Cheap Labor & Violation of Workers Rights Continue to Exist Essay

AbstractThis stem explores the way in which sweatshops, forte get the picture, and violation of workers rights continues to exist through aside the benevolents. Providing inside information that the average undivided might not know about the products they purchase and use everyday. This paper touches on what goes on in these sweatshops, which the most common workers ar, and what countries atomic number 18 receiving the clinical depression profit for their work. Some of the most democratic companies who have been recognized as abusers of application police forces argon intercommunicate, a dogged with an update on how theyve f bed since existence accused. As the paper draws to a close different solutions to stopping this abusing form of fatigue are revealed.If the average individual were to take a look most their fireside, one would befall in all sorts of objects and clothing produced in different areas from all across the globe. Majority of the time, these items ar e interpreted for granted and strictly cute depending on what they can do for us. This is quite unfortunate when we take into term the conditions most of these objects were manu positionured in. Its very seldom that we picture the virulent hands of the child who slaved over our power tennis shoes as we slide them on as the finishing piece to that new designer outfit. It is ironic how the things we kick in the most for in life are frequently times produced downstairs the harshest running(a) conditions by individuals paid incredibly 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 surface and send our dangerous earned money to these corrupt companies and corporations. According to dictionary.com, a sweatshop is a shop employing workers at low wages, for long hours, and infra execrable conditions (Collins English mental lexicon).Despite the adversity and embarrassment that s ome of the most popular companies have reliable for producing their products in sweatshop, brazen-faced struggle and exploitation of military personnel rights still remain prevalent. Someindividuals timber that the use of these sweatshops allows for a bouncing balance in the prudence, or that running(a) for these wages is the best thinkable option for citizens of third domain countries, concluding that we need not shirk with the means of production for the economys sake. M any of these ideas are addressed in Arnold D. and N. Bowies Sweatshops and Respects for Persons, as they discuss exactly wherefore these allegations or theories are dysfunctional untruths. There are definitely alternatives to sweatshop apprehend for companies to produce their products. For example in Paron and Reemess, Beyond sporty fag out they externalise a solution to these countries low wages to justify higher wages in a globalized economy, middle-in get on with nations must find their proporti onal proceeds (Paron & Reemes 2005). If these nations find something they can offer, thusly they can create a job commercialize for their workers, resulting in higher wages. Granted this is a very terrible business and whitethorn be perceived by galore(postnominal) as unachievable, and in that location is no follow of revenue worth sacrificing our morals or these individuals rights as forgivings.Cheap Labor & ExploitationAccording to the United States labor law, in that location are certain wages that must be submitd to individuals for playing services when these laws are violated, there are severe consequences to whoever is deemed obligated (DOL, 2009). Cheap labor is when an individual provides labor for unreasonably low wages, long hours, comm sole(prenominal) under harsh or extreme working conditions, and umteen of the womanly workers are subject to sexual harassment along with all the otherwise violating activity that occurs. Unfortunately, many women and youn g children are victims to these violations of labor laws for a companionships benefit, all to save a buck.According to Snyder in his clause Exploitation and Sweatshop Labor The most common understanding of exploitation in the literature on sweatshops interprets exploitation as taking unfair advantage of workers (Snyder, 1991). The rights of these workers are exploited for economic advancement from both morpho logical 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 prodigious groups of individuals concentrated in certain societies or communities in order to maximise production. The sleazy labor provided for businesses through the use of sweatshops is nothing to a greater extent than a loophole in order to save the compa nies money. It is a complete dis believe for human rights, yet mess continue to selfishly turn the other perkiness on this issue.Violation of Workers RightsAccording to Sweatshops and Third World Living Standards be the Jobs Worth the Sweat Bangladesh workers are bringing in roughly $0.13 an hour, the coterminous lowest is Vietnam at $0.26, followed by China at $0.44 (Po easy & Sharbek, 2004). Here are some of the lowest wages in the world, all found in sweatshopsThese numbers are well below the nominal wage the minimum wage required for compensation of work is determined based on the economies out lay out 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 adequate for most individuals to survive independently on, especially single parents. In appurtenance 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 aspec ts of human rights that takes place in sweatshops.Along with not organism properly compensated for the amount of labor the workers produce they too work long excruciating hours. Some workers may work anywhere from eighteen to twenty hour shifts consecutively under hazardous conditions, without breaks for food or water. They work extremely long hours in order to make a wage that isnt sufficient comme il faut to live on. Workers work long hours in which they arent compensated for, under unsafe living conditions, and women are often sexually harassed, there isnt a single characteristic 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 besides sweatshop managers dont treat these children any differently, nor do they show any sympathy. Women are often sexually assaulted, abused, not paid for their labor, a nd 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 dollars in recruitment and stupefy after existence interpreted advantage of these women end up working for low wages in order to pay back these vast debts, consequently they become property until they can exit 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 factory doctors that they were menstruating in order to claim their legal right to menstrual-leave (Morey, 2000).When discussing the cheap labor industry third world countries often come to mind exactly these same things occur right here in the U.S, The Department of Labor indicates that 50% of garment factories in the U.S. violate two or more basic labor laws, establishing them as sweatshops sweatshops exist when individuals who cant stand up for themselves have their rights taken advantage of (Morey 2000).The ViolatorsNot many people are aware of 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 branch 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 take to visit any Nike manufacturing shop, tho 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 say this is just a loophole to escape labor laws in order save money. When the founder of Nike Phil Knight was asked, wherefore 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 passing 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 on technologies peoples champion apple still carries the negative crisscross 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 orchard apple trees 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 criticism for producing its products in sweatshops under these conditions someways over the bygone six years they have managed to become the drawing card in technology, outselling all competitors. Apples ITunes is also 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 lettuce since the unveiling of their sweat shop production (Powell, 2011)If people continue to show that they arent concerned with how the products they purchase are produced then companies will 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 method actings. 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 above average standard of living for their workers (Powell & Sharbek, 2004). Hypothetically speaking, if one were to ask that this is emend and the standard of living is above average this still doesnt justify t he treatment and conditions these workers endure. Just because an individual has no other resource 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 view and at least received a reasonable wage for the amount of work produced. This would be a great solution to the problem, without ruining smart sets production, without violating workers rights, and without disrupting the economy whatsoever.Possible Solutions to the IssueWhen it comes to the task 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 function 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 assistance off of the low-wage assembly jobs and focus on higher valued jobs and comparative advantages (Farrell & Paron, 2005) this is a great proposition that we have to take into attachment the likelihood of this happening. We cant expect third world countries to in all 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 follow outs in order to ensure companies start to produce their products the correct way. The first step is for people to demand 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 bedspread the word and encourage others to do the same until cheap labor is non existent, this use happen over night but it will show companies that the stigma that comes with producing their products in a sweatshop can ruin business.ConclusionAlthough 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 boycott 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. (2012, March 30). Slaves put squid on dining tables from south pacific. Retrieved from http//www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-23/slaves-put-squid-on-u-s-dining-tables-from-south-pacific-catch.htmlPowell, B., & Sharbek, D. (2004). Sweatshops and third world living standards Are the jobs worth the sweat?. Ind ependent Institute , working paper number 53, 1-15. Retrieved from http//www.independent.org/pdf/working_papers/53_sweatshop.pdfSnyder, J. (1991). Exploitation and sweatshop labor Perspectives and issues. Business Ethics Quarterly,20(2), 187-213.Kristof, N. (2009, January 15). Where sweatshops are a dream. The New York Times, p. 35.Ballinger, J. (2009). Finding an anti-sweatshop strategy that works. Dissent , 56(3), 5-8.Smit, B. (2011). Trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation. the case of the Netherlands. Trends inOrganized Crime , 14(2/3), 184-197.Farrell, D., Paron , A., & Reemes, J. (2005). Beyond cheaplabor Lessons for developing economies. McKinseyQuarterly , 1(1), 98-109.Powell, B. (2011). The end of cheap labor in china. 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