Purchasing Sweatshop Goods

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M_Winters

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I am looking to purchase a new backpack for college and did a quick search on the internet to note if some brands were “Sweatshop free”. Surprisingly, I am having trouble finding a backpack that is not linked to a brand with ties to sweatshops.

My question is how, as a Christian - Catholic, am I supposed to approach the purchasing of goods where many, if not most, companies use some type of underpaid labor to manufacture their goods.

Thanks and God bless!
 
I guess it depends on what a sweatshop is. There are a number of moral variables here. Workers in what we consider third world sweatshops may consider their employment a step up from the prior back breaking farm labor. If their sweatshop employer goes out of business or leaves the country, is their lot thereby improved? I’m open to suggestions.
 
I suggest Under Armour backpacks. They are strong, tough, and last forever.
 
JimG said:
I guess it depends on what a sweatshop is. There are a number of moral variables here. Workers in what we consider third world sweatshops may consider their employment a step up from the prior back breaking farm labor. If their sweatshop employer goes out of business or leaves the country, is their lot thereby improved? I’m open to suggestions.
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I’m with Jim on this. I recall reading, in “City of Joy” and elsewhere, that people in (for instance) the slums of Calcutta working for miniscule wages move there and take those jobs to IMPROVE their situation by having some kind of job…any job…that will help them keep themselves and their families alive. If we refuse to buy the goods they make, they get nothing at all.

This is a tough issue, and one that a single individual cannot have any effect on by himself. A large company like Walmart might be able to improve the situation of those workers; perhaps the government could. But an individual can’t.

Personally, I would buy whatever seems to suit your needs, without regard to whether it was made by sweatshop labor, because you can’t possibly know whether your act will change anything, but you do know that the people who work in them do so because their alternatives are worse.
 
Is a sweatshop any place with long hours and poor working conditions or is it labeled a sweatshop because of child labor?

I don’t think child labor is always a bad thing.
 
I guess it is just difficult to reconcile purchasing something from someone who is paid such a low wage in comparison to what I may get paid at a minimum-wage job in the United States. On the other hand, I do understand the improved labor situation (as hard as that it is to wrap my mind around) of some third-world or impoverished communities. I am just looking to find a most Christ-like way to approach purchasing goods while knowing the individuals producing them may not be treated correctly. This is not so much an issue of scrupulosity for me but an issue of human dignity.

Thank you for the responses, however.

God bless!
 
You may want to look up fair trade items. They pay the workers a fair price for the products that they make and it improves the lives of people in poor countries. They are substantially more expensive. If I could afford it I would buy all fair trade items, but alas I cannot.
 
M_Winters said:
I am looking to purchase a new backpack for college and did a quick search on the internet to note if some brands were “Sweatshop free”. Surprisingly, I am having trouble finding a backpack that is not linked to a brand with ties to sweatshops.

My question is how, as a Christian - Catholic, am I supposed to approach the purchasing of goods where many, if not most, companies use some type of underpaid labor to manufacture their goods.

Thanks and God bless!
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You put “backpacks made in USA” into Google and take your pick.

easy-peasy.
 
Sweatshops are a horrible thing, and Catholic Social Teaching utterly opposes it. In fact, a sweatshop job is not necessarily a step-up from other jobs in third-world countries; women are often raped in sweatshops. There is a great documentary on sweatshop labor at this website (scroll to the bottom of the page and watch the documentary ‘Behind the Swoosh’):

teamsweat.org/

Also, this website has a lot of information about sweatshop labor and even has quotes from Catholic Social Teaching that show the Church’s opposition to sweatshop labor:

captaincatholic.net/Sweatshop-Labor.php

Anyone who follows sweatshop labor issues knows that companies can easily fix the problem of sweatshop labor, even just by cutting their marketing budget (if Nike cut their marketing budget by only 7%, they could pay all workers in Indonesia a fair wage). It’s truly an example of greed on the part of companies who will go as far to extort the poor to make a profit.

Hope that helps 🙂
 
Ridgerunner said:
I’m with Jim on this. I recall reading, in “City of Joy” and elsewhere, that people in (for instance) the slums of Calcutta working for miniscule wages move there and take those jobs to IMPROVE their situation by having some kind of job…any job…that will help them keep themselves and their families alive. If we refuse to buy the goods they make, they get nothing at all.

This is a tough issue, and one that a single individual cannot have any effect on by himself. A large company like Walmart might be able to improve the situation of those workers; perhaps the government could. But an individual can’t.

Personally, I would buy whatever seems to suit your needs, without regard to whether it was made by sweatshop labor, because you can’t possibly know whether your act will change anything, but you do know that the people who work in them do so because their alternatives are worse.
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Hello! Judging by your comment, I think you are very mistaken on the role of individuals in ending sweatshop labor. Individuals actually can make an enormous difference in the fight to end sweatshop labor. There are countless fair trade companies out there that make the same products that sweatshop companies make. When individuals buy products from a fair trade company, they allow that fair trade company to grow and employ more workers to pay them fair wages. But when we buy sweatshop goods, we are giving sweatshop companies the power to continue doing what they do - extort workers. Sweatshop companies won’t change unless we, the consumers, force them to change.

Here’s some fair trade companies:

Fair Trade Clothes: anvilknitwear.com/

Fair Trade Chocolate: divinechocolate.com/siteselect.aspx

I should mention that Catholic Relief Services actually partnered with Fair Trade Chocolate! So buy from them whenever buying chocolate 🙂

Hope that helps! God Bless you!
 
M_Winters said:
I am looking to purchase a new backpack for college and did a quick search on the internet to note if some brands were “Sweatshop free”. Surprisingly, I am having trouble finding a backpack that is not linked to a brand with ties to sweatshops.

My question is how, as a Christian - Catholic, am I supposed to approach the purchasing of goods where many, if not most, companies use some type of underpaid labor to manufacture their goods.

Thanks and God bless!
Click to expand...
You are so right to want to buy goods that are made ethically! Keep trying to change the world through your daily personal decisions - it will immensely help you to grow in the Catholic faith 🙂

I did a QUICK google search for fair trade backpacks - I’m sure more exist (for probably even cheaper prices), but here’s one:

globalgoodspartners.org/cart/Details.cfm?ProdID=166&utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&utm_campaign=product

Good luck! God Bless!
 
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