Sweat Shops

Introduction

"Sweat shops" make cheap clothing for the US market while subjecting workers to inhuman conditions.

A small article in the February 9, 2000 San Francisco Examiner told of a bill which passed the Senate that ended sweat shop labor in the Mariana Islands, US territory. The islands's garment industry exports $1 billion in consumer goods to US clothing stores Gap and Hilfiger. A story on the radio the day before told of a sit-in demonstration by students at the university of Pennsylvania demanding that the university stop purchasing U of P logo clothing from companies that use Asian sweat shops.

This search presents sites from which students can do investigative reporting, prove a thesis, make a proposal, engage in debate, and write a letter.

Questions

1. What organization and advocacy groups are researching and reporting on sweat shops?
2. Is there a commonly accepted definition of what constitutes a sweat shop?
3. What are their allegations regarding working conditions in sweat shops?
4. What actions are they proposing for people in the US?
5. What are they proposing be done in the countries where sweat shops exist?
6. What sweat shop conditions exist here in the US?
7. What organizations argue that sweat shops are beneficial to workers in other countries?
8. What major news organizations cover the topic regularly?
9. Can you find editorials on both sides of the issue? (in the New York Times, the San FranciscoBay Guardian and the Wall Street Journal?)
10. Since most of the clothing companies in the US import their clothing, what is the position of companies like the Gap, Liz Claiborne and other popular brand name clothing companies?

Internet Resources

Extension Activities

1. Do a research activity examining the labels of clothing that people wear at your school.
2. To follow-up #1, write letters to the companies with the most common labels and ask them about their policies regarding wages and working conditions.
3. Compare the coverage of the issue in the New York Times and the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
4. Write a 700-word expository essay on the topic of sweat shops.
5. Write a 700-word essay with a thesis statement that takes a position on a controversial aspect of the topic.
6. Interview local shop owners (on Haight St., for example) about their awareness of the labor practices of the companies and countries they buy from.
7. Starbuck's recently signed an agreement with an environmental group regarding their purchasing policy rather than face protests. Research this.
8. Get in contact with a group that tries to keep track of labor abuses in countries where products are made cheaply for the US market.
9. Contact the American Federation of Labor in order to get their position on the "most favored nation" debate over China.
10. Prepare a debate on the positive and negative aspects of the global economy.

Mike Monley, Teacher, and Marc Lowe, AP student, collaborated to develop this web hunt.

Checked by Cheuk Leung

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