Labor Practices Paper
Calvan Means
PHL/320
March 28, 2016
Chris Mendoza

Sweatshops are factories where worker endure unhealthy and exploitive conditions, such as long hours, unventilated workspaces, low wages, or exposure to toxic materials. The garment industry is often associated with the term sweatshops. The economy is becoming more globalized, and sweatshops produce a growing share of the consumer's products in developed countries. Product cost decrease because sweatshops keep production cost down. American know little about where their clothing was produced. Most garment sweatshops are located overseas such as China and Asia. Kathy Lee Gifford announced that some of the clothing Walmart sold were made by Honduran children working 20 hours shifts. It is not common to see child labor but it some countries it is normal. Not only do children have to work in for low wages and in extreme conditions but women also suffer. How does consumer demand affect a company's business decision? When demand for a particular products is high, you have to be able to meet the consumers' needs by having the product available. That's why so many businesses look for production companies to produce their good and sweatshops are the best route to go. If you hired one individual to make your garments, you would not have enough product to service all your clientele especially if it's a popular item. A company is not going to spend a $100 to make $20. That just not how it is going to work. There are five steps with ethical decisions making principles in business. Moral relativism (self-interest), utilitarianism (calculation of cost/ benefits), universalism (duty), rights (individual entitlement), and justice (fairness and equality). Those are the five principles that guide ethical decisions making. For all business partners to be on the same page, they must all share the common interest. Most companies are looking at how much revenue that will gain instead of looking at what companies have to go through to produce their products. That is why so many businesses go to factories or sweatshop to produce their goods because of the cost alternatives. Corporations should change how they produce goods if they are using sweatshops. Sweatshops could be a great service if the wages are not so small and the work environments are not so drastically. When making business decisions the founder or management should train their employee always to seek what right and never do anything that would jeopardize themselves or the business. So how do you train your employee's that is simple all you have to do is train your employee's ethics and make sure they understand. With practicing adequate ethics would eliminate the use of sweatshops.

References
"Sweatshops." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.