After recent accusations that Apple manufactures its products in sweatshops, I was wondering if the use of sweatshops is a trend. As we discussed in class during first semester, sweatshops are prevalent because due to the extreme focus on profit that US companies have. Whatever they can do to maximize their profit, they will do, even if it means putting helpless, low-class human beings in hellish work conditions. These sweatshops usually are located in countries that are poor and underdeveloped.
But recently, I discovered an article that showed may show that there is reason for hope. In Bangledesh, there is a sweater factory that plays by the rules. There are no under-age workers, the only children that are in the factory are in the daycare facility that it provides. They provide women who are pregnant with maternity leave WITH pay, provide medicine for all workers, and get plenty of time for lunch and breaks. The Director of the factory strongly believes in fair treatment for workers: "The atmosphere should always be healthy, friendly and livable." Friendly indicates that not only are the people themselves friendly, but that the conditions are friendly. And in the case of this factory, that is certainly the case.
But does this one factory give us a reason to look optimistically into the future? There are still plenty of factories where there are horrible conditions that workers are forced to go through just to make an extremely small sum of money. Personally, I think that this certainly is a step in the right direction - if this factory becomes an example used throughout the world, and is well known in the US, maybe companies will take a step back and realize how much pain they are causing to those who work in the sweatshops. But that is a lot to ask for.
Mr. O'Connor has touched on progression and if there really is a reason for optimism in his own blog posts. So I am going to pose the same question - is this an example that should make us optimistic for the future of the treatment of workers and sweatshops? Why or why not?
I think this a definitely a reason for hope. If there is this kind of director somewhere then there have to be others that companies can hire who will also be this fair to their workers. I agree that this should be an example to other factories but I do not think the others will just follow along. The key to more desirable working conditions is in a harsher crack down of the laws. Law informers need to be stricter with factories and not allow the kind of horrible conditions you hear about to happen.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your optimism, AJ, but there's not nearly enough info provided to make a judgement one way or the other -- and that's your job as writer. When the first textile mills were located in New England in the 1800s, the conditions sound remarkably parallel-- young women living cooperatively in relatively tolerable conditions. But once factory owners found they could replace the women with non-English speaking immigrants who accepted lower pay, then...you can guess the rest.
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