Human Rights Advocates Should Be Improved Labor Conditions

THESIS When you look at the tag on a shirt and see â€Å"Made in China† what does that really mean? Quite likely it was made in a hot, crowded sweatshop on the outskirts of a city or in some village. If you were to survey a random group of individuals the majority would say they don’t support sweatshop labor, but how many could provide a legitimate argument against it? The present state of manufacturing factories throughout Africa and Asia are consistently the center of debate between humanitarians, economists, and consumers alike. This discussion is not a new one, by modern standards, sweatshops have existed for centuries and will likely continue into the distant future. The topic of debate is centered around the conditions endured by†¦show more content†¦Therefore, any action to regulate or restrict someone’s right to work in a manufacturing plant is a violation of their personal liberty and detrimental to their current level of living. So what is life in a sweatshop really like? What effects do manufacturing firms have on communities and how should educated consumers respond? CONTEXT History The existence of sweatshops can be traced all the way back 1500’s when Spanish Conquistadors claimed control of Ecuador and forced natives to work in their textile mills. The term itself references England’s manufacturing industries throughout the 1800’s. In English factories immigrants would perform monotonous actions for long hours and meager pay. As immigration into America increased during the late 1800’s so did the quantity of sweatshops. The employers of these immigrants preyed upon their lack of education and inability to read or write. Immigrants had to endure overcrowded workplaces, poor sanitation, high expectations, and were rarely given the chance to take a break. Nonetheless, they were more than grateful for the opportunities they were presented with and were more than ecstatic to escape the hardships of their old lives. Eventually better working conditions were established but not until America’s economy had strengthened as a whole. To o many people try to attribute improvements like the 40-hour work