Preview

Sweatshops In China Research Paper

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1953 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sweatshops In China Research Paper
Under Umbrella of Sweatshops in China Have you ever wondered where your clothes are coming from? In what conditions are they made? When you are buying an expensive Nike shirt, do you know that your t- shirt was made in a sweatshop In China, where the minimal wage is 55 cent per hour.1 Some Chinese companies routinely shortchange their employees on wages, withhold health benefits and expose their workers to dangerous conditions. For example, the PBS documentary “China Blue” shows what life is like for Chinese workers who make your clothes. “ They live crowded together in a cement factory dormitories where water has to be carried upstairs in buckets”, reports the film website.2 Let’s take a look what the law is saying. Section VII of the Code addresses working conditions: "The factory does not engage in or permit physical acts to punish or coerce workers. (Section A) The factory does not engage in or permit psychological coercion or any other form of non-physical abuse, including threats of violence, sexual harassment, screaming or other verbal abuse. (Section B) The factory complies with all applicable laws regarding to the working conditions, including worker’s health and safety, sanitation, fire safety, risk protection, and electrical, …show more content…
There is lack of awareness about the problem of a sweatshop. Even the CEO of Nike Corporation is not aware of the problem, or does not want to be. In response to the conditions of the workers in China who make Nike products, Michael Jordan was quoted as saying, "I don 't know the complete situation. Why should I? I 'm trying to do my job.” How people would be aware of what is going on in sweatshop, if workers are forced to be happy when they give interview on TV, because they are scared to be punished. Nike also has a history of jumping from country to country in search of the lowest labor

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    While furthering my research on Polo Ralph Lauren’s business decisions regarding sweatshops and their workers, I found an article written by Robert J.S. Ross, a professor in Sociology at Clark University. The article entitled, “Hey, Ralph Lauren, sweatshops aren’t chic,” was featured in the Los Angeles Times and employs an appeal to pathos by disclosing the reprehensible working conditions that sweatshop workers endure everyday in factories throughout China to provide products for Polo Ralph Lauren. While discussing these working conditions he states, “unofficially, they are often paid less than the official minimum, which varies by province and city. Days off are rare, despite laws that entitle them to one day off a week” (Ross). Ross essentially…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Over the last 20 years, many corporations of the United States have moved their factories overseas as a way of reducing taxes, avoiding strict government regulations, and reducing overall costs. Nike Inc. is no different. They have hundreds of factories in various countries like South Korea, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Pakistan and China. US based companies view this as an opportunity fulfil the consumers’ needs while maintaining much lower costs of production. The poor decisions of these corporations have been highlighted by the media with Nike getting a major portion of the scrutiny and highly criticized based on its organizational culture. Issues that have…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    keady, J. (2009, October 2). When will nike "just do it" on the sweatshop issue?. Retrieved from…

    • 5847 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Throughout the past decades the United States has allowed and been faced with sweatshop pro’s and con’s. There have been active sweatshop being utilized and there have also been many protests taking place by concerned government entities, labor boards and student organizations regarding the unethical operations of sweatshops. It is more common for sweatshop to be in operation in Third World countries because sweatshops are considered to be a positive move for economic development in the Third World counties.…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ravisankar begins his essay by giving us in insight about how people would go to the extreme just to get their hand or to have the opportunity to buy as much as they can for as little as possible especially on black Friday. The problem he identifies in his article, is the high human cost and forced people in sweatshops have to work per week for just pennies an hour just to make the necessary for their survival. Ravisankar assumes his readers know little about sweatshops and furthermore, how difficult and awful conditions are really are. He goes on to say that some of these workers have to be forced to work extremely long 70 to 80 hours per week for little pay, and also, workers are discouraged or intimidated from forming unions. His purpose…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Labor Practices PHL 320

    • 757 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A “sweatshop” is defined by the United States Department of Labor as a factory that violates two or more labor laws. The use of questionable labor practices, popularly knows as “sweatshop labor”, is widespread in the production of consumer goods (Paharia, 2013). Major international brands such as Nike and Apple are some of the high-profile companies that have been exposed to such labor abuses.…

    • 757 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sweatshops Research Paper

    • 1581 Words
    • 7 Pages

    With America's constant need for new clothing at cheap prices, it leads companies to use their last resort to finish orders and make a profit. Sweatshops are factories where people who live in developing countries work. Sweatshops are famous for overworking and abusing their employees, having small, cramped work spaces where there is little to no ventilation. American companies use sweatshops to get their products quickly manufactured and selling for the cheapest price possible. American Companies should not be allowed to use sweatshops and American consumers should stop buying products made by sweatshops in order to keep people in economically developing countries safe. Many people are against sweatshops because they are unsafe and harmful…

    • 1581 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The success of Nike, however, has not come without controversy. In its efforts to rapidly expand and grow to a worldwide business, the corporation has had its share of ethical controversy, mostly stemming from its largely outsourced factory work. Asian countries like Pakistan, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, China, Philippines, and Thailand contain the majority of Nike’s factories (Professional Ethics Articles, 2012). This has presented Nike with a substantial amount of bad publicity and negative public response.…

    • 1245 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sweatshops Violations

    • 91 Words
    • 1 Page

    Typically, large retailers don’t produce their own clothing. Instead, they hire manufacturers who enter into contracts with small factories. Because there are often a lot of these factories, they can be hard to monitor, and retailers often ignore the way the workers in those factories are treated. While not all small factories violate workers’ rights, some of them, known as sweatshops, have infamously poor working conditions.…

    • 91 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sweatshops In The 1800s

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages

    1 Introduction Sweatshops is a place of work were working conditions are horrible and inhuman. They have been around for a long period of time. They are associated with factories that generally produce apparels. They tend to have low wages, excessive long working hours, child labour and awful working conditions. In this report the aim is to have an overview of sweatshops and wc.…

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sweatshop Research Paper

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Harsh conditions, extremely low wages, filth, grime and fear, these are all characteristics of those working in sweatshops around the world. Since the early 1900s, when corporations began using sweatshops, the general public has fought against the idea of them and the human rights that are being broken. Yes, these problems are arising and they are vile and horrific but there is another element Americans look past and are ignorant about. Americans are closed minded and choose to overlook the benefits some of these countries are gaining from the sweatshops in their countries. There are so many different aspects of what is ethical and unethical about sweatshops and the stakeholders illustrate the pros and cons on how…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sweatshops or sweat factories are a work place where people work in similar conditions to those of the farmers. They typically receive low pay for hard labor they work in unbearable conditions and some even have child labor even though there are laws forbidding it. Thanks to sweatshops we get cheaper goods typically clothes but on the other side of the world there may be a child or person who only got paid five cents for making a shoe you paid sixty dollars for. In an encyclopedia it stated, “Brands such as Nike use sweatshops to lower the cost of their products.”(Hickel 3). This shows that even big name brands such as Nike are using sweatshops to lower the cost of clothing, shoes and other merchandise. They pay the workers less incredibly low wages to work for long periods of time reducing expenses but increasing productivity. The poor once again are not being treated with the same rights that somebody in the middle class would get. They are hardworking people just like the farmers but are not getting paid anywhere near what they be earning and that poverty cycle once again will keep going from generation to generation. It states on a reliable website, “A study showed that doubling the salary of sweatshop workers would only increase the consumer cost of an item by 1.8%, while consumers would be willing to pay 15% more to know a product did not come from a sweatshop.”(Hickel 2). This explains that it wouldn’t hurt many people to…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ideal Sweatshop

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “The Myth of the Ethical Shopper” by Michael Hobbes is a piece that was posted in the Highline: Huffington Post. Hobbes argues that the ethical shopper no longer exists and for reasons he drones on about, will never exist again. American brands have been outsourcing their sweatshops for decades, which will be discussed in “The Ideal Sweatshop.” However, Hobbes brings a new element into the mix, because the countries that are being outsourced to have to produce clothing for their own populations as well the problem becomes unsustainable. In the example of China whose population is practically tripled Hobbes is essentially passing off the blame. When the subject of child labor is discussed this topic is of particular relevance “factories in developing…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nike and Human Rights

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ethical issues may include the violation of fundamental human rights of ‘sweatshop’ workers such as freedom, speech and discrimination. The treatment of their workers could be deemed ‘unethical’ by media who construe this view to consumers. Such allegations can and will have damaging effects with Nike having been taken to court already in the past.…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nike Sweatshop Analysis

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Nike publicizes itself as one of the leaders of corporate responsibility. However, they do not comply with several human rights obligations overseas in countries like Thailand, Pakistan, China, Vietnam and Indonesia. In these countries, production facilities called sweatshops have been running for almost 35 years employing workers as young as…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics