Cheap Labor & Violation of Workers Rights Continue to Exist Essay

AbstractThis musical theme explores the way in which sweatshops, sleazy childbed, and violation of workers rights get overs to exist throughout the universe of discourse. Providing inner information that the medium individual might not know about the products they purchase and use e actuallyday. This paper touches on what goes on in these sweatshops, which the virtually common workers ar, and what countries ar receiving the humbledest wages for their work. few of the intimately popular companies who have been recognized as abusers of repulse laws ar addressed, along with an update on how theyve f ard since origination accused. As the paper draws to a close different solutions to stopping this abusing form of struggle atomic numeral 18 revealed.If the average individual were to take a look around their home, one would find all sorts of objects and clothing produced in different beas from all across the globe. Majority of the time, these items ar taken for grante d and strictly valued dep repealing on what they can do for us. This is quite unfortunate when we take into consideration the conditions most of these objects were manufactured in. Its very seldom that we picture the blistering hands of the child who slaved over our designer tennis shoes as we slide them on as the finishing piece to that new designer outfit. It is ironic how the things we pay the most for in life ar much times produced under the harshest working conditions by individuals paid unbelievably low wages. Children and womens rights are violated day in and day out for these companies to save a couple of dollars, yet we continue to ignore the issue and send our challenging earned money to these slander companies and corporations. According to dictionary.com, a sweatshop is a shop employing workers at low wages, for long hours, and under poor conditions (Collins inc key out mental lexicon).Despite the adversity and embarrassment that some(prenominal) of the most popul ar companies have received for producing their products in sweatshop, insolent labor and maturation of valet rights still remain prevalent. Someindividuals feel that the use of these sweatshops allows for a profound balance in the scrimping, or that working for these wages is the best possible option for citizens of triad world countries, concluding that we need not tamper with the means of output for the economys sake. M all of these ideas are addressed in Arnold D. and N. Bowies Sweatshops and Respects for Persons, as they discuss exactly why these allegations or theories are dysfunctional untruths. there are definitely alternatives to sweatshop labor for companies to produce their products. For example in Paron and Reemess, Beyond tinny Labor they propose a solution to these countries low wages to justify higher wages in a globalized economy, middle-in summate nations must find their comparative advantage (Paron & Reemes 2005). If these nations find something they can render, then they can raise a job market for their workers, resulting in higher wages. Granted this is a very hard delegate and may be perceived by numerous as unachievable, simply there is no sum total of revenue worth sacrificing our morals or these individuals rights as humans.Cheap Labor & ExploitationAccording to the join States labor law, there are certain wages that must be provided to individuals for performing services when these laws are violated, there are severe consequences to whoever is deemed responsible (DOL, 2009). Cheap labor is when an individual provides labor for unreasonably low wages, long hours, usually under harsh or extreme working conditions, and many of the female workers are subject to sexual harassment along with all the other violating activity that occurs. Unfortunately, many women and new-made children are victims to these violations of labor laws for a companys benefit, all to save a buck.According to Snyder in his hold Exploitation and Swe atshop Labor The most common understanding of attemptation in the literature on sweatshops interprets exploitation as taking un join advantage of workers (Snyder, 1991). The rights of these workers are exploited for economic advancement from both morphological and organizational perspectives. The organizational aspect of the exploitation is tied into the market power received by the organizations that exploit these individuals in order to increase profit margin. The structural aspect pertains to exactly where these sweatshops arelocated production warehouses employ large groups of individuals concentrated in certain societies or communities in order to maximize production. The cheap labor provided for businesses through the use of sweatshops is nothing more than a loophole in order to save the companies money. It is a complete disregard for human rights, yet people continue to selfishly turn the other expression on this issue.Violation of Workers RightsAccording to Sweatshops and Third World Living Standards Are the Jobs Worth the Sweat Bangladesh workers are bringing in roughly $0.13 an hour, the next lowest is Vietnam at $0.26, followed by China at $0.44 (Powell & Sharbek, 2004). here(predicate) are some of the lowest wages in the world, all found in sweatshopsThese builds are well below the minimum wage the minimum wage required for compensation of work is resolved based on the economies output divided by the number of working and non-working people. In fact it is often argued that the minimum wage determined in the U.S isnt enough for most individuals to survive independently on, specially single parents. In addition to that, sweatshops fail to pay their workers on time for their labor if they pay them at all. Cheap labor is just one of the violating aspects of human rights that takes place in sweatshops.Along with not cosmos properly compensated for the amount of labor the workers produce they withal work long excruciating hours. Some workers may work anywhere from eighteen to twenty hour shifts consecutively under dangerous conditions, without breaks for forage or water. They work extremely long hours in order to make a wage that isnt sufficient enough to live on. Workers work long hours in which they arent compensated for, under unguaranteed living conditions, and women are often sexually harassed, there isnt a single symptomatic of a sweatshop that is safe or complies with labor laws and regulations. (Snyder, 1991)Women and children often make up majority of these sweatshop employees itshard to imagine an adult working sixteen hours under unsafe conditions but sweatshop managers dont dish out these children any differently, nor do they show any sympathy. Women are often sexually assaulted, abused, not paid for their labor, and in many instances stripped of their employee status and forced into servitude. Lured by recruiters who promise wonderful opportunities in foreign lands, young women often pay thousands of doll ars in recruitment and contract later on be taken advantage of these women end up working for low wages in order to pay back these huge debts, wherefore they become property until they can escape or pay off all the debt, both are highly unlikely (Snyder 1991). Women are treated as if they arent human beings, for example In some Indonesian sweatshops, women were forced to take down their pants and reveal to milling machinery doctors that they were menstruating in order to usurp their legal right to menstrual-leave (Morey, 2000).When discussing the cheap labor industry third world countries often come to judicial decision but these same things occur right here in the U.S, The Department of Labor indicates that 50% of crop factories in the U.S. violate two or more basic labor laws, establishing them as sweatshops sweatshops exist when individuals who deliver stand up for themselves have their rights taken advantage of (Morey 2000).The ViolatorsNot many people are certified o f just how many of our every day items are produced by cheap labor. If one were to take a look around their home theyd be astonished by just how many objects come from sweatshops there are factories for clothing, technology, furniture and other items that you would never expect.Nike is what comes to mind first base when the topic of sweatshop labor is at hand mainly due to their being accused of producing their shoes and shoes under the air Jordan line in China. Nike claims that all of their factories employees compensation complies with the U.S labor laws and any individual who is interested is welcome to visit any Nike manufacturing shop, however this has yet to happen and their has been no footage released of theirfactories. Nike doesnt own any of its accused sweatshop factories, they pay factory owners and those owners are responsible for paying the workers their wages, not Nike. Many tell this is just a loophole to escape labor laws in order save money. When the founder of Ni ke Phil buck was asked, why doesnt Nike start its own factories in the U.S he replied I honestly believe that U.S citizens dont want to make shoes, they dont want to do that job (Jilani, 2011). Its quite obvious that Nike isnt interested in the people, Phil Knight and he collogues are strictly focused on maximizing the companies net income, even if that means sacrificing the rights of workers and extremely up the opportunity to produce more jobs right here in the U.S. however Nike is the only familiar household name that has suffered from sweatshop accusations.Six years later technologies peoples champion orchard apple tree still carries the negative tarnish from its labor law violations in its sub-contracted factories. More than half of the audits revealed problems, including employees regularly working more than 60 hours a week, underage workers, falsified records, wages below minimum levels, pay withheld as punishment and improper disposal of hazardous waste (Walters, 2012). The wages and long hours was the least of Apples worries workers were suffering from severely swollen legs to the point where they could barely walk, being exposed to poisonous chemicals & factory explosions, some were even killed do to these conditions (Walters, 2012). Although Apple received much disapproval for producing its products in sweatshops under these conditions somehow over the past six years they have managed to become the leader in technology, outselling all competitors. Apples ITunes is alike the largest music retailor in the U.S, followed by Wal-Mart whom is also been accused . This goes to show that this subject isnt taken serious enough if so the purchase of Apple products would have drastically decreased. Here is a chart of Apples yearly earnings since the entree of their sweatshop production (Powell, 2011)If people continue to show that they arent concerned with how the products they purchase are produced then companies go forth continue to manufacture their products by these inhumane means. Its almost as if these companies need tobe taught a lesson, show them that cheap labor is unacceptable by not purchasing their goods and they will change their methods. There is no reason why Apple should have flourished in such a way after being exposed for its production methods.Sweatshops Effect On the EconomySome Economists feel that without sweatshops many of these workers who are now employed in third world countries would be without work and consequently be worse off then they are working for low wages We find that most sweatshop jobs provide an higher up average standard of living for their workers (Powell & Sharbek, 2004). Hypothetically speaking, if one were to assume that this is correct and the standard of living is in a higher place average this still doesnt justify the treatment and conditions these workers endure. Just because an individual has no other superior doesnt give anyone free reign to destroy all regard for their rights . Cambodia for example has nothing to offer economically, so sweatshops are one of the only choices for many of its natives this wouldnt be a problem if workers rights were respected and at least received a reasonable wage for the amount of work produced. This would be a great solution to the problem, without ruining companys production, without violating workers rights, and without disrupting the economy whatsoever.Possible Solutions to the IssueWhen it comes to the assess of stopping sweatshops, cheap labor, and exploitation there are two major methods that can be taken. The first and the most unlikely method to succeed is to place the responsibility on the third world countries economy second would be for people to refuse to purchase goods or products that have anything to do with sweatshop labor. Take the fear off of the low-wage assembly jobs and focus on higher valued jobs and comparative advantages (Farrell & Paron, 2005) this is a great propose but we have to take into co nsideration the likelihood of this happening. We cant expect third world countries to completely diminish their basic means of employment because it is unrighteous or violatesrights. This is why many economists say that sweatshops provide a better income and living to many individuals who otherwise would be unemployed however there is an alternative method that poses a huge threat to the sweatshop industry.People can perform a number of actions in order to ensure companies start to produce their products the correct way. The first step is for people to request sweatshop free products where they shop or not to shop there at all. People can also by union made and second hand products, as well as purchasing fair trade products. The next step is to spread the word and encourage others to do the same until cheap labor is non existent, this wont happen over night but it will show companies that the stigma that comes with producing their products in a sweatshop can ruin business.Conclusio nAlthough over the past decade the use of sweatshop labor by many popular companies has been brought to the light, there has been no action taken by government, nor have people taken it upon themselves to ostracize these companies. The excruciating circumstances these individuals work under are hard to stomach yet people continue to turn the cheek on the issue. Stopping this ridiculous treatment wont be easy, but it can be done if people start to take action but caring is where it must startWork CitedSkinner, B. E. 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