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Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Sweatshop Shoppers

For a BBC show they took a hand full of people who shop for clothes often. They agreed to join a factory in Mumbai where some of their clothes were made to see how poor the life was to make their clothes. One of the shoppers, named Georgia (20 years old), was disappointed. While the factory was technically not a sweatshop and all the workers were adults, the conditions were the same. The room was hot, the salaries were low and you had to sleep at your desk. A line of 30 workers had to complete a total of 300 garments a day! Believe it or not, the worst part of the factory was the money you got. You got about 2 euros for a normal job, but it can go down to 1.50 euros as well. This money was just enough for food and clothes for the worker's family. Georgia thought the first thing she should get was toiletries, the cheapest thing was deodorant, but she couldn't afford it with her salary.
This story is similar the Boys Without Names. In this book; the main character tries to get a job. The boy who he thought was helping him, drugged him and sold him! Now he is in a factory/sweatshop like this. In the book, Gopal (the main character) has to make about 12 frames a day, 4 before lunch, 4 before dinner, and 4 after dinner. Though, unlike the BBC story, Gopal can't leave, he eats and sleeps there. Gopal doesn't get paid either. If I was Gopal I would have brought Aai (mother) the the tea stand where Gopal got drugged. That way Aai could have been there and the other kid wouldn't drug me. There fore I wouldn't be sold. As well I would always bring Aai or at least Jama (his uncle) because they are in Mumbai, which I picture as a bigger version of New York City. So what do you think of these "sweatshops"? Do you think we should take them down or keep them, but raise the conditions?

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