Why are people in sweatshops treated poorly and underpaid

The term originated from the 1830s as a specific workshop in which a middleman known as the sweater directed others in cloth making under very bad conditions. The working places created by the cloth making system also known as the sweater system were called sweatshops. They contain a few workers at most as low as 300 workers. This paper aims to research on why people in sweatshops are treated poorly and underpaid. A surprising reason is given for underpayment and poor treatment in sweatshops by individuals concerned with the welfare of developing nations. Employers in search places feel like the workers in sweatshops should go through the conditions to pay for their negligence during their school days. In countries where education is highly respected, people feel they simply can’t respect these people for their low levels of education.

Education also determines salaries in most countries. What you get as salary is a direct reflection of the certificates you have. In most African countries, if you get an extra certificate, your salary will go up even without considering your output. This has also been observed by Harrison and Scorse (2010). They argued that in Indonesia, "100 percentage point increase in the real minimum wage would be accompanied by employment declines between 12 and 36 %" (2010, p. In the Kantian doctrine on respect of persons in relation to sweatshops, it is observed that respect for persons should be key according to the Kantian second act. He argues that human beings are entitled of respect because they have dignity. They have dignity because they have moral activity.

" We, therefore, can deduce the reason for the disrespect. They have nothing else to do and will press on no matter what they are subjected to. They are a desperate population and this makes them exposed to whatsoever the employer feels like (Harpur, 2011). Another reason for the low payments of sweatshops workers is the high availability of labor. There are so many people desperately in need of that poorly paid job because they have none. The most hazardous and most basic region of work for them is cultivating. Extend periods of time of physical work in the fields do not compensate them as they would make in a sweatshop. It is a far harder way of life than that of a sweatshop worker.

The second most basic option in contrast to western-run sweatshops is production line work in more terrible, considerably poorer "sweatshops" kept running by organizations that are really situated in the poor nation itself (Adams, 2002). The laborers in these manufacturing plants normally make a large portion of the wages of the individuals who work for western organizations. They are thus willing to take any work at any pay. This makes the employers pay less and less as cheap labor is available even if the adults will be unwilling to work. Overpopulation is yet another issue (Kristof & WuDunn, 2000). In China, the population has gone too high such that getting employment is a problem. Even the most educated are unable to secure jobs. According to the StraitsTimes, thousands of foreign workers are exploited in sweatshops in Japan (Mayer, 2007).

The Grapevine news also reported that thousands of foreign workers are been exploited in sweatshops in Iceland. In these cases, foreign workers are paid lower than colleagues who belong to the countries despite doing the same work under similar conditions. Respect also is awarded the same way. Foreign workers are mocked in native languages they can’t understand and sometimes denied payments. They also lack reference to any other company or place of employment to compare. This lack of information makes them be underpaid. In fact, some of the sweatshop workers don’t know they are poorly paid. Some think that is the best they deserve. Lastly, some sweatshop workers are treated poorly and underpaid because there are no organizations, government voices or politically interested people to speak for them (Arnold & Bowie, 2007).