Globalization Practice of U.S. Companies

¶ … Globalization [...] practice of U.S. companies hiring foreign workers and exploiting them in a sweatshop atmosphere. Sweatshops exist around the world, even if many Americans do not want to acknowledge that fact. Exploited workers in foreign sweatshops create many of the products we use every day, and the practice needs to stop. It gives American companies a poor reputation, and exploits workers at the very bottom rung of culture. It is an objectionable practice that needs to end.

A chose this topic because it interests me and makes me want to learn more about it so I can be sure not to support businesses that support or use this type of labor. I feel strongly about workers being exploited in foreign countries just so American companies can make more money, and I feel this is an important topic that does not receive enough attention by many Americans. Therefore, I would like to learn more about it so I can help others learn about the practice and become more aware of what companies utilize the practice for their own economic gain. I want to learn more about the practice myself, as well, because I would like to try to understand how it got started and how modern businesspeople use it and do not feel any kind of guilt or anguish about using human beings so poorly.

To create a study for this topic, I would begin by reading about companies who use these types of exploited workers, such as Apple, (in a previous article review), and I would try to understand how the practice got started and why it still exists today. My study would include analysis of companies who use the practice, and how much money it saves them each year. It would also look at how to end the practice through regulation or cooperation with foreign governments. I would look into notification techniques as well. For example, passing a law requiring goods that are created by foreign workers to contain a statement that they may have been created in a sweatshop environment, or some kind of statement on goods that are knowingly created in this type of environment. I think consumers have a right to know where the products they buy are created, and that more knowledge would create a backlash against the companies that use this form of exploited labor. If more Americans knew about the working conditions, perhaps they would think twice about purchasing many of the items they purchase.

I would use Internet research to find sweatshop information, including companies that support this kind of labor. One site with much information on corporations who use this type of labor is http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/sweatshops/,which I would use as a background research source. I would also do library research to find information in books and journals on the history of sweatshops and where they are most prevalent today. I would also try to research the numbers of sweatshops that still exist in the world, and how many each country has, to make a point of knowing what countries have the largest numbers and how to reduce them.