Sweatshop Workers Case Study

Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………….……………2

Literature Review…………………………………………………………………...3

Role of Business, Society and Policy……………………………………………..4

Critical Review of the Case…………………………………..………….……….…6

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...7

References……………………………………………………………….………….…..9

Introduction

As organizations become bigger and more competitive, they are searching for less expensive approaches to create their products and raise their profit. Organizations aims to succeed, by giving consumers practically identical products at a less expensive cost using various methods. Sweatshops are manufacturing foundations in which labours extend for long hours period of time under inferior conditions for very low earnings. Sweatshops are an imperative piece of individuals' lives who are working in underdeveloped nations. This research report analyses and examines the findings within the underlying issues of organization’s role in sweatshops regulations and the unethical treatment for poor third-world workers conditions in relation to business, society and policy. This report also includes presentation of views on the taken case from review of the literature by various authors concerning the issue and a presentation of a case that will be given a critical review from a perspective of the findings.

Literature Review

In 2016, Benjamin Powell wrote in his perspective article, ‘all forms of sweatshop regulations are that they raise the relative cost of firms hiring the labour that is being regulated’ and that can possibly create an outer benefit from the expanded wage of the workers resulting to higher labour demand (Powell, 2016). The author further argues that researchers found that ‘if the price of the produced goods increase and if consumers reduce consumption’, to the point where employment in underdeveloped countries, sweatshops productions may also reduce (Powell, 2016). Although his points are relevant for few ethical concepts, there are broader issues discussed in the article of third-world workers and those potential workers welfare standards. He additionally examines that regardless whether an expansion in the wage of the paid workers would prompt to a welfare gain in general. There are two things to scrutinize as according to Powell, ‘how poor are the workers compared to owners and consumers?’ and secondly ‘how much of the product price is attributable to worker wages?’ (Powell, 2016). It is examined that the poorer the workers in contrast with the factory owners and consumers, the superior the welfare gain from the exchange of income. Relatively if the cost owing to the workers are smaller, the welfare loss from the employment is comparatively smaller as well. The consequence is that expansion in the minimum wage of workers results in welfare gain and are predicted to only grow in few circumstances. He noted that ideally consumers and owners that are significantly wealthier than the labourers and where the worker’s reimbursement is only a very small part of the items overall product cost. Powell agrees that these are the overwhelming qualities of creating world fare situated sweatshops. From his perspective he states that ‘no reasonable argument that a minimum wage or other safety regulation mandate would change the future expansion path of wage growth over the long-run’ (Powell, 2016).

Additionally, another peered review article, written by Tara Radin and Martin Calkins states that the current conditions of sweatshops disregard our concepts of righteousness, yet they keep on thriving. This is on the grounds that standards are not settled that would enable to condemn as the poor working circumstances in specific locations are more superior over the option of having no source of income at all. Both authors agree that ‘sweatshops are wrong for a host of reasons’ (Calkins and Radin, 2006). The use of sweatshops sustains the infringement of fundamental human rights as individuals are misused for their work declaring mental as well as physical maltreatment and reject our considered ideas of fundamental profound morality and organizations purposes. Around the world, there has been cruel occurrences and inhumane handling of both female and male sweatshop workers and yet despite of such regardless encounters, organizations keep on participating in doubtful labour practices for various reasons (Calkins and Radin, 2010). The authors examined that firstly, there is no clear-cut ‘distinction between acceptable and unacceptable treatment of the workers’ (Calkins and Radin, 2006). While other profession establishes general values within their organization such as fair wages, workplace health and safety, it is very rare to acknowledge a meaningful boundary among proper and improper conduct. Furthermore, another reason is the disinclination of the Western culture to carry out their own moral standards to non-Western organization practices. Most of all there are fundamental issues related with the instant deserting of sweatshops including the suffering of communities as the organizations move out to find better approving labour settings to provide towards increased outsourcing (Calkins and Radin, 2010). The article also declares that depicting sweatshops in such ways encourages a general comprehension of their characteristics yet abandons speculation about its ethical status. Using words such as ‘exploitation’ gives more interpretation of the issue regarding the unsafe and punishing abuse of a workforce. From the authors further research, according to the German philosopher Karl Max, exploitation is a given attribute of capitalism and its ‘characteristic is beyond the norm, excessive and harmful to the extreme’ (Calkins and Radin, 2006).

Role of Business, Society and Policy

There are ongoing discussions regarding the practice of sweatshops, specifically in which the working conditions of the factory workers are vicious and appallingly painful. These workers earn lower than the minimum wage and at the same time suffers from verbal abused by their own management including exploitation of both pregnant women and very young children whom cannot get a proper education resulting in working in factories. The worldwide question is according to the article written by Steve Sacco ‘but why do these horrid working conditions exist and who keeps contracting them to make things?’ (Sacco, 2002). Larger corporations in more developed countries such as Australia, United States and countries all over Europe with huge market and economic shares have been using since the early 1980’s a practice to what is known as outsourcing. These corporations no longer need to run its own factory and such companies like Nike and Walmart, for instance, possess far less property than they used to yet make exponentially bigger measures of profit (Sacco, 2002).

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