New York Sweatshop Conditions

Sweatshops are often difficult to distinguish from regular factories due to the disguises made by those who run them. In a recent CNN article,  Laura Batchelor covers the investigation performed by the New York Labor Department of a garment factory company with sweatshop wages and working conditions. This factory produced merchandise for companies such as Macy’s and the Gap. The New York Labor Department stated that 100 employees were underpaid by approximately $3 million in the last three years.

Many factory supervisors force their workers to lie to investigators regarding their hourly wage and the amount of hours they work. Workers are often told that the factory will fail without their lies, leaving them unemployed. In this specific case, the workers were forced to follow a “cheat sheet” that covered lines to recite to investigators. There were two separate time cars that employees were to fill out, one starting on Monday, and the other on Wednesday. When labor investigators asked for these cards, they were presented with only one.

The Beginning of an Understanding

In a recent CNN video, the growing costs and the negative outcome of globalization are covered. In this video, statistics show the distaste that American citizens hold for large, multinational corporations. This, I believe is showing the slow progress the world is making to reverse the process of globalization.

The rising inequality between citizens is clearly visible throughout the world and The American middle class is discovering that their jobs are at risk. Peter Marichi, a labor economist from the University of Maryland addresses the exact issues and future costs of free trade in the video. As our job security is threatened, citizens are unable to provide education for their children, in turn effecting our economy in generations to come.

Rajeev Dhawan, another economist interviewed in the video, believes that free trade has more benefits than costs and that we simply see the costs more. He also believes that free trade provides jobs for people who would normally not be able to work. He also believes that because of the low requirements for employment in sweatshops and factories, large corporations are actually helping developing nations. But due to the amount of time and effort that is put into these factories, the wages and working standards are still not up to par.

Steadily, people are beginning to understand the issues that free trade is causing for our world. We, as consumers are a large aspect of the trade process, so as we decide to address the costs we can together make a difference.

The Economy and The Elections

As our unemployment rate rises, so do the concerns of American citizens. In a recent MSNBC article, John Schoen discusses the economy and the loss of American jobs as one of the top concerns of citizens and a top priority for the presidential candidates. of course, the underlying cause of the rising unemployment rate is the closing of factories and their outsourcing to smaller, developing nations. But out of all of the job losses from factories to business sectors, factories has the most at 61,000 in August.

Despite the desperate need our economy has for an abrupt shift in the other direction, no short term changes will be possible. The priorities of the candidates are actually going to be centered on tax policies. As the article goes on to discuss other issues within our economy, Schoen inserts one direct statement involving globalization throughout the entire article, “Job cuts lost to globalization will not be easily restored”.

This of course is due to the fact that as companies save more money by moving to poorer nations, they don’t intend on coming back or reversing the effects of their choices.

From Michigan to Mexico

This recent MSNBC article is a prime example of outsourcing and the jeopardy that American jobs are in. When a refrigerator factory closed in Michigan, this rural town’s citizens were left desperate for a new source of income. The awful truth is that middle class citizens in America are losing their jobs every day as the corporations they work for pick up and move to developing nations looking for cheaper labor and lower working standards.

This cycle is negative for both sides of the party. More often than not, these small towns depend mostly on the employment of the factory within that town. When corporations begin to jump on the globalization band wagon and move to places like Mexico, the workers are left with no income and are immediately pushed into a rut. They, for example, are no longer able to provide education for their children, causing the cycle to repeat itself in the future.

On the other hand, the workers in Mexico who are desperate for jobs, take whatever they can financially. They are forced into unsafe working conditions, long days, they’re deprived of their rights, and work grueling tasks without enough pay to show for it. This process benefits only the corporations who cause it.