margins in this shameless and inhuman manner is not the essence of business. There can be other ways of earning big profit legally, such as improving the quality of the product, doing better marketing of the product, build new clientage etc. Why workers have to sacrifice their sweat and blood for giving an extra cushion to the owner of the factory. The topic of this paper and the basic issue was the irresponsible, unethical and illegal social behavior shown by the owners of these factories which are more appropriately called as sweatshops. As discussed above in detail, the features and trademarks of these factories, it can be easily said that these places are the sources of social injustice and illegal treatment to the hardworking members of the society. Although the factory owners are the members of the society and are equally responsible for the harmony of the society and making it a place where every one has respect and a reasonable life to spend with self esteem and honor. Sadly, this group of society does not seem to bother at all about their responsibilities. On the contrary, they are doing the opposite thing and making the people hate remain on the right path and select the criminal way to earn what they deserved to be given in a justified manner. Conclusion Now to conclude the discussion it should be taken into account that this issue which is tried to be kept secret from the society and authorities has significant implications on the well being of the society. It should be made sure that the factory owners pay to the workers what they are liable to pay and they should think of their business in terms of business only. The factory owners are also the members of the same society from which they intend to get the benefit beyond the acceptable boundaries and also through the ways which are not considered right. The business has to be done for the betterment of the society and not to deprive a section of the society from its justified prestige and status by doing business in a way discussed above. We have seen how a business strategy can result into a total failed society and how it converts civilized citizens into criminals. References 11 facts about sweatshop. (n.d.). . Retrieved June 23, 2014, from https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-sweatshops Read More