Sweatshops in Developing Countries
Sweatshops in most developing countries are the most viable sources of income considering the standards of living and the unemployment rates. However, it has been discovered that most of these shops expose the workers to poor working conditions and other exploitations which need to be worked on. According to a study done in Beijing, China, an interesting discovery was made. It brought to attention the fact that most factories have improved in the art of concealing information from auditors, and instead of giving them the wrong books so that their unjustified acts towards the laborers are not discovered. Although these sweatshops are the commonest way for the citizens in the third world countries to earn money, it should be noted that there are more cons as compared to pros when it comes to operating them.
The Use of Fake Data and Falsification of Documents
Sweatshops in China have now resorted to using fake data to fool the auditors and in turn, mask the real situation in these factories. In the article by Roberts et.al, a former administrator from a Chinese sweatshop admits having witnessed alteration of data shortly before an audit was carried out in the factory. The laborer reported that a man from a consultancy firm had contacted the management and promised them to help fix the problem at a fee of five thousand dollars. What followed was that fake records were created and the workers with grievances kept away from the factory on the day of the audit. The factory finally passed the audit with these fake reports. In another scenario, a factory that was found to have been falsifying documents admitted that such occurrences are not uncommon in other industries. Peter Wang reports in the article that "Before we all played the cat-and-mouse game" he admits that it is not easy to follow the labor law requirements as every improvement costs money. Helping factories evade audits does more harm than good to the employees and the industries at large. No improvements are usually made in these industries after auditing is done and it, therefore, becomes a cycle which ought to be cut.
Exploitation and Poor Working Conditions
The levels of employee exploitation are very high in the sweatshops. According to Powell's article, In Defense of Sweatshops, he states that "Economists across the political spectrum have pointed out that for many sweatshop workers the alternatives are much, much worse". The introductory part of his article gives an idea of how bad the conditions in these factories are. In the study done in Beijing, real case examples of the deplorable working conditions in these factories were given. When a compliance officer visited a factory of this kind, he found the place poorly ventilated and as a result, very stuffy. He could not help but realize that there were underage laborers in the place. To add on to that, an impromptu auditing done in various sweatshops led to the discovery that the workers were being paid less than is acceptable by the labor laws. They also reported that they worked for an extra three to five-hour period without overtime wages. Others would work for up to a whole month without a day off from work. An auditor felt like some workers had been coached to say that they worked only five days a week and there was no extension of labor time or oppression from the environment whatsoever (Dexter, 2015).
Lack of Progress and Stagnation
Another issue that exists in these sweatshops is stagnation. This is majorly in the sense that very little progress is made in terms of enhancing the quality of the environments and treating the laborers well. In Powell's article, Kathy Lee was accused of exploiting children. The accusation was on the basis of the fact that these laborers earned only $31cents per hour. This implied that after working up to ten hours a whole day, one would only go home with about $3.10, which was barely sufficient. When Kathy realized the implication of this, she felt really bad and promised to raise her laborer's pay.
Lack of Effort in Improving Conditions
Also, from the survey done in China, Tang, a former administrator in a sweatshop explained that the factories would mask the real conditions in the environments and after the audits were done then nothing much changed. The thing just remained as they had been before. Such actions have resulted in creating a labor force which does not really care to stand up for their rights, for as long as they are working, even if it means earning peanuts. It only gets worse since the highly skilled workers who serve in the factories that comply with the labor laws prefer working in the sweatshops which break the rules in order to earn more by working for more hours. In this case, therefore, the workers do not realize the importance of standing up for their rights, being that they are all hanging on to threads of hope that they get a little more to sustain their families. The management of these factories also fail to make an effort in making the working conditions bearable and sustainable, this results in a loss for both ends.
The Brighter Side of Sweatshops
However, looking on the brighter side, these sweatshops are a source of labor for most citizens in the third world countries. Despite the fact that they are exploitative and hide behind the masks of false records, some sweatshops operate under clean records and contribute to raising living standards. According to Powell, the improvement of technology is a promise for improvement of returns from these sweatshops. Some countries are already implementing better technologies in their factories and this is contributing to the better working environment. Also, he argues that technological advancement shall also lead to faster development in the third world countries. Therefore, it is not entirely true that these sweatshops are bad. In his article, he argues that third world countries need more sweatshop jobs, not less, "Because sweatshops are better than the available alternatives, any reforms aimed at improving the lives of workers in sweatshops must not jeopardize the jobs that they already have." (Powell, 2015). It goes without saying that he also finds it fair that the conditions in the sweatshops be improved in order to gain more and better results from their existence in these countries.
Works Cited
Powell, Benjamin. “In Defense of ‘Sweatshops.’” Perspectives on Contemporary Issues: Reading Across the Disciplines. edited by Katherine Anne Ackley, 7th
ed., Cengage, 2015, pp. 535-40.
Roberts, Dexter, and Pete Engardio. “Secrets, Lies, and Sweatshops.” Perspectives on Contemporary Issues: Reading Across the Disciplines. edited by Katherine Anne Ackley, 7th ed., Cengage, 2015, pp. 528-34.
