The phrase sweatshop was coined in 1850, meaning a factory or workshop where workers are treated unfairly, for example having low wages, working long hours, and in poor conditions. Since 1850, immigrants have been flocking to work at sweatshops in cities like London and New York for more than one century.

What was an important effect of industrialization in the United States in the later part of the nineteenth century? People began to move from cities to rural areas. The urban population declined. The rate of expansion of railroad lines began to drop.

Many workers in the late 1800s and early 1900s spent an entire day tending a machine in a large, crowded, noisy room. Others worked in coal mines, steel mills, railroads, slaughterhouses, and in other dangerous occupations. Most were not paid well, and the typical workday was 12 hours or more, six days per week.

So, the statement that best describes the working conditions in the mills in the 1800s was that some workers suffered from health problems like cough due to the unsafe working conditions.

what was it like to work in a sweatshop in the late 1800’s? they worked in small, hot, dark, and dirty workshops. was very unsafe; lost body parts due to the machines and sometimes lost hearing. worked long hours for low wages.

Sweatshops often have poor working conditions, unfair wages, unreasonable hours, child labor, and a lack of benefits for workers. Many labor violations slip under the radar of the US Department of Labor. Products that commonly come from sweatshops are garments, cotton, bricks, cocoa, and coffee.

Companies such as Adidas, Nike, Abercrombie & Fitch, Forever 21, Wal-Mart, Old Navy, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, H&M, Converse, Hollister and more uses child labor/sweatshops so they would make profit.

Conditions in Sweatshops. Sweatshops violate women’s human rights throughout the world. Common abuses include low wages that fail to meet basic costs of living, substandard and unsafe working and living conditions, long hours of overtime for which employees are not compensated, and sexual harassment.

Many are forced to work 14-16 hours a day seven days a week, with some workers finishing at 3am only to start again the same morning at 7.30am. On top of this, workers face unsafe, cramped and hazardous conditions which often lead to work injuries and factory fires.

Most garment workers work 60-70 hour weeks with a take home pay of about $300 dollars. Workers are not paid overtime and toil in unsafe, cramped, dirty, and poorly ventilated factories.

The Cons of Sweatshops

• Low wages.
• Long hours.
• Dangerous.
• Poor ventilation.
• Dirty.
• Cramped conditions.
• poor equipment.
• poor treatment of employees, eg, bullying.

China

Studies have shown sweatshop jobs often pay three to seven times the wages paid elsewhere in the economy. But, taking away sweatshops does nothing to eliminate that poverty or to enhance their options. In fact, it only reduces them further, taking away what workers themselves regard as the best option they have.