Introduction
The problem now receiving the greatest attention worldwide is ethical abuse in the workplace. It can be seen in forced labor, unacceptable working conditions in sweatshops, and child abuse. For example, forced labor is among the most prevalent types of contemporary slavery, widespread in developing nations like South Asia. Forced labor is any task a worker performs against their will but is required to perform due to external factors like hardship, or the threat to their lives, or property.
As a result, this issue mainly affects developing nations like Bangladesh, which are struggling to survive. The purpose of the study is to discuss the aspects of unethical working conditions and review the resources used in the research. The paper will cover three scholarly articles regarding the three main themes of the study: forced labor, sweatshop practices, and child labor. However, forced labor is illegal in Bangladesh and is also penalized under the law of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. As a result, Bangladesh passed a law outlawing forced labor. However, the nation fails to stop the attack because of the economic crisis, the shaky political climate, and other problems. The country’s sole collaborative effort to end forced labor could be successful.
Review of the Sources
Sweatshop practices are highly discussed since many inappropriate working situations can be observed there. The first source is a scholarly article by Miklós (2019), which focuses predominantly on sweatshops, one of this study’s themes, and employees’ exploitation even under the mutual job agreement. Generally, mutually beneficial market transactions can be exploitative if one side takes full advantage of a fundamental wrong. For instance, even if sweatshop workers freely accept the circumstances of their jobs, companies are frequently accused of taking advantage of the precarious living situations of their workers (Miklós, 2019). This concept of exploitation has a flaw in that it tends to be overly inclusive.
There is no doubt that not all trades that take place in opposition to underlying injustices should be viewed as exploitative, given the existence of both local and global socioeconomic inequities. With an emphasis on the issue of sweatshop labor, this study provides a significant paradigm for identifying exploitation in reciprocally advantageous commerce. According to this argument, an employer may only be seen as unfairly benefiting from an underlying inequity and only if the surplus it receives from the transaction occurs in an unjust condition or circumstances (Miklós, 2019). The study makes the case that this framework is preferable to microlevel exploitation theories that ignore background justice by employing three distinct notions of justice to demonstrate the framework’s applicability. The study’s conclusion discusses the normative repercussions of labeling an interaction exploitative.
The second theme of the research is forced labor which includes all the aspects of this phenomenon. Tropa (2021) discusses the specifics of the issue and refers to it as a type of modern slavery. The fact that forced labor is more prevalent today than at any previous time in history is something that many of us find difficult to understand. The challenge of effectively managing work is one that all nations face, and it includes a variety of informal jobs.
Recent trends in the wrong way include restricting migrants’ rights and giving employers’ rights precedence over their employees. Given the prevalence of contemporary slavery, no company’s operations or supply chains can be free of it (Tropa, 2021). Moving ahead to the present, there is not much of a distinction, especially in South Asian nations like Bangladesh battling issues like poverty or illiteracy (Tropa, 2021). Women feel huge pressure to engage in prostitution and other activities which are entirely unnecessary. Still, they participate in those types of activities due to their circumstances. Children are still required to work instead of pursuing their education on this continent because of poverty. It is perfectly possible to identify numerous instances of slave labor if the matter is investigated.
The final theme of ethical abuse in the workplace is connected with the exploitation of underage workers. Moayad et al. (2021) researched the problem of adolescents working in the factory and gathered statistics on the children involved. Forced labor involving children is a serious socioeconomic issue in many nations, particularly emerging nations. It is described as any job carried out by children that is detrimental to their physical and psychological well-being and their potential, pride, and personal development. The most recent data show that approximately 152 million children worldwide are child workers or about one in ten children, and more than 95% are located in underdeveloped nations (Moayad et al., 2021). Slightly more than half of these children labor in dangerous jobs that affect their health and safety and put social behavior at peril. It includes all types of carelessness, irresponsibility, physical and emotional abuse, exploitation, and sexual abuse that could harm a cognitive upbringing, health, dignity, and survival. As child labor entails abuse or neglect and is detrimental to children’s overall well-being, it can be considered one kind of serious child maltreatment.
Conclusion
Overall, the paper discussed the paradigm for recognizing exploitation in reciprocally beneficial trade, focusing on the issue of sweatshop practices and forced and child labor, predominantly in South Asia. Resources used for the study demonstrate different variations of ethical abuse in the workplace involving such factors as gender, age, and the specifics of the culture. Although the paper covers the urgent and widespread issues, there is less information about similar cases in Europe because usually, this phenomenon exists mainly in less developing countries. For future study, it is possible to investigate the situation and research its different implications in European countries.
References
Miklós, A. (2019). Exploiting injustice in mutually beneficial market exchange: The case of sweatshop labor. Journal of business ethics, 156(1), 59-69. Web.
Moayad, S. J., Kamal, S. H. M., Sajjadi, H., Vameghi, M., Harouni, G. G., & Alamdari, S. M. (2021). Child labor in Tehran, Iran: Abuses experienced in work environments. Child Abuse & Neglect, 117, 105054. Web.
Tropa, I. F. (2021). Forced labor and the legal issues: in the context of Bangladesh. Asian Journal of Social Science, 3(3), 85-88. Web.