To the average American, the term sweatshop seems almost foreign. It is impossible that such a place would exist in a country such as ours. After all, sweatshops are places where one of more human rights have been violated; be it health/sanitation related, emotional, or physical abuse. Our constitution protects us from such atrocities, right?

Wrong. There are still sweatshops in existence in the United States. In 2000, several factories in the Los Angeles area failed to meet basic minimum wages and overtime laws. In laymen’s terms, the workers were simply not paid properly.

However, sweatshops are not the only type of business that demeans human lives. Brothels, or more commonly known as “whorehouses” are present even in San Francisco. Cleverly disguised as massage parlors, several are present in places such as the Tenderloin or Chinatown. They offer cheap services and offer additional ones for an extra price.

Sweatshops were founded without principles; they were created to save big corporations money in production to increase profits/stock. Truth be told, most sweatshops have moved overseas to protect high-profile corporations from lawsuits and such. However, the horrors do not end there. Many sweatshops are founded in third-world countries where “human rights” is nothing but a dream.

Carmencita “Chie” Abad is a prime example. She worked in Gap sweatshop in Philippines. She said that, “Women were often raped, could not use bathroom at any given moment…”On top of that, the pay barely covers basic living expenses, if at all. However, even with her accounting degree, Chie chose to work in a sweatshop for better pay. Now, after several strikes, Chie is a key speaker for Global Exchange, a program created for exposure of “curtailing sweatshops practices and improving the environment”(from the website? www.globalexchange.org).

Nike formerly paid children in Indonesia to manufacture soccer balls and admitted and stopped this action. However, their factories up-to-date still do not have sanitary conditions nor good pay.