My reflection on Sweatshop Article.

I found the article “Confessions of a sweatshop inspector” really interesting and I could relate to it through different topics we discussed in the course so far : K-Pan, Labor standards in the era of globalization, Wal-mart case from the book. I absolutely agree with Frank when he concludes saying that being accountable to something that happens within your own regime is not the correct way to operate in a global economy. One has to use the best judgment to identify if the standards used in other nations for manufacturing its own products are ethical enough or not! Definitely, what occurs on papers or is inspected in a two-day’s period often represents a partial real picture. It is more of a responsibility of the customer (individual or firm) to make sure that the contract goes into ethical hands and people are not exploited for the same.

I also mentioned in my mid-term exam, sweatshop is bad due to the kind of working conditions, poor pay that prevails there. But are they not the feasible means of employment for those who do not have enough skills to get employed in a better firm? The benefit here is that the sweatshop is able to provide employment to a large number of people and so leave them in a better situation than having no job at all. While the problem here is that the workers do not have options, but to continue to work in poor conditions, knowing that they are being exploited. I think that Ian Maitland might suggest that more than one sweatshop should exist so that people are not exploited by a monopolized company and can move to a different employment at their own will if the conditions are not supportive. I also appreciate the information that Frank had mentioned in his article about Nike’s and Mattel’s approach towards selecting their suppliers. Pre-screening the firms that might work with them and making the information public is definitely a means to let others judge how ethical they are and their intentions about not hiding anything suggests that they are trying their best to keep up the standards even across the national boundaries.