SWEATSHOPS ACROSS THE GLOBE

Sweatshops Across The Globe

Sweatshops Across The Globe

Prelude

The “sweatshop” concept, which originated during the Industrial Revolution in 19th-century England, refers to a workplace where workers were employed for piecework under a subcontracting system. In this system, business owners had no contracts with the sweatshop workers individually. Instead, they hired middlemen to manage workers and workshops on their behalf. The middlemen, whose contracts were based on the piecework factory workers performed, pressured workers to make their productivity rates as high as possible.

The subcontracting system also enabled middlemen to earn more by maximizing the margin between what they received for contracts and what they paid workers. The lower the workers' wages, the greater the profits for middlemen. Thus, profits were derived from the “sweat” of workers exploited by business owners represented by middlemen who invested as little money as possible in labor. (Robert, 2008)

Sweatshop laborers were the weakest members of their society, coming from the most desperate and vulnerable classes. They were often children and women who had no bargaining power for living wages. Sweatshop workers were forced to work excessively long shifts for minimal wages. They endured hazardous conditions, often without safety protections or any knowledge of the danger. This inhumane treatment of factory labor was a central principle of sweatshops, which were geared to maximizing profits at the workers' expense. (Breslow, 1995)

These abuses are neither fair nor irreconcilable, but many people believe that the workshops are an economic necessity and to meet their own economic development. A more detailed examination of the social and economic exploitation of labor, however, reveals this assumption to be far from the truth. (Robert, 2004)

Discussion

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States and Mexico was ratified to increase trade through the development of export-oriented industry in Mexico. On one hand, NAFTA helped reduce chronically high unemployment in Mexico. Newly developed export processing zones (EPXs) such as maquiladoras attracted multinational corporations (MNCs), creating sweatshop employment for local citizens. On the other hand, NAFTA failed to address wage standards, safety regulations, and health concerns that affect factory workers. While trade agreements brought economic growth and market expansion, they also fostered global exploitation of sweatshop workers, especially women. (Meyer, 1997)

In contrast to how sweatshops emerged in response to demands for cheap labor during the Industrial Revolution, today's sweatshops are consequences of globalization. Free-trade agreements are key factors in globalized relationships between developed countries such as the United States, Canada, and Japan and various developing nations. These agreements lifted or lowered barriers such as taxes, labor laws, and environmental restrictions, which contributed to expansion of market access and foreign investment.

Similar to their 19th-century counterparts, contemporary sweatshop workers are employed under subcontracting systems instead of being directly hired by corporations. According to a 2007 study, approximately 60 percent of factory workers in Mexico's electronics industry were employed by temporary agencies. As more women were brought into the global economy as cheap labor, sweatshops became predominately female. Women are considered more suitable than men are for repetitive ...