What can be done about sweatshops?
Daniel Santos
Updated on January 17, 2026
What You Can Do About Sweatshops
- Demand sweatshop-free products where you shop.
- Buy union-made, local, and secondhand.
- Buy Fair Trade.
- Ask questions.
- Mobilize in at your workplace, school, or in your community.
- Use shareholder clout.
- Educate Others.
What are the problems with sweat shops?
Sweatshops often have poor working conditions, unfair wages, unreasonable hours, child labor, and a lack of benefits for workers. Take a stand and protest: Ask your school to make its apparel under fair conditions.
Why are sweatshops still around?
The contractors and subcontractors pay the workers to produce the clothes. The factory workers lose out with low wages and poor working conditions. Sweatshops will exist wherever there is an opportunity to exploit workers who are not in a strong enough position to stand up for themselves.
How are maquiladoras similar to sweatshops?
A maquliadara is similar to a sweatshop in that numerous people are working diligently to produce products that will not remain in their own country and that the presence of these factories provide more employment opportunities and economic gain for the countries where they located.
What do you need to know about sweatshops?
11 Facts About Sweatshops. A “sweatshop” is defined by the US Department of Labor as a factory that violates 2 or more labor laws. Sweatshops often have poor working conditions, unfair wages, unreasonable hours, child labor, and a lack of benefits for workers. Take a stand and protest: Ask your school to make its apparel under fair conditions.
What can you do about child labor and sweatshops?
What You Can Do About Sweatshops Through the purchases you make, and those you choose to avoid, you have the power to create an economy where child labor and sweatshops cease to exist. And your voice, together with the voices of others, can help encourage companies here and abroad to ensure that all workers are paid fairly and treated with respect.
How does doubling the salary of sweatshop workers affect the consumer?
A study showed that doubling the salary of sweatshop workers would only increase the consumer cost of an item by 1.8%, while consumers would be willing to pay 15% more to know a product did not come from a sweatshop. [6] Sweatshops do not alleviate poverty.
Why was the garment industry called a sweatshop?
Criticism of garment sweatshops became a major force behind workplace safety regulation and labor laws. As some journalists strove to change working conditions, the term sweatshop came to refer to a broader set of workplaces whose conditions were considered inferior.