People all over have tried to address the sweatshop and child labor issues that plague not only third world countries, but our nation. Although sweatshops are not as commonly heard of here in America, we do have a role in the issue. According to Brandon Gaille, “A shirt that sells in the United States for $60 can cost less than 10 cents in labor.” This proves that America as a nation does contribute to the global issue of sweatshops. So what are we (Americans) doing to lessen our impact on sweatshops ? As early as 2001 there has been many different actions and laws initiatives that have been created and carried out to help the sweatshop problem. According to Peters and Tanniru, “ Over the past year and a half university students, led by the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), have organized protests, marches and sit-ins on university campuses as part of a national student campaign opposing sweatshop abuses.” This proves that young people across the nation have been taking matters into their own hands. University student from all around the country protest against the sweatshop and bring attention to the issue. They want to let people know that people have to deal with these inhumane conditions in other parts of the country. Another way that sweatshops have been been addressed nationally was through the Fair Labor Standard Act that was a step in the right direction for our nation. According to the act its states, “ The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments.” So what the FLSA was, is basically a set of rules that insured people would be treated and paid fairly for their work. This proves that this act helped prevent people from getting exploited by big companies. Clearly, this didn’t stop sweatshops; however, it did create strict labor laws. Which I think is why there are not as many sweatshops her. Are roles in the sweatshop issue can either be positive or negative. We can help bring awareness to their issues and try to donate to their cause to help improve their working conditions. Unfortunately at the same time we are fueling their oppression by buying the products from the oppressors(companies).
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Whenever I think about sweatshops, I never think about them being here in our country. I’ve always assumed they were only in other countries, like China or Bangladesh, because that is where you hear all the factory disasters happening. According to the article written by Haya El Nasser she wrote, “The latest study on the state of the Los Angeles garment industry found that 21 percent of workers have experienced physical or verbal violence on the job and 6 percent reported sexual harassment in the workplace. Half complained of poor ventilation, and eye and nose irritation from chemicals. A third of the workers surveyed reported a lack of clean drinking water at work and almost a third said they are not allowed to take rest breaks.” Basically garment workers in Los Angeles were not given the right working conditions and were being harassed. This proves that even though our nation is not expected to have sweatshops, it can still be an issue. These poor women were working under terrible working conditions, yet they barely said anything in 2015. This article just proved that sweatshops are kept under the radar, and if no one says anything they will continue doing what they do. In the article Nasser goes more in depth about how the label “Made in America” doesn’t guarantee anything. In our nation laws were set in order to help prevent these type of issue. However, over the years people have been able to find ways around them. Causing there to be sweatshops here in America without a lot of people knowing what they are actually doing. Another example of sweatshops here in “the land of the free” is a story about some issues that surrounded a T Moblie company. According to an article written by People’s World it said, “ T-Mobile call center employees are forced to work in a highly stressful setting that demands they follow strict guidelines to meet unrealistic quotas with only a short amount of time to handle customer requests.” also stating “Failure to meet goals results in severe punishment and even loss of employment.” In other word the workers were working under really stressful conditions. Where they had to work or else they were at risk of losing their job. Ultimately this is just another example of a sweatshop that has been discovered in America. All these new discoveries are just proving that sweatshops are a real issue here in America too. Even though they are less heard of here and they are not as openly advertised as they would be overseas; does not mean they don’t happen in our country.
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