Existence of Sweatshops in America

Résumé ou Introduction

Sweatshops are regarded to as low-wage industries, which are concerned with cloth production and flower processing and, they are found in the principal cities. These industries are usually characterized by workforce exploitation, unsafe working conditions and arbitrary discipline. In addition, sweatshops restrict their workers membership to labor unions. In regard to the United States Department of labor, sweatshops are those garment factories, which violate two or more labor laws.

In general, sweatshops are widespread in the world, especially in highly industrialized countries, which require intensive labor in production. However, it is worth noting that they are also found in some developing countries. Globally, most sweatshops are found in China, Latin America and Asia. In the United States, sweatshops have been identified to be scattered in some of the largest cities such as Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

Historically, sweatshops are believed to have emerged during the Industrial Revolution, in which middlemen introduced a subcontracting system to earn profit through exploiting workers. There was a characteristic margin between the total amount of the contract and the net amount paid to workers. In this system, workers worked under unsanitary conditions for excessive hours and yet they received low wages: thus, the characteristic marginal returns were said to be ‘sweated’.

Recently, the issue of sweatshops, in the U.S emerged in 1995 when labor officials discovered slave-sweatshops in Los Angeles and Honduras, in which immigrants and young girls were forced to work for excessive hours, under unsanitary conditions. Consequently, Wal-Mart, Gap and Nike clothing industries were charged for using sweatshop labor. These incidences exposed the exploitation of workers, in the sweatshops leading an unprecedented outcry from the public. Therefore, this research will give a comprehensive overview of the sweatshops issue.