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Khushi Talla

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Sweatshops and Child Labor: Are the employments extremely worth the perspiration?

As the world continues to develop and move forward towards globalization, there

has been a rise in the apprehension regarding the wide spread and prominent use of the

sweatshops, especially from the third world nations (Trancraze “Secrets, Lies, and

Sweatshops: Are the Jobs Worth the Sweat?”). The first thesis statement is that concerns

regarding the use of child labor and sweatshops have been rising as the retailers of the

industrialized nations have been increasingly relying on the low wage workers, who most

often belong to the developing nations, for the productions of the products and goods.

The second thesis statement is that the multinational organizations have been unethically

forcing their employees in the underdeveloped and third world market to work in

hazardous and unsafe environment. The third thesis statement is that child labor is highly

forced in the third world and under developed markets and this is also supported by the

multinational enterprises that outsource their goods production to these markets.

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Moreover, the prevailing poverty and restricted access to the educational centers and

need for money further force these children to work in the sweatshops.

Although sweatshops and child labor clash with the principles that are based on

moral and high good grounds, yet at the same time, the organizations from across the

world polish such aspects and hide those facts (Volodzko “Bangladesh Is Burning And

Sweatshops Are The Fuel”). Majority of the large and multinational enterprises as well as

voracious local entrepreneurs have been using unethical as well as unpleasant practices

within the developing nations to force the human resources to work in highly hazardous

conditions. Most of the leading and wealthy enterprises of the developed economies have

been taking advantage of the extremely poor employees belonging to the developing

nations for the development of their goods. A few of such organizations include Walmart,

H&M, Aldi, and so on (Volodzko “Bangladesh Is Burning And Sweatshops Are The

Fuel”).

The organizations from the developed nations have been demanding workers from

the poor countries to work at a faster pace as well as for longer durations in the

deplorable conditions that offers no benefits. This is all done for the sake of increasing

corporate profits. There have been incidences where the employees and cheap labor of

the third world have been highly exploited by the managers of the larger enterprises who

manage these labor and productions in the labor market.

One such incident is that of Rana Plaza building, Bangladesh, whereby the

illegally constructed building, which was a garment industry, had collapsed on 24th April

2013, while causing death of more than a thousand individuals along. As a result of the
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incident, majority of the workers did not return the next day for work due to the damaged

condition of the building and the loss of lives. However, the owner of the building, along

with few of his gang members had threatened the workers to return to the work

immediately, else they would break every bone of their bodies (Magliano “Sweatshops:

where corporate greed and human misery meet”). Consequently, the workers had to

return to the work in the fear of getting beaten than over losing their lives in the damage

that was being caused by the dilapidated industry building.

Several of the enterprises and factories often enlist younger kids as they are

cheaper with respect to labor payment and thereby aids in saving expenditure. These kids

are forced to work for more than 16 hours every day for six days in a week for the mere

wage of few pennies offered per hour (Embar “Sweatshops and Child Labor”). In

addition, these children frequently get harmed or in several cases, get slaughtered while

working due to the hostile working conditions. It has been estimated that poverty,

amalgamated with restricted access to instructions, are the major forces that often drive

the children towards the workplace. It has been estimated by the International Labor

Organizations that over 250 million children belonging to the age range of 6 to 14 years

have been working in the developing nations, of these 61% in Asia, 32% in Africa and

7% in Latin America (Embar “Sweatshops and Child Labor”). In most of the cases, these

children are forced to work, and they are denied of their normal life or education.

Children belonging to extremely poor and wide and large families are bound to

work, as opposed to those families with smaller family members as they are required to

earn for the entire family and make up for the deficit (Embar “Sweatshops and Child

Labor”). It has been widely perceived that the female child does not require much of
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education as compared to the boys and therefore, they are taken out of the schools at

early age and then they are either forcefully placed or sold to do the domestic works. The

child labors are forced to develop all kinds of products such as shoes like sneakers and

athletic shoes, clothing and garments, rugs, toys, chocolates, coffee and so on (Embar

“Sweatshops and Child Labor”). Many children are even abducted from their homes and

forced to work. These children frequently get harmed, beaten or in several cases, get

slaughtered while working due to the hostile working conditions.

In most of the cases, the parents are forced to send their children to work at the

sweatshops the family may lose out on its ability of feeding itself entirely, and it is

certainly preferable by them to have children working but alive rather than being picked

over by vultures, victims of entirely avoidable starvation (Fagerstrom “Sweatshops, Child

Labor, and the Global Economy | Should we be outraged by sweatshops and child

labor?”). In fact, it has become an established fact that sweatshops and child labor are the

necessary tools for the poor to emerge from their poverty. Natural rights, broadly

understood, are the rights that are part and parcel of being human, available to all and

forbidden to none. These are also denied to the workforce of the sweatshops (Fagerstrom

“Sweatshops, Child Labor, and the Global Economy | Should we be outraged by

sweatshops and child labor?”).

It has also been determined that regardless of the gender and age, the enterprises

subject their workers to critical, dangerous and unpleasant conditions and make them to

work for longer hours that may require physical ambush, all of which is done under the

lowest pay that have been implemented by the local legislations and laws (Magliano

“Sweatshops: where corporate greed and human misery meet”). In many cases, the
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children are confined to their workspaces and are often beaten and denied the

opportunities to leave the workplace to go to their own families. There have been

incidences, when the child labor has been subjected to further severe and obscene works

due to the absences or lack of any kind of suitable jobs. For instance, during the cases

whereby it has been mandated to shut down the sweatshops, the children labors were

forced to find alternative work sources that included exploitative jobs like hazardous

manual labor and prostitutions (Smestad, 155).

In several cases, the child labors are forced to work in conditions that make them

get exposed to chemicals, dusts, carcinogenic agents, and pesticides, thereby endangering

their lives even further (Zaman, Matin and Kibria, 27). In several situations, the work

conditions put the children through not only physical but also mental strains that affect

their physical and psychological growths. The major industries where the children are

forced to work in Bangladesh include battery recharging, tobacco factories, road

transport, auto workshops, and welding (Zaman, Matin and Kibria, 30). Therefore, it can

be stated that sweatshops and child labor has become an integral and unavoidable

component of the third world markets and therefore, the same are being highly exploited

by the enterprises of the developed markets due to the cheap labor availability and the

need for money by those populations. In several of the sweatshops several other kinds of

unethical practices are also followed. Falsifying time sheets, ‘coaching’ employees on

how to answer auditor’s questions regarding the operations of the business, and other

tactics are being used by sweatshop managers as a way to continue to stay solvent while

dealing with price and ethical pressures from the companies they do business with
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(Fagerstrom “Sweatshops, Child Labor, and the Global Economy | Should we be

outraged by sweatshops and child labor?”).

Based on the discussion that has been presented above, it is evident that the issue

associated with sweatshops and child labor has been prevailing in the third world for a

long time, however, the national, regional government are either not able to take

measures to overcome the situation or are too corrupt to take any measure. Furthermore,

it is evident that majority of the population are highly dependent on these sweatshops and

child labor, especially the multinational organizations that has made the situation even

worse for the labor population of the third world. Also, such conditions can not be

overcome, until steps are taken to overthrow poverty.

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Works Cited

Embar, Wanda. “Sweatshops and Child Labor.” Vegan Peace, 2015,

www.veganpeace.com/sweatshops/sweatshops_and_child_labor.htm.

Fagerstrom, Matthew. “Sweatshops, Child Labor, and the Global Economy | Should we

be outraged by sweatshops and child labor?.” Medium, 9 Sep. 2016,

medium.com/@MattJFstrom/sweatshops-child-labor-and-the-global-economy-

af309c592de7.

Magliano, Tony. “Sweatshops: where corporate greed and human misery meet.” National

Catholic Reporter, 13 May 2013, www.ncronline.org/blogs/making-

difference/sweatshops-where-corporate-greed-and-human-misery-meet.

Smestad, Liat. "The sweatshop, child labor, and exploitation issues in the garment

industry." Fashion Practice 1.2 (2009): 147-162.

Trancraze. “Secrets, Lies, and Sweatshops: Are the Jobs Worth the Sweat?.” Medium, 3

Feb. 2018, medium.com/@Trancraze/secrets-lies-and-sweatshops-are-the-jobs-

worth-the-sweat-476b58ba64b4.

Volodzko, David. “Bangladesh Is Burning And Sweatshops Are The Fuel.” Forbes, 6

Mar. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/davidvolodzko/2019/03/05/bangladesh-and-

the-fire-next-time/#1a499e782ca1.

Zaman, Shituma, Sabrina Matin, and A. M. B. G. Kibria. "A study on present scenario of

child labour in Bangladesh." IOSR Journal of Business and Management 16.6

(2014): 25-36.