Letter to the Editor: Moral problem
BY Will O’Connor, Tulsa
Friday, January 04, 2013
I am a student at Bishop Kelly High School and have been researching the moral problem of sweatshops and how they negatively affect society.
Americans don't realize how many products are a result of the cheap labor in foreign countries. People forget that children are working in some countries for much less than minimum wage, and pick up their $300 iPhones.
Huge companies continue to use sweatshops to make as many products as possible, while spending the least amount of money. However, these institutions strip their workers of their dignity by denying them basic rights.
Workers in China make less than $5 a day on average and work in extremely dangerous conditions.
Why is the U.S. government allowing this to happen? Why can't Congress pass legislation prohibiting horrible actions like this? I read of a 12-year-old girl who after working a 14-hour shift would ice her hands for as long as she could stand it. She worked in a plastic company where she constantly burned herself working with dangerous machinery.
These sweatshops are depriving the dignity of millions of workers throughout the world, and need to be stopped in any way possible.
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