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Christian Moreno
Ms. Gardner
English 10H
29 October 2014
The Bonds Of Injustice
I am here today to explain the dreadful labor factories that we have come to know as
sweatshops. These factories, which work in the industry of shoes, clothing, toys, chocolate, and
coffee, contain extremely harsh working conditions, where the workers face long work hours,
little or no breaks, along with many other unbelievable conditions. Vegan Peace states that The
boys...often work from six in the morning until two in the morning the next day. The workers
are forced to work very hard, yet receive little pay. The amount in which these workers

are

working is unnatural, and at this rate, they will be trapped working for a very long time: never
making enough to promote to a new job, they are forced to attend their current occupation,
continuing their everyday struggle to survive, and support the rest of their family.
Workers at sweatshops face many hardships throughout their workday. Along with the
seemingly endless work hours, sweatshop workers are abused, hurt, and punished mercilessly.
Do Something says that, Men and women alike are subjected to verbal, physical, and sexual
abuse in factories from their managers and supervisors. These people are being put down, and
apunished, when their only desire is to make enough money to live. If a worker makes a mistake
in their work, they risk being screamed at, hit, or even beaten. The conditions are unbearable. In
addition, some workers work for as many as twenty hours at a time. Exhausted and underfed,
their chance of mistakes, and therefore, abuse is increased. Sweatshops have been prominent in

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our history since the late 1800s, and they may continue forever if an effort for change isnt made.
Consider the influence that we, the consumers, can have on sweatshops.
The injustice of sweatshops is being overlooked, as everyday shoppers support these
factories directly, by buying their merchandise. Brands such as Nike and Gap have a history of
receiving merchandise from these factories, yet countless numbers of people, myself included,
have bought or do buy these products every day. Do Something says that In (the year) 2000,
more than 11,000 sweatshops in the US violated the minimum wage and overtime laws, while
over 16,000 had broken health and safety laws. This means that there were an extraordinary
number of people in the year 2000 who were being underpaid, overworked, and put in danger
through work. A possible solution is having a formal letter, or multiple letters written to the
government. This would encourage the government to keep a much higher watch on these
sweatshops, and work towards abolishing them for good. Another smaller-scale solution is for
individual people to research brands that use sweatshops, and boycott the company by not
buying anything from them. It may seem that there is a small effect from your actions, but you
will be surprised of your actions effects. The actions are not small, when executed through a
joint effort. Is this not something that we could all attempt, fellow classmates?
One may worry that if sweatshops are stopped, there will be extremely slow production
in the products that are made in them. However, this is not necessarily true. If sweatshops are
shut down for good, there are other, more positive methods of production. There are enough
unemployed citizens so that this would be the case. What the elimination of sweatshops would
do is open jobs for people, so that the production wouldnt be slowed. This also would boost the
economy, and finally allow the ex-workers to find a job that paid them enough, and where they
would be treated fairly.

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Some people may not be able to see the pain that is suffered by sweatshop workers.
However, when you feel a ruthless slap on your face, and when you feel the exhaustiveness of a
twenty hour work day, and when you have felt the hopelessness of constantly being
condescended upon by your boss, like gods over mortals, and, after these hardships, you come
home with barely enough money to live off of, then, and only then will you feel the bonds of
injustice that sweatshop workers are bound by every day.
In sum, all tyranny is oppressive and unjust. In every instance of tyranny, someone has
been stomped on, put down, or taken advantage of. In this case, people who are already
struggling to survive have been used for work, while citizens of first-world countries do nothing
except for support the continue of their endless, grueling task by buying the items that they have
made with their sweat and blood. If a need for change is recognized, then a difference can be
made in eradicating sweatshops, for good. I believe that with small improvements from
everyone, this can be accomplished. Thank you.

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Works Cited:
Embar, Wanda."Sweatshops and Child Labor." Vegan Peace. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.
"11 Facts About Sweatshops." DoSomething.org. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.