Sweatshops why aren't they eliminated yet?

[Harvey Dent]

Sweatshop's are places where people are forced into labor (underage usually.) to produce goods at insanely cheap wages, not only that but the conditions are usually poor. The question is, if so many countries have outlawed and look down on inhumane treatment, Why are they still operating in the countries?

Is it the government's problem? or the Companies that employ such Labor Camps?

[II Xion II]

Sweatshops aren't eliminated yet for one very simple reason, they provide a large quantity of goods at dirt-cheap prices (if the people are even paid at all). The government in any country (despite what it may say) is not all knowing and cannot possibly find every single sweatshop operating. They only find out about them through leaks from within the sweatshop or through outside investigations.

Also, a lot of sweatshops may have fronts and legitimate-appearing businesses to outsiders so actually finding out about the sweatshop may be difficult. It is both the government's problem and company's problems though since the government has an obligation to enforce its laws, and company's have an obligation to a.)obey the law, and to b.)satisfy mass (customer) sentiment in regards to the issue.

[James Cizuz]

I know your going to hate me for this but.

The reason sweat shops are not eleminated(not the only reason) is Americans. Not to be offensive, but 90% of the companies in America outsource to other countries, to make more money. Thing is the majority was in asain countries, but because of the outsourcing the majority of money was going to China. Thus China became the largest econimy. If China was to put a law against outsourcing, America would fall into a depression, worse then the stock market chrash in 1929. Which is funny in a way.

However it is all about money, you get stuff for cheaper and cheaper the cheaper you produce your products, gaining more money also. Then you see, hey I can pay sweatshops 1$ a day per person, and gain a large amount of stock! Lets do that! Money money money money!!!!!!!!
Yea...

[死神 クリス]

Money talks, and there are plenty of job seekers in China that need to feed their families, or just plain kids needing to earn some money to survive.

So yeah Sweat Shops will never disappear, Nike has plenty of them world-wide, but consumers still buy their products right?

[James Cizuz]

Opps, I meant China was the second biggest econimy, right behind America, but if China did shut down American outsourcing and make a law against it, it would push America into a total bankrubtcy.

[VampyreLord]

Sweatshops are, in essence, a form of slavery. Though the workers are paid, they are brutally exploited and usually have no option but to work. They have no security, and no rights. They continue to exist because they make fat cat capitalists rich, and capitalism has and always will be built on the backs of slaves.

That is why sweatshops will never be eliminated.

[malfuncti0n]

Well they can, in part, be considered similar to that if looked at in a certain way. But the workers hold the right to leave at any time and are not being forced. Sweatshops are, in my mind atleast, more similar to the way industry started out in the late 1800's where workers were put in hazardous conditions for long hours and menial pay, and labor unions were non-existant.

It is cheap labour where people to do the labour can be easilly found and are doing it under there own free will. James Cizuz the fault can not be purely laid upon the americans, thats just scapegoating. In essence, by your logic, it can be the countrys governments who do not stop it, the consumers who continue to shop, the companies who perform these deeds, and even the workers who work in sweatshops who can all be equally blamed for there continuation in this world.

[Harvey Dent]

Well they can, in part, be considered similar to that if looked at in a certain way. But the workers hold the right to leave at any time and are not being forced. Sweatshops are, in my mind atleast, more similar to the way industry started out in the late 1800's where workers were put in hazardous conditions for long hours and menial pay, and labor unions were non-existant.

It is cheap labour where people to do the labour can be easilly found and are doing it under there own free will. James Cizuz the fault can not be purely laid upon the americans, thats just scapegoating. In essence, by your logic, it can be the countrys governments who do not stop it, the consumers who continue to shop, the companies who perform these deeds, and even the workers who work in sweatshops who can all be equally blamed for there continuation in this world.

Thats' actually how a lot of the Industrial Revolution's labor was. Of course now we have laws that protect it's workers now but still some of the governments aren't even enforcing them.

[James Cizuz]

Well they can, in part, be considered similar to that if looked at in a certain way. But the workers hold the right to leave at any time and are not being forced. Sweatshops are, in my mind atleast, more similar to the way industry started out in the late 1800's where workers were put in hazardous conditions for long hours and menial pay, and labor unions were non-existant.

It is cheap labour where people to do the labour can be easilly found and are doing it under there own free will. James Cizuz the fault can not be purely laid upon the americans, thats just scapegoating. In essence, by your logic, it can be the countrys governments who do not stop it, the consumers who continue to shop, the companies who perform these deeds, and even the workers who work in sweatshops who can all be equally blamed for there continuation in this world.
I said Americans, but not the only reason. 80%-90% of companies outsource to other countries. Now outsourcing does not mean sweatshops. However outsourcing does usually involve going to another country where they get the job done cheaper, and leads into sweatshops.

I never said they are a scapegoat, I said they are the worst for it, but not the main reason it exists. Hell, because of outsourcing America gave a lot of countries a better chance to grow, however it did make a lot of sweatshop practices to grow as well.

[malfuncti0n]

Well i merely assumed you meant it as the main reason as to the existance of sweatshops as it was, after all, the reason you discussed.
Regardless if i owned a company i would preobally outsource aswell, it is afterall logical from a buisness perspective. Sad but quite frankly very true.

[EnzJon]

My guess on this issue is that not all governments know about the sweatshops. The sweatshops probably hid themselves under either legitimate businesses or legitimate-sounding businesses. If the government people inspect a known business (that's secretly a sweatshop) and everything's all happy smiley, there's nothing that they can do. People in the sweatshops are treated like slaves. That is so TERRIBLY wrong.

[James Cizuz]

China does see something wrong with it. Sweatshops are shut down everyday in China, by the hundreds. Also every day hundreds more get put up. It's something to hard to stop.

[Evanesque]

Even though we would like sweatshops to be eliminated, it would cause a lot of grief among the labourers themselves.

Despite conditions and extremely low pay, they are unskilled workers who have no where else to go. If all of these shops are shut down, then they won't be able to support themselves.

It has become an important part in third world countries and unfortunately, eliminating them would cause more problems such as unemployment. They cannot adjust themselves to new developments since many of them are stereotypes and prefer to stick to one thing through out their lives.

They cannot take risks nor are they willing to.

We can't help it. A huge amount of help is required to first shift the labourers to a safe and secure environment and allowing them to work to their heart's content and then slowly, they can be introduced to the modern world.

We have to keep in mind that many are illiterate so communication might be a problem. There are other obstacles to overcome before we can make them stable.

As they tend to be shallow-minded, stubborn and have a streak of pride, they will not listen to people from other countries and with 'skin colour' different from theirs.

[CrushDance]

Lol where do you think the majority of goods we in the west recieve are from? Truth be told somebody has to do the hard work to make others lives comfortable and easy. Hence why it's always a big problem when a country tries to break away from that and do something else.

Look at all the free trade agreements coming into place. Is it because we care about others economies? No. We need more.

[VampyreLord]

Lol where do you think the majority of goods we in the west recieve are from? Truth be told somebody has to do the hard work to make others lives comfortable and easy. Hence why it's always a big problem when a country tries to break away from that and do something else.

Look at all the free trade agreements coming into place. Is it because we care about others economies? No. We need more.

Quoted for truth. I believe it's called capitalism. Sweatshops can never be eliminated until we reform (or remove) capitalism.

The free trade agreements aren't really free at all, we bully and maneuver weaker countries into signing these one sided free trade agreements, where other countries aren't allowed tariffs or subsidies, but we are...

[koreasamurai]

this question seems so incredibly stupid and almost an axiom. I mean why else would ppl have sweatshops except it being cheap? I dont want 2 say this but honestly, we want things cheap like everyone else said. As long as we ourselves dont see wats happening, we'll do anything possible to get things as cheap as possible. Thats why a good amount of the richest ppl are wal-mart heirs, since everyone goes there to get CHEAP items

[dragoneyes001]

sweat shops are not forced into one place they can move as the need requires.

to explain further: if a country with sweat shops starts to clamp down on them they simply move to another country and start right back up.
the cheap labor is easy to find in most of the worlds countries failing finding local workers they will import them.

also in the case of some SS the people working there are in debt to the owners for food and lodging if not for being smuggled to the country so they get payed next to nothing while they incur more debt daily to live while they are exploited.

as for child labor thats mostly in the poorer countries where the family needs the income of all of it members simply to make ends meet so the parents literally encourage the kids to work and because they are underage they are under payed for their work because the owners say its a risk to allow them to work at all. in many cases they beg to work even at the ridiculously low wages because anything is better than nothing and doing this kind of work may suck but its better than becoming street prostitutes because the need for food money outweighs the legality of the sweat shops and as kids they don't have many choices.

[Tankmaster]

Even though we would like sweatshops to be eliminated, it would cause a lot of grief among the labourers themselves.
Despite conditions and extremely low pay, they are unskilled workers who have no where else to go. If all of these shops are shut down, then they won't be able to support themselves.


Very well put, and very true. Despite the horrid nature of sweat shops, as well as the obvious lack of human rights and near slave like conditions, they are more or less necessary. The reason that people work in these sweat shops is not because they are forced to (physicaly), it is becasue they must (financially). These people need as much money as they can get in order to raise their families.

Therefore, the solution can never be to remove sweat shops, doing so would doom more people than having sweat shops in the first place. the only answer is to try and aise the wages that these people recieve. Of course, as has been mentioned before, we live in a capitalist world and as such, we want as much for as little as we can get.

that is why sweat shops have not been abolished, they need them, and we want them, nothing more, nothing less.

[KingKong]

So before sweatshops all those people sat around all f***ing day hoping for FDI's?
Nów that there is such a situation, eliminating them will take a long time.

Little Backdrop:

China has been pressured and urged more and more to do smt about labour conditions in their country. At last, the government has admitted there is a problem and is taking steps to develop a lawcode for labour conditions.

HOWEVER, behind the scenes, the 2 richest economies, namely the US and the EU, are lobbying to slow down the process. Very shady.

Its not unusual though, indeed as someone pointed out, conditions over there (apart from the coast line) are similar to what our great great great etc fathers and mothers had to endure during the industrial age.
Lets see how long the planet can endure...