Sweatshop labour in China (etc)?

Question

im doing research about sweatshop labour in China, India (etc) for my textiles coursework for GCSE

How can I make sure that I dont buy anything from factories which employ cheap labour?

I dont want to join any organisations or chraities, but is there a special way to tell if a piece of material has been made using sweatshop tactics?

any answers will be useful

Answer 1

Purchase products that blatently state that they were "MADE IN AMERICA"

American Labor Laws dictate that we do NOT allow for "sweatshop" environments and exploitation of people.  

Note:  Even if the company is "American Based"  like Dodge trucks, their products may very well br manufactured in another country (Dodge=Manufacturing in Mexico)

Answer 2

these "sweatshops" give people an alternative to starving or begging on the streets.

No one is forced to work there in China or India, though China may employ prison workers.

Answer 3

some companies are hiring social auditors to check factory conditions now, because of public pressure.  I had a teacher who checked out the factory (one out of many) that makes shoes for various companies like Puma/Nike/new balance in China.  the factory wasn't that bad condition wise, but they did have to sleep 8 to a room bed bunk style in a dorm like structure (he had pictures). I heard the conditions are worse in India. Stuff made in Mexico was pretty bad with the infamous "maquiladoras".   You can google Richard Appelbaum he did the audit for the shoe factory.

So you can't really be sure, but the trend is moving, very slowly, into labor transparancy.

Answer 4

There is rarely a way to tell.  Even if it is labeled as such, cheating is rampant.  Many eco labels are now including ethical standards, but you just have to look for them and then see what they mean.  There are hundreds of these labels.  As stated by others, Made in USA, Canada, or EU are your best labels at this time.  There is less chance of sweatshop use with these.

Answer 5

Go to Wal Mart.

Look at ANYTHING in Wal Mart for it's country of origin.

If it says "MADE IN CHINA",  you are assured that the manufacturer is employing underpaid laborers to make their product to sell it thru Wal Mart stores.

Check out "The Wal Mart Movie" or "The High Cost of Low Price"...available online for about $13.00.

While Wal Mart will deny it, they dictate what price they will sell a manufacturers product in it's stores. So, as you will see in the Wal Mart Movie, the cost to produce someting as innocuous as a "Barbie Car" in China is very very cheap...less a couple of dollars but Wal Mart sells it for around $20 or more..

http://www.walmartmovie.com/

Look, trying not to buy products made in low paid factories overseas is like trying not to inhale oxygen when you breathe.

Not only that, but you are literally blowing jobs out of this country to China and India. The last time I checked, China was STILL being run by a repressive Communist government. And ultimately THEY reap the benefits and profit, and those profits are being plowed right back into their Navy, which one day WILL confront ours.

When Sam Walton was alive, he had a dream, and a policy of "Made in the U.S.A.'  When he died, so did this country....

Answer 6

I don't think there is being that companies aren't going to come right out and say they're using sweatshop labour and one of the reasons they use it is because it's the exact same work but for a heck of a lot less money

Answer 7

You can't any more .Unless you go to the source .Or Quaker colonies of some sort.