Third World Sweatshops: The In
Men, women and even children in several third world countries work eighteen to twenty-four hour shifts for pennies a day. They aren't protected by United State's labor laws and are commonly faced with unsafe and unfair working environments. Often times their own country's labor laws are overlooked as well. For centuries it has been a common business practice to exploit labor in poor nations around the world. This not only harms already poor economic climates abroad, but also takes away from our economy here in the United States. Many people believe that companies should be held responsible for the conditions facing their foreign workers. Even before the United States was a country, wealthy business men have been looking for ways to exploit labor in order to reduce their costs and increase their profits. In the 1700's a law was passed that forced all the poor and homeless people in Britain to labor in "workhouses". "The running of workhouses was often handed over to a contractor who would, for an agreed price, feed and house the poor. He would also provide the inmates with work and benefit from any income generated. This system was known as 'farming' the poor."(Higginbotham) These were some of the most profitable production facil
Krake 2Once the United States became a country, African people were imported to be bought and sold like animals, in order to work as laborers for wealthy farmers. Mattel's Independent Monitoring Council (MIMCO) produces Executive Summaries to assure these principles are being upheld in our manufacturing facilities. In his book "Across the Wire" Luis Alberto Urrea writes; Imagine how bad things get to make you leave behind your family, your friends, your lovers; your home, as humble as it might be; your church, say. If more companies would take this approach and avoid the "cut and run" then sweatshop like factories would be drastically improved world wide. Although it would be more costly, the ethical approach would definitely be to work with the factory owners to improve the conditions for their workers. Called the Global Manufacturing Principles (GMP), the code covers such issues as wages and hours, child labor, forced labor, discrimination, freedom of association, legal and ethical Krake 5business practices, health and safety, product safety and product quality, protection of the environment, and respect for local culture, values, and traditions. This would only cause more suffering for the already impoverished people of places such as Bangladesh. Many companies such as Disney, Puma, and Wal-mart are currently making plans to end contracts with several factories in third world countries. But until then people should be aware of how good we have it here in the United States and not take that for granted. The National Labor Committee (NLC) is a human rights advocacy group, dedicated to promoting and defending the rights of workers. Although in today's competitive business environment it is very easy for corporations to take the "out of sight, out of mind" approach when dealing with their contractors overseas. This gave American plantation owners a great increase to their profits by eliminating their labor expenses altogether.
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Acceptance Essays
