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Sweatshops

Thesis Statement:

Government can play a significant role in eliminating sweatshops by imposing proper laws and passing labor protection acts.

Introduction:

Sweatshops are also known as 'sweat factories', the places that were designed to make people sit and work in pathetic conditions, with no facilities provided to them. The name 'sweatshops' actually comes from the fact that those shops had no facilities and even no passage of air;thus the workers were mostly supposed to bear the extensive sweating and work with the most unsuitable environment.

The term now refers to any working environment that consists of unacceptable and dangerous circumstances, and the term is used for negative connotation. The workers of sweatshops usually get lowest possible wages and have long working hours, with no concept of extra pay, for the overtime they spend at workplace. At times, child labor is also being practiced at these sweatshops, thus violating the laws of child labor and rendering the business illegal.

Concept of sweatshops:

The conditions in sweatshops are normally unacceptably dismal, and the workers are forced to work with hazardous material or chemicals without taking any precautionary measure what so ever. These labors also do not have any rights or safety laws, and being subjected to owner's abuse with no chances of complaining or getting their rights, as any such option is simply not provided to them.

According to the United States Government Accountability Office, sweat shop is defined as any workplace where the employer violates numerous federal laws or state labor laws regarding overtime, child labor and occupational health and safety. It includes the point the employer grants minimum wage to the employee and violates the laws of worker's compensation.

Origin of Sweatshops:

Sweatshops originated somewhere between 1830 and 1850, and the first business being conducted in such shops was the garment business. The workers were directed by the middleman, also known as the sweaters, for working under disastrous and devastating conditions. Originally the sweatshops were designed to remain functional for only a few hours, and the number of such shops was also limited; there were just hundred or so such shops in London, England at the time of origin.

The role of middleman was further strengthened by 1850, when he used to be considered the key figure in running the sweat shop. His basic function was to keep the workers ignorant regarding the owner of business and also the outcomes f work they put in, so that they just remained confined to the small workplace and do not stand up for their rights or demand a greater share of the work they put in. Usually there was a chain of events going on, with the middleman assigning the task to another sweater and that sweater further dividing jobs, finally getting it done by workers with minimum and unacceptably low wages.

According to some historians, the middleman indented to find the most helpless and desperate workers so as to minimize the wages he has to give and maximize his own profit. Such desperate workers were usually the immigrants ...