Sariah Patterson
Eng 101
Oct. 20, 2008
Throughout the world, developing countries are having problems with the abuse of their factory workers that are actually making goods and products for the United States, yet the people of America have no interest in helping out these poor enslaved workers that work five cents an hour just to serve them. Some have tried to reveal these disgusting truths to the American people but were heard in vain... it seems the people of the United States really don’t seem to care while someone thousands of miles away is getting unfair treatment and pay that is less than minimum wage, pay that would never be heard of in our own country and that would never be tolerated.
To add to the disgreeable wages, factories threaten to fire any worker who tries to defy the strict confines of the sweatshop world and go on strike for rights that should equally and honestly be theirs. Even huge producers like Disney, for example, threaten to pull any factory that goes against their standards of the sweatshop working conditions even though Disney is supposedly grand supporters and emulators of rights and fulfilled dreams for everyone or so it is advertised on television. In this way, big corporations are brought to light for everyone to witness the cruelty of the natural man and the unfairness to those who work just as hard as any other person to survive. It’s a wonder why third-world countries have people living in cardboard boxes and such when they are working seven days a week for hours on end to only receive a few dollars monthly to feed their families.
An article in Faigley’s textbook “Comment and Analysis: The Price of Dignity: Business Is Imposing Virtual Savery in the Developing World-- and Only We, the Consumers, Can Stop It” comments that if only the consumers could reach out and help stop the unfair treatment of factory workers in foreign countries we will “hold the key to ending child labor and sweatshop abuses and grease the squeaky wheel.” (Anita Roddick) As consumers, we can help this problem by rewarding those who are giing much better working conditions to their workers and staff and start naming those who are not following the right child labor laws. Ms. Roddick lists options that we may use such as: “full public disclosure of factory names and addresses; adoption of code of conduct which calls for strict adherence to all rights; release at least once a year of monitoring reports regarding the conditions in their factories; and an agreement to respond to allegations of worker rights’ violations.”
The US-based national labour committee has revealed their hopes to expose several pages of reports that shows the many feats and struggles of employees and workers in third world countries such as Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Bangladesh, and China. As Roddick explains, “These are not just academic reports--they are calls to action to support these workers in their struggle for dignity and justice.” She closes with a sharp remark that reminds us all not to forget and take lightly the ordeals and problems of these people who are just like you and I. So, as she so plainly demands of us, Are we listening?
