Sweatshop Opinion Piece

Money Well Spent

By: Anthony Duong

The United States is commonly known as the land of opportunity but it can also be referred to as the land of great spending. Most, if not all, of the citizens in the United States are consumers. We buy not only the necessities for living but we also indulge ourselves with extra goods such as electronics, entertainment, and most importantly apparel. The United States’ capitalistic economy makes purchasing these clothes easy. It gives us consumers, lower prices and the image of great quality through trusted brand names. To be able to buy these clothes at low prices is economically convenient but at what cost, the human rights of people all over the world? The clothes that these trusted brands sell are those made by people whose basic human rights are constantly exploited and violated. They work in factories known as sweatshops, making as many garments of clothing as possible. The clothes we buy may look seem like bargain prices but do you know where they come from and who makes them?

Many of our clothes are not made here in the US but in third world countries such as Jordan, Mexico, and the poorer parts of Asia. The “trusted brands” we shop for are actually made by companies who outsource their factories to maximize their profits and escape the labor laws that are enforced here in the US. They walk over the basic human rights that all people are entitled to for their own benefit. For example Nike, one of the most trusted sportswear companies, is notoriously known for having children working in their factories. Other apparel companies such as The Gap employ men and women in factories where the working conditions are hazardous and the wages paid are substantially lower than the cost of living. Many of the employees at these sweatshops often work long hours, up to 17 hours a day, for wages that are $0.10 or $0.20 an hour (“Women and Sweatshop Labor,” n.d.). The employees also work in crowded, and rat-infested environments where they can be exposed to noise, metal dust and toxic chemicals (Bhutta, 2010). Is saving a couple of dollars on a shirt really worth having someone go through working in these conditions? I think not! No one should have to work 17 hours a day in cramped spaces just so Americans can save a couple of dollars on clothes.

If we know this is happening then what is the government doing to prevent this violation of human rights? The answer is the government can’t do anything. The US government’s power is only limited to companies that remain within the country. Any company who chooses to move its manufacturing elsewhere are to follow the labor laws that are enforced in the given area (Maryanov, 2010). So if the government can’t prevent this who can? We as the consumers can; not only can we prevent this from occurring but we can also force companies to stop sweatshops completely. The citizens of the US essentially control the companies we buy from (Reich, 2007, p.35). Refusing to buy clothing from a company who receives its merchandise from sweatshops will force the companies to change their suppliers. Since companies rely on consumers for their profit, they have no choice but to start manufacturing clothing within the states or to show us that they are enforcing sweatshop free labor outside the country.

In order to change the way companies manufacture their clothing we have to take action and stand up for the people who cant do it themselves. In order to protect their rights we have to advocate and demand for sweatshop free products from the companies we buy from. We have to educate and be educated about this issue. We CAN change how these companies function; we just have to take act as a community and take the first steps to end this era of sweatshops.

References:

Bhutta, M. (2010, March 27). Beware the unethical lab coats. In Ebsco host. Retrieved February 22, 2011, from Academic Search Complete.

Maryanov, D. C. (2010). Sweatshop Liability: Corporate Codes of Conduct and the Governance of Labor Standards in the International Supply Chain (Vol. 14, pp. 397-450). Lewis and Clark Review. Retrieved February 23, 2011, from Academic Search Complete.

Reich, R. B. (2007). Supercapitalism (pp. 20-130). New York, NY: Vintage Books.

Women and sweatshop labor. (n.d.). In Fashion Crimes. Retrieved March 22, 2011, from http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~nshah/fashioncrimes/Sweatshops.html