This is not the first time that renowned international consumer firms have come under close scrutiny for marketing products that are produced in the sweatshops of Asia by heavily underprivileged young boys and girls. Firms such as Nike, Adidas, GAP, etc, have withdrawn products from the market that were proved to have been made by exploited labors across Asia. The problem is particularly common in countries such as India, China, Pakistan, Indonesia, etc.
In a latest incident, a labor rights group has complained that crucifixes sold in some of the gift houses in the US are manufactured by workers in Chinese sweatshops where working conditions are terrible. International companies get some of their manufacturing work done by the developing countries for cost-effective purposes. But on most of the occasions, middlemen and corrupt businessmen try to make lucrative profits by getting most of the work done by poor workers(sometimes children less than 15 years of age are employed)for minimum wages under adverse working conditions.
Given the high rate of poverty, there is no dearth of cheap labor in these countries. Even the authorities fail to notice these labor crimes due to monetory pressures. The international consumer goods organisations deny direct involvement in these controversies but they must introduce strict laws in accordance with local governments to stop this type of labor discrimination. The corrupt middlement and distributors should be brought to justice so that there is no repeat of the problem. But having said this, there is very little chance that we would see the last of sweatshops across Asia given the widespread poverty in countries such as China and India. These countries may be the fastest growing economies but very little has been done to stop labor exploitation. In some areas sweatshops are sole bread-providers for poor small town working class.
Link: Instablogs
