-an-Hour Wages?” published by the National Labor Council, a study was conducted on wages and living expenses for workers in sweatshops in Nicaragua. They found a pay stub, “from the NICSEDA factory (which the workers told us produces Polo Ralph Lauren) shows the hourly wages to be 2.08 Cordobas or 0.21 cents.” Furthermore, the average pay for a worker who put in a 56 hour week was $17.31. In addition, the report stated that the base wage for these workers was 10 cents an hour, which translated into $4.80 a week, $20.90 a month and $249.60 per year! This is outrageous. There is no way a person can live off those wages. The report left off by informing that these Nicaraguan workers were tired of their ridiculously low wages so in protest they were going to try to start a union. Their demands were a raise to 88 cents an hour. This translates to $2,196, 48 per year. As one can see, these demands were not very high. Perhaps the only way they’ll get it is by, as they started doing, forming a union. Unionization is a very important factor in workers winning some rights. Unfortunately, in some cases factory leaders just simply shut down the unionized factories and open up new ones where the unions are no longer in tact. In an article by the Clean Clothes Campaign, a story was reported about a woman who wished only to be called by her first name, Maria. She was a single mother who worked in a sweatshop. In January of this year, Maria was forced to switch contractors due to the fact that her old factory was shut down beacause the workers started forming unions. Because of the union, Maria was earning $1.50 per hour, which came out to $66 for a 44 hour week. Unfortunately, to combat the unions, the owner gave the workers an ultimatem: break up your union or the plant will be shut down and you’ll have nowhere to work. Simply wanting to be treated faily, the workers didn’t budge. In response,...
