Why Sweatshops are not Ethical - Term Paper Example

Why Sweat Shops are not Ethical Why Sweat Shops are not Ethical Introduction Sweatshops are generally defined as workplaces that tend to provide extremely low or subsistence wages to workers. These workers operate under harsh working conditions that include long hours, unhealthy conditions as well as an oppressive environment. Proponents of sweatshops commonly argue that these uncomfortable working conditions are acceptable if the laborers freely contract themselves to work under such conditions. However, critics of sweatshops retort to this postulations by pointing out that referring to a workplace as a sweatshop implies that the standard working conditions are essentially not only immoral but also illegitimate. Although most of the media attention regarding sweatshops has been focused on those operating in the underdeveloped countries, sweatshops exist in all countries including the United States where they have a rather lengthy history. In the United States, a 1994 check on the garment operations in the state of California established that an estimated 93% of all garment operations had various safety and healthy violations, 73% of these garment makers had improper payroll records, 68% were cited as having failed to pay appropriate overtime wages, while 51% were noted to pay less than the set minimum wage (Kolb 2007). In 1995, labor official in California managed to uncover a garment operation where it was found that an estimated over 80 Thai workers were regularly laboring behind razor wires as well as under 24hour surveillance form armed guards. These workers were also found to be earning the dismal amount of $2 per hour. In 1999 an inspection of garment factories found that 63% of the garment factories in New York continued to operate in violation of hours and wages laws (Kolb, 2007). Sweatshops are normally found in countries that have not established legal guidelines that serve to protect workers in the country form oppressive working conditions. They also exist in countries where although there are some laws designed to protect the rights of workers, these laws are insufficient and are generally substandard as compared to international law. According to Kolb (2007), the United States General Accounting Office has refined its definition of sweatshops to also include those working environments where an employer is regarded as violating either one or more of the established state or federal labor laws, Industrial homework lows, occupations health and safety laws, industry registration laws as well as workers’ compensation laws. The increasing global concerns over the operation of sweatshops has resulted in increased action form human rights and labor organizations calling for the improvement of establishments around the world where the working conditions are noted to be akin to that of a sweat shop (Arnold & Hartman, 2005). This paper will seek to highlight a number of reasons as to why sweatshops are unethical and should be banned from operations. Child Labor Although there may be very persuasive reasons as to why parents might at times encourage their children to work in sweatshops so as to earn a living, the employment of children is ethically questionable and is defined as child labor (Hindman, 2002; Beatty & Samuelson, 2011). Most of the child labor occurring in sweatshops tends to occur in sweatshops located in developing countries where children might at times be forced to start working from the tender of 3 years and at very unhealthy working conditions. The employment of children in sweatshops almost precludes these children from being able to obtain any education as these children often work on a full time basis. In a number of extreme cases, children are at times bought and forced into slavery under the guise of apprenticeship training and indentured servitude. The International Labor Organization (ILO) reports that most children working as employees tend to be paid lower rates as compared to the legal minimum rates and these rates are sometimes found to be as low as only one sixth of the minimum rate according to the findings of one survey. The younger a child is, the lower they wage payment that the child is able to receive; children are also usually not paid for overtime (Kolb, 2007). According to an ILO report, more than 60% of working children in the Philippines are usually exposed to a number of hazardous working conditions and an estimated 40% of these children are noted to experience serious illnesses or injuries that at times necessitate that some of their limbs be amputated (Kolb, 2007). As a result of the fact that working in sweatshops takes these children out of school, it is estimated that more than half of the child labor force in the Philippines will never be literate and the substandard working conditions affect the develop of these children such their bodies tend to smaller as compared to non-working children of the same age. This trend eventually continues into adulthood. By the time that child laborers eventually reach adulthood, they are mostly irrevocably sick or deformed (Barboza, 2008). Children that have worked in sweatshops are often unlikely to live to attain the age of 50 years. Wages and Hours Although they work for very long hours, sweatshop employees are normally paid extremely low wages, sometimes this payment is made with no provision for any overtime. There have been cases of sweatshop employees loosing the pay they have already earned if they dare to refuse to work overtime (Gordon, 2005). The long working hours are unethical because the piece rate production quotas that these employees have been assigned are often so high that workers find themselves unable to leave the work floor to eat or even use the restroom due to innate fears of falling below quota. Falling below the assigned quota usually results in a loss of pay for those pieces that have been submitted (Kolb, 2007). In developing countries, the wage levels that sweatshop employees are usually far below those paid for similar types of employment in developed countries. Health and Safety The prevailing working conditions in sweatshops at times seriously threaten the health and safety of workers. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the ILO have both concluded that the shift of industrial production from the developed to the developing countries will have the effect of increasing the global occurrence of occupational diseases and injuries (Kolb (2007). An example of the endangerment of the safety and health of workers in sweatshops is provided by Kolb (2007) who points out that in El Salvador, the unethical working conditions at one sweatshop greatly endangered the safety and health of employees as these employees had to endure poor ventilation, intense heat levels, consumed contaminated drinking waters in addition to their being limited to taking one bathroom break per day. As punishment for breaking any of these rules, the sweatshop workers were forced to stand for long hours in direct sunlight. Workers in most sweatshops including those in the United States often miss key pieces of safety equipment such as gloves and face masks that can help in ensuring safe handling of products and breathing. They also work in environments that have insufficient means of emergency exits as their employers often lock the windows and doors with the sole objective of attempting to prevent any theft during the normal working hours (Lendman, 2012). Abuse and Mistreatment Sweatshop employers frequently impose and brutally enforce a number of rigid constraints on all their workers. According to Kolb (2007), sweatshops in the garment making industry consider management by terror as being standard practice. Bullman (2003) points out that workers are routinely shoved, verbally abused, beaten and kicked even when these employees are pregnant. Any attempts by these employees to try and unionize themselves are met with utmost brutality and in extreme cases by murder. Although the practice is both ethically immoral and illegal, Mexican Maquiladora factories that assemble imported materials for export often require women to take pregnancy tests or prove that they are currently menstruating as a pre-condition for their employment. Women who are thought to be pregnant are not hired (Powell & Zwolinski 2012; Ferriss, 2003). In El Salvador, women that work in the manufacturing industries are often required to take birth control pills that have been provided by the company. The birth control pills are administered in the presence of their employers (Kolb, 2013). Conclusion The working conditions and operations at sweatshops are globally recognized as being unethical. The UN Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that all human beings have an inherent dignity as well as a number of specific equal and inalienable rights. These rights are essentially based on the foundation of promoting justice, peace and freedom. Sweatshop operations are normally found to be quite demeaning to workers as these workers work under conditions that are not only unhealthy, but also unsafe. Depending on the country in which a particular sweatshop is located, workers working in the sweatshop at times receive less than minimal wage in addition to their not being compensated for any overtime that they might put in. Sweatshops often tend to also employ under-aged children as these children are cheaper to hire as compared to hiring adult workers. Child laborers employed in sweatshops at times receive only one sixth of the wages that adult workers receive for the same type and amount of work. The children are denied the opportunity of going to school and becoming literate in addition to also being exposed to conditions that negatively impact their life-spans. Regular mistreatment, physical and verbal abuse are also some of the ethically improper practices that are standard management practices in sweatshop management and it is because of all these ethically questionable characteristics that sweatshops are unethical and should be banned from operations. References Arnold, D. G., & Hartman, L. P. (2005). Beyond sweatshops: Positive deviancy and global labour practices. Business Ethics: A European Review, 14(3), 206-222. Barboza, D. (2008). In Chinese Factories, Lost Fingers and Low Pay. Retrieved on August 13, 2014 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/business/worldbusiness/05sweatshop.html?pagewa nted=all&_r=0 Beatty, F. J. Samuelson, S. S. (2011). Legal environment. Mason, Ohio : South-Western Cengage Learning. Bullman, G. A. (2003). Abuse of Female Sweatshop Laborers: Another Form of Sexual Harassment the Does Not Fit Neatly into the Judiciarys Current Understanding of Discrimination Because of Sex. Ind. LJ, 78, 1019. Ferriss, S. (2003). Mexican Workers Fight Sweatshop Standards. Retreived on August 13, 2014 from http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031109/BIZ/311099963 Gordon, J. (2005). Suburban sweatshops: the fight for immigrant rights. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Hindman, D. H. (2002). Child labor. Armonk (N.Y.); London: M.E. Sharpe, cop. Kolb, R. W. (Ed.). (2007). Encyclopedia of business ethics and society. Sage Publications. Lendman, S. (2012). Bangladesh Sweatshop Fire. Retrieved on August 12, 2014 from http://www.globalresearch.ca/bangladesh-sweatshop-fire/5313514 Powell, B., & Zwolinski, M. (2012). The ethical and economic case against sweatshop labor: A critical assessment. Journal of business ethics, 107(4), 449-472. Read More