Implementation Of Ethical Practices And The Situation Of Sweatshops Nowadays

Introduction

I am conducting a research of today’s sweatshop ethical practices and how we can stop sweatshop labour and the question I intend to use is “With the implementation of ethical practices, what can you say about the situation of sweatshops these days?”

From what I know, a sweatshop is a factory or a workshop where workers are employed for a very low wage and requires the workers to be working for long hours in poor working conditions. Most of the brands that take advantage of these practices are in the clothing industry, in the fast fashion market. The brands would expect their orders made in a bulk that is of limited sizes in a very short time.

Purpose of Research

In 2013 an eight-story commercial building called Rana Plaza, collapsed due to a structural failure occurred on 24th April of 2013 at Dhaka District in Bangladesh. The incident caused a total death toll of one thousand one hundred and thirty-four. An estimated number of injured people that were rescued alive were 2 thousand five hundred and it is considered the deadliest structural failure accident and is also the deadliest garment-factory accident in modern history. The commercial building had clothing factories, a bank, apartments and several other shops. When cracks were discovered in the building, the shops and the bank on the lower floors were immediately closed but the building’s owners ignored the warnings and the garment workers were forced to return to work the next day when the building collapsed in the morning.

The cause of the incident was due to the conversion of the building from commercial use to industrial use and the addition of three floors above the original permit. They also used substandard construction materials and had heavy machines that caused an overload of the building structure and vibrations due to the generators.

Sweatshops are known for their workers doing hard labour while being severely underpaid. Many practices sweatshops have include child labour and long working hours in a place that can be unhygienic and unsafe to their workers. The owner of the factory or management would sometimes rape their workers and cause them to be traumatised. This­­­­ is very unfair for the workers and I believe that each of them should be given an opportunity to be treated better at work by working for reasonable hours in a safe environment. The ethics that are being practiced in the factories are not strict enough such that things like forcing their workers to work for long hours, not being given basic human needs such as a bathroom break while at work or even have a proper lunch break in between working hours.

Review of Literature

The header of the chapter was “Can we be ethical and fashionable?”. Being consumers of fashion, we tend to overlook and not think about where our clothes come from or who makes them. Most of the time, our concern is focused on the cost, taste, style and durability of the garments. For the consumers, shopping is a process that can be fun, enjoyable, demanding and frustrating. In this modern day, fashion is produced in ways that raise serious ethical problems. Ethical problems such as the production of fur, animal-based products and even environmentally harmful substances that is released from the production factories into the ocean are well known but sadly what is not as prominent in the consumer’s mind is that most mass-market fashion brands are made in a sweatshop whereby their workers are being paid below a living wage while working in extreme discomfort and are physically endangered on a daily basis.

“We commonly justify our consumer behaviour – the processes of rationalization and justification that enable us to reconcile our desire for cheap clothes with our discomfort with the conditions under which they are made. ” – Fashion — Philosophy for everyone: thinking with style, Fritz Allhoff

It is necessary to maintain the poor condition of a sweatshop but even if the company passed the cost of improving the sweatshop conditions directly into the consumers, this would not cause the prices of the products to rise a few dollars per garment. It is actually a small price to pay to ensure the workers a living wage and a decent working environment. Although we know that sweatshops are mainly running due to the high demand for cheap production in a short period of time thus making it a great disparity of wealth that cannot be avoided by shopping for garments that are produced from sweatshops. Us as consumers have the choice to practice ethical shopping as there are options for clothing that avoid the concerns of sweatshop productions, environmental degradation and the concerns that are raised by consumerism. Due to what is happening in the world, there have been an increase of interest in recycled and vintage clothing and the popularity of online trading sites such as eBay, amazon, Etsy and online social media stores that allow consumers to find interesting, wearable and unique garments that is both affordable (even with a very small budget like below twenty dollars), sweatshop free and environmentally friendly. ­

“Work needs to be done, and employers would like it to be done as cheaply as possible without sacrificing the quality of their product. ” - Sewing hope: how one factory challenges the apparel industry’s sweatshops, Adler-Milstein & Sarah.

This caused the producers to ensure that the prices are low to compete for market share. If an employer doesn’t take advantage of the cheap labour, another employer will. Since consumers want to pay as little as possible, the sweatshop workers will be paid as little as possible, but it does not mean that all the consumers want their garments to be produced from the sweatshops.

“Many consumers want the lowest fair price for goods, not simply the lowest price at the expense of injustice” - Sewing hope: how one factory challenges the apparel industry’s sweatshops, Adler-Milstein & Sarah.

“People can’t help but want what they want and act from those wants. ” - Sewing hope: how one factory challenges the apparel industry’s sweatshops, Adler-Milstein & Sarah.

Most of the consumers that buy garments that are sweatshop produced are not aware of what goes behind the production process of how the garments are made and who makes them. Not everyone is aware of child labour that have been used in sweatshops, how the workers of a sweatshop are given such a low wage and having them work in such indecent working environment for long hours of labour.

Method of Research

The first method that I used for my research is an online survey by asking the audience on what they thought of sweatshops and how much they know about sweatshops. According to the response that I’ve gotten from the survey, 94. 7% of responses are aware that sweatshops are not morally and ethically correct.

I asked them where they think most of the sweatshops are located at and 42. 1% of them think it is mostly in China. Below is the chart that I got according to the response. 94. 7% of the responses think that it is not fair for the workers to be paid with such low wages despite having such low living cost. The workers are supposed to given a fair living wage no matter the circumstances. Fast-fashion brands such as Zara, Victoria’s Secret, Aldo, Forever 21, Nike, Adidas and so on are still profiting so much from their products that are being mass produced in a sweatshop. These brands are still able to sell their products in such a fast pace because the brands are always selling new products that are produced in the sweatshop in such a short period of time while their consumers are unaware of what is involved to create those products.

Some of the practices that are still going on in a sweatshop includes long working hours, child labour, low wages, abusive management (the workers are being harmed, beaten or even raped at work), poor healthcare and bad safety practices. The chart below is the responses I’ve gotten from the survey.

I asked if they knew that the brands that were mentioned benefited from sweatshops. I also asked the consumers who they think is responsible for making sweatshops more ethical in the fashion industry. 68. 4% of the responses said that it is the sweatshop owner that is responsible to have positive ethical practices in the workplace of their workers. Below is the chart that is taken from the survey.

57. 9% of the respondents disagree that boycotting such brands will bring more good than harm. I came up with a few consequences if consumers were to start boycotting from brands that have products produced from sweatshops.

The second method I used for my research is creating a group discussion of 20 people. We had a discussion on how sweatshops can be more ethical and morally better for both the sweatshop workers and consumers.

I asked them what they thought about a sweatshop and 16 of them said that sweatshops should be illegal and must be stopped while the other 4 people in the group disagree because they believe that it is a good way to give the sweatshop workers the opportunity to earn money and gain extra skills, even though the wage that is given is low. The 4 people believe that it is better than not having a job at all.

Some of the things that we thought of during the discussion to improve sweatshop conditions include the importance of the health insurance or healthcare for workers to ensure that the workers are well at work. It is important for the workers to be safe during work so having a sweatshop that ensures strict safety practices will be very important to ensure injuries happening at work is at a minimum. By doing so, workers will be more productive when on their assigned shift and minimise mistakes made and in turn will also minimise wastage. It would also be a good idea to increase the production price to ensure that yearly safety check and practices can be done to ensure that the working environment is safe for the workers.

A few other good ways to improve sweatshop ethics would be encouraging the government to ensure that proper safety precautions are done in a sweatshop, to set a minimum wage in that country for sweatshop productions and also ensure that each of the workers are given their basic human rights to have medical leave, off days and have a limited number of hours to work for per month. The government should also make it illegal for child labour in their country to avoid having sweatshops use children to work for a smaller wage.

Conclusion

I'd like to preface this conclusion by saying that while unethical, sweatshops are the easiest way for companies to have high production at low cost and short lead times. Sweatshops have become a big part of some industries. Making a change so drastic such as banning sweatshops would be impossible in such short notice. To have a chance at tackling this problem, we would need the help of not only the sweatshop owners, but also the corporations and

However, more can be done by governments and companies to improve the working conditions of the sweatshop workers. As mentioned before, a dollar more on the price tag for every garment produced will go a long way to improve the safety, sanitation and wages of the workers. While the ultimate goal of a business is to make money, there are many lines that corporations should never cross. The violation of human rights is one of them.