Fall 2007, I took an EPS class, and had a presentation on social Justice. The Lecturer talked about integrating Justice into the classroom, listing some possible projects such as: Each child looking at the tags of their clothing, where it’s made and researching whether it came from a sweat shop,the point teaching about how wrong sweat shops are etc. and informing students to make good choice, preventing themselves and others from supporting the sweat shops by buying the clothing. I think this is a neat lesson, however Once again I did have the privilege of travelling to China and the Philippines, where sweat shops are very prominent. Initially I would agree to the fact that sweat shops are harsh places, where employees are not paid well and working conditions aren’t to standards. I talked to some locals in China, and they said that to these people, it’s not about the standards, it’s about the job. There are so many people and not enough jobs, so even a little bit of money means the world to them. So for us to try and take these places away, were also taking away jobs and lives. For the most part they are fortunate to have a job. I believe as a western society we seem to always be dipping our noses in others backyards, when in reality we have these things going on in our own.
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Jenna Said:
on June 9, 2008 at 1:22 am
I travelled to Nicaragua in 2005 with Habitat, and I agree with you that yea many people in these countries are happy and grateful to have jobs in sweat shops. But looking on the justice side of things, it is our responsability to change the standards of those shops. Due to globalization, the rights and freedoms of many employees have been crushed, so they look apon these shops as saviours. At anytime if the laws or regulations of the area get harsher on the corperations who run the shops, they can uproot and start over in another country. So again, the social justice part of me thinks that it is our repsonsability to change labour standards globally. The same standards for the workplace need to be consistant everywhere in the world, for major corperations to change the way they run shops in third world countries.
April Said:
on June 9, 2008 at 6:29 pm
I don’t want to take jobs away from sweatshop workers, but I believe that they deserve respect. These corporations can afford to provide their workers with decent wages and safe conditions, but instead they exploit them in order to increase their profit. The corporations know that these people need whatever job they can get, and they take advantage of that. The system needs to change- as Jenna said, there needs to be consistency in labour laws worldwide. As far as western society dipping our noses into others’ backyards- it is western corporations setting up the sweatshops and it is western consumers who are buying the products; therefore, I think it is our responsibility to take action against this injustice.