The Persistence of Sweatshops: A Global Issue

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In order to comment about sweatshops lets first state the Cambridge definition: a place where people work for long hours and very low pay in an unhealthy situation. Sweatshops or sweat factories, as we have defined them started basically with the industrial revolution in the 19^th century, mainly in GB. Back then of course there were almost no rights for workers and therefore, many companies exploited them in order to produce more and cheaper goods.

As part of the evolution of human and labour rights, in the last two centuries, legislation has been passed to eliminate sweatshops, although obviously, depending on the degree of social development of each country, this goal has been achieved in a higher or lower degree.

It is a fact that in the recent decades, focus has been placed mainly in the textile industries. People are very conscious of whether the clothes they buy have been produced in the right working conditions or not and what's worse, if children have been used in the production processes. In the sweatshops which still remain in the whole world, people work twelve hours or more, have no air conditioning or heating facilities, are not protected against all kinds of environmental damages, have almost no rights and terrible low wages which sometimes are not enough even to feed themselves, let alone their families.

The main reasons why sweatshops still exist are the following:

First of all, it is clear that politics play an important role. The political regimes in the countries where there are more sweatshops are not interested in protecting their people and, specifically, their workers. Economically companies establish themselves in countries where they know there is no legislation against sweatshops. This way they get more and cheaper production and therefore, increase their profits.

Fortunately, nowadays there are many non-profit organizations and social movements that, together with trade unions, fight against labor abuse. It is more and more difficult for companies to cheat consumers and tell them they do not use sweatshops because they are monitored by those organizations.

Companies nowadays worry a lot about their image and have tried to improve their labor standards all over the world in their own factories and even in the factories of their contractors. What's more, many new brands that assure people they do not use sweatshops at all are being very successful and grow in the number of their clients.

In conclusion, sweatshops have been a big problem in the industrial development, which still remains, mainly in developing countries, but governments, the people, and even the companies are working hard to eradicate them.