Proposal Paper: Problem Statement

              The corporations that make up consumer markets in the United States have one goal in mind, to maximize their profits. Most of these corporations will stop at nothing to achieve this goal. A repercussion of this sad truth is that corporations will outsource their labor to developing countries that do not treat their workers in an ethical manner. The exploitation of these workers varies from their physical working conditions to their low pay. Due to the fact that these countries are developing their governments do not have much power over factory owners and do not have personnel to enforce building and working standards or codes. Factory owners will take advantage of the lack of enforcement of these standards and codes and will build factories as cheap as possible. This leads to poor working conditions that put workers’ health and even lives in danger. They work while knowing that the building can collapse at any time. Along with physical conditions, these factory workers get paid wages that can barely support one person. Being that the majority of these workers have families, most of them do not make enough to support an entire family. Factory owners can pay their workers as little as they please because there is either no minimum wage or there is no one to enforce the minimum wage. The problem of poor working conditions in factories that corporations in the United States outsource to can be otherwise known as unethical production practices.

               The problem of unethical production practices can be directly related to its facilitators. The source of the problem begins at the corporate level. Companies in the United States do not care how their product is being made, they only care if it is maximizing their profits. Along with these companies the governments in the developing countries where the unethical production practices are being carried out are also at fault. Due to the fact that they are not enforcing their building codes and working standards, workers are being exploited and put in life threatening work areas. Factory owners in these developing countries are also to blame due to the fact that they are carrying out their business in unsafe conditions and in an unethical way. They have the power to construct safe factories that are up to code and to pay their workers reasonable wages. The last facilitator of these unethical production practices is the government in the United States. They do not pressure the companies based in America to maintain ethical production practices. The solution to this problem rests in the hands of the American government.

               The solution to this problem will not directly effect United States citizens but it will surely be felt. Knowing that the products that they are consuming were made in an ethical manner will give them all the satisfaction that they need. The solution will directly effect the exploited workers in developing countries. Their working conditions will increase along with their wages. Fear for their health and life will no longer be a thought in these workers’ minds. Also, they will not have to worry about not making enough money to support their entire families. The inalienable rights that they posses will be given back to them through the deletion of their exploitation.