18 September 2008
Sweatshops
Posted by admin under: Uncategorized .
A few days ago, I opened the blog to topic requests from my readers. Since Joe was the only one who responded, I’ll start with his thoughts and questions about sweatshops.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed., 2004) a sweatshop is, “ A shop or factory in which employees work long hours at low wages under poor conditions.”
So, a sweatshop is a place where the workers are forced to endure terrible working conditions for ridiculously low pay, often for less than a dollar per hour. Some of these terrible conditions include: sexual assault, especially on young women, including gang-rape; very short or non-existent breaks; not being allowed to use a restroom for an entire shift; long shifts up to 17 hours; and all for less money than most of us would find under our couch cushions.
Why are there sweatshops? I believe there are two main reasons: greedy companies and greedy, lazy consumers. The greedy companies want to make the maximum profit possible, even if they have to abuse their workers to do it. By paying their workers very little, forcing them to work long shifts under horrific conditions, these companies save money on their overhead while still allowing them to undercut prices of items that were produced responsibly. Wal-Mart (which I term “The Evil Empire”) is one of the worst offenders. Click here to go to Wal-Mart Watch, a non-profit group that seeks to hold Wal-Mart accountable for it’s business practices. But massive (and not-so-massive) companies are not the only problem. The other half of the equation is us.
Most Americans have such a consumption-minded mindset. Rather than repair or re-use something, we throw it out and go buy a new one. Or instead of spending $30 for a quality shirt that will last several years, we spend $10 for a junk one that wears out in six months. Rather than support responsible businesses, who buy their products from fair-trade (fair-trade means that it was produced according to ethical standards) factories, we buy everything from these huge companies because they have the lowest prices. But price isn’t the only factor in determining the cost of an item. We have to think of the cost to the worker who made it.
Hopefully, this post has given you some idea of what a sweatshop is and why it’s such a terrible thing, both for the workers and those who buy the products. Especially as Christians, we need to think long and hard about where we buy products, and how we use them, because the world is watching. And they will judge Christ by His followers.
In the next post, I’ll actually address some of Joe’s comments, and give some concrete tips that we can all do to make sweatshops a thing of the past.
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something I can do.“ Edward Everett Hale
One Comment so far...
The Greener Christian » Blog Archive » Sweatshops, Part Two Says:
19 September 2008 at 9:33 am.
[...] Author’s Note: This is the second in a series about sweatshops. To check out the first part, click here. [...]
