Sweatshops and Unethical Labor Practices Imagine seeing your family for just one day once a year. Having to compete for a ticket home with millions of other workers to be able to see your family again who you haven't seen in a year. This is the life of 130 million migrant workers in China. These workers produce most of the things we own. Most of us don't think about the people who make our clothes, our phones, our computers; objects we use every day. Our lifestyle revolves around mass consumerism, where we value the item more than the person or people who made it. The mass media and multi-million dollar industries keep the conditions of how these people work as a total mystery. Some brands have been reported for sweatshops and unethical labor practices, but nothing has been done against these companies. The U.S. Department of Labor defines a sweatshop as any factory that violates two or more labor laws. UNITE, the US textile workers' union, defines "sweatshops" as any factory that does not respect workers' right to organize an independent union. Global Exchange and other anti-sweatshop movements add that a sweatshop is any workplace that does not pay its workers a living wage. Sweatshops violate fundamental human rights, as stated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states “Article 1 – “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Article 5 – “No one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. Article 23 – (2) “Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work” and (4) “Everyone has the right to form and join trade unions for the protection of his interests”. Article 24 – “Everyone has the… middle of paper……/ background-sweatshops (accessed May 1, 2014).• Poulton, Lindsay, Francesca Panetta, Jason Burke, and David Levene. “The T-Shirt on the Shoulder: The Human Cost of Bangladesh's Garment Industry.” theguardian.com. http://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2014/apr/bangladesh-shirt-on-your-back (accessed May 1, 2014).• Laya, Patricia. "Are you paying enough for advertising? One major company spent a staggering $4.2 billion last year." Company interior. http://www.businessinsider.com/corporations-ad-spending-2011-6?op=1 (accessed May 1, 2014). • Stock, Kyle. “Is Nike spending too much on superstars?” Bloomberg Business Week. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-20/is-nike-spending-too-much-on-superstars (accessed May 1, 2014). • “End Modern Slavery.” End modern slavery. http://www.endmoderndayslavery.ca/facts-about-sweatshops/ (accessed May 2019) 1, 2014).