A series of reports by the Asian Floor Wage Alliance and the Human Rights Watch reveal the horrifying conditions of sweatshops located in Cambodia. These factories create cheap clothing for large companies including H&M and GAP with little regulatory oversight which results in extensive amounts of workers being abused.
Some factories hire children as young as 12 who are legally forbidden to work in Cambodian factories. Further, an estimated 30 percent of workers were children who worked alongside adults for up to 14 hours in the blistering heat without clean water or breaks (Winn, 2015).
Pregnant women were fired as they were seen as inefficient, sluggish, and susceptible to frequent washroom breaks (Winn 2015). Many women relied on this job as it was often their only source of income. As a result, they are pressured to tolerate unsafe and unhealthy working conditions as well as sexual harassment.Workers are often paid up to 50 cents per hour, which is substantially lower than the minimum wage. Many employees do not receive their overtime rates or rewards for hitting their quota and are often told that they can be easily replaced (Bain, 2016).
In Garret Browns blog from Science Blogs “Global supply chain is still full of sweatshops” he discusses how frequent sweatshops are used in international brands today and how they are not just a thing of the past. I completely agree with his view that genuine worker participation and pressures from employees, consumers, stakeholders and governments are required to get rid of sweatshops. Working conditions in sweat shops are immoral, illegal, and utterly unacceptable. Lessons need to be drawn from news articles that bring sweatshops in to light that are used from a variety of different countries and action has to be taken against the use of sweatshops. the current system makes it easy for large companies to exploit poorer populations and these business ethics behind these corporations is unacceptable and should be dealt with accordingly. Stricter regulation and safety procedures with harsh penalties must be implemented for companies who fail to meet these regulations.
These clothing companies should value the safety of their workers instead of the higher profits they receive from abusing them. In the short term these corporations can make profits through unethical conducts, however this will come at cost of long term growth and a damaged reputation for their brand. Consumers also need to be aware of theses unethical practices in order to create political pressure or to boycott these companies until they amend the conditions of their employees.
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References for Articles and Images Used:
Winn, Patrick. “Inside Cambodia’s Abusive Sweatshops.” Public Radio International. Global Post, 19 Mar. 2015. Web. 11 Sept. 2016. http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-03-19/heres-how-cambodians-who-stitch-your-clothes-are-routinely-abused.
Bain, Marc. “H&M, Gap, and Walmart Are Accused of Widespread Worker Abuse.” Quartz. Quartz, 31 May 2016. Web. 11 Sept. 2016. http://qz.com/695763/a-web-of-terror-insecurity-and-a-high-level-of-vulnerability-hm-gap-and-walmart-are-accused-of-hundreds-of-acts-of-worker-abuse/.
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