A pair of Nike gym shoes for $150. Sixty bucks for a pair of Levi-Strauss jeans. A Gap shirt for $40. What do all these things have in common? They are all items that young people living in the United States spend their hard-earned money on. And more than likely, all of them were made by a young person working in a sweatshop.
A work place is defined as a sweatshop if it violates two or more of the most basic labor laws, including child labor, minimum wage, overtime and fire safety laws. Sweatshop workers report horrible working conditions including sub-minimum wages, no benefits, non-payment of wages, forced overtime, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, corporal punishment, illegal firings and most importantly, none of the respect they deserve as human beings. In an attempt to feed their families, the young women and children who work in sweatshops are forced to give up any chance of leading normal, healthy lives and, instead, must slave away for capitalist greed.
Some people argue that the use of sweatshop and child labor are a help to impoverished people in their struggle to survive. They say that banning child and sweatshop labor would only take away these peoples' chance at another days food. What they do not admit is that working conditions can and must improve, that wages can rise, that healthcare and education can be available and that respect can and must be given to all workers in every country. If adult family members can make a living wage, then children will not have to work.
And sweatshop and child labor is not just a problem in developing countries. The Government Accounting Office (GAO) recently reported that 290,200 children are illegally employed in the U.S. The greatest number of child workers are farm workers and because of pesticides and sub-minimum wages, they endure the worst working conditions of almost any industry.
In reality the existence of sweatshops is just another symptom of the crisis of global capitalism. Now-a-days corporations are so huge they are able to travel the world searching for the cheapest labor markets. What this means is, if they can manufacture their products in Honduras and only pay their workers fifty cents and hour instead of a decent union wage in the United States, then that's exactly what they will do. And if a year later they find they can produce in Thailand for only twenty cents an hour, then they move there instead.
These companies search for the lowest bidder, regardless of what the working conditions in a factory are, and regardless of what the workers are paid. For these reasons, the majority of sweatshops end up in poor under-developed countries with weak labor laws and weak or non-existent labor unions. These countries have nothing else but cheap labor to exchange for currency.
On the other end, the items made in these sweatshops are almost exclusively sold in the United States. And not only are they sold here, but they are sold for ridiculously high prices. A pair of Nike shoes that sells for $150 may have cost 5 dollars to make. That includes materials and labor costs.
What happens with the other 145 dollars? The answer is that all of those dollars, from each and every shirt, pair of pants or shoes that are bought in the United States, go right into the bank accounts of the super-rich corporations. So while on the one hand, the companies are cheating the workers who make the clothing on the other they are also cheating their workers who buy the clothing.
And this robbery is only aided by free trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) made between the United States, Mexico and Canada. These agreements basically reduce taxes and tariffs that make it more expensive for U.S. corporations to produce goods in other countries. For example, because of NAFTA, clothing made in a Mexican sweatshop can be shipped straight to the United States without being taxed. So in addition to making tons of money by underpaying its workers and over charging the consumers, these companies are also exempt from paying these taxes.
In the end the only lasting solution for workers is to unite on a global scale to ensure rights for all workers. Supporting all workers' rights to union representation would mean wide-spread changes in the way business is conducted in the United States and in countries such as Mexico, Haiti, Indonesia, Honduras and India, and everywhere sweatshops exist.
When we as workers realize that we share our struggle for a decent life with workers all over the world, and therefore have more in common with them than the rich of our own countries, things will change. Then corporations will no longer be able to pit worker against worker in order to make us compete for work at the lowest wages and the worst conditions. Only then, when we have begun to build international worker solidarity will we as workers really be able to end the use of sweatshop labor.
Average Hourly wages for Garment workers:
(Source: Womens Wear Daily, December 31, 1996)
A few companies that use sweatshop labor:
Nike, Disney, Dayton Hudson Corp. (Marshall Fields, Target), Adidas, Gap, Wal-Mart, Esprit, Sears, T.J. Maxx, K-Mart, J.C. Penney, Structure, Ralph Lauren, Bugle Boy, Limited, Eddie Bauer, Liz Claiborne, Gitano