What exactly makes a factory qualify as a sweatshop? By direct quote of an encyclopedia, a sweatshop is a “workplace where conditions are oppressive and unhealthy and where there is unchecked exploitation of workers” (Sweatshops 435). Sweatshop labor includes many unjust practices, with a mass of unskilled and unorganized laborers, as well as ignorance of poor working conditions. The imperfect systems of management tend to neglect the

Although company reforms occur slowly, at least some action has taken place. Mark Clifford believes that social justification for slow but steady improvements is clear. He states, “given weak unions and repressive governments in countries such as China, Pakistan, and Indonesia, such efforts may represent the best short term hope for improving workers rights” (Clifford 90). Nonetheless, improvements within corporations show that sweatshop awareness has affected consumers, and as a result, corporations must adhere to demands that anti-sweat associations present.

High school students can also get involved with the aid of SCALE, the Student Committee Against Labor Exploitation. High schools operate this committee out of New York, and they work towards awareness in teenagers about child labor and sweatshop abuses. Volunteers at the NLC created this committee as the equivalent of the USAS for secondary school students. Although this organization just started, the members organize sit-ins and demonstrations to educate others. With the help of organizations like USAS, NLC and SCALE, the public has become more aware of the social injustices of sweatshops. Together, these groups have had many victories against corporations.

Several name brands of clothing are attempting to set a sweat free trend. Anti-sweat organizations specifically target Gap and Nike, two large corporate advocates of worker abuse. With the influence of USAS, Gap introduced a labor-monitoring program at an El Salvador factory several years ago. At this plant, the retailer does not pay someone to monitor; he relies instead on an outside group. This group includes a local church, university, and labor leaders, who interview workers off-site and mediate their complaints with management (Bernstein 40). Gap has at least acknowledged the anti-sweat movement, and the monitoring program proves that a reform is taking place.

They build solidarity by informing others, and their progress in the recent years has greatly improved. Other organizations have just as much success as USAS.

Although Nike has brought attention to some of the needed reforms, there are still more steps to ensure that sweatshop labor decreases. At some factories, Nike has raised the minimum working age to 18 for a new worker at shoe factories and to 16 for workers at other plants. Nike and other apparel makers met with human rights an

Some topics in this essay:
El Salvador, NLC SCALE, United European, America Asia, Sweatshops USAS, Trade Organization, Gap Nike, Shirtwaist Company, Labor Committee, Pakistan Indonesia, sweatshop labor, living wage, public disclosure, sweatshops 435, human rights, labor associations, rights labor associations, clifford 90, nlc scale, usas nlc, united students sweatshops, labor rights, national labor committee, human rights labor, human labor rights,