Sweatshops & the Dallas Cowboys

     I just happened to catch the ESPN expose on how the Dallas Cowboys have made millions using sweatshop labor.  Cambodian workers at the Suntex & Bright Sky factory of Silver Star Merchandising, work 60 hours per week making .29 cents per hour.  They are scared to go to the bathroom and always rushed, rushed, rushed with forced overtime.  According to the report, the labor practices violate the Cowboys own code of conduct.   Surprise... they can't "see" any violations.  Maybe its because of the millions of dollars of profit made from cheap labor.  Pay low, sell high, and use contract labor to allow plausible deniability! 
     For me, the denials were not credible at all.  The cowboys, as America's team, should be ashamed of the practice.  I'd like to see the whole corporate team sent to Cambodia for an overnight stay with the people who work in those factories.  In the morning, they could tag along to work, and even be treated like the slaves they've hired.
     Ohio State students have protested the licensing agreement that the school just signed with the Cowboys.  The OSU Lantern has a good story and video here.   Sweatshops are inhumane places to work and should be completely outlawed.  Sweatshops and bullying by management still occur here in America, as it does everywhere. 
     If you don't understand what a sweatshop is, ehow.com defines it as "a factory or working environment considered by post-industrialized nations to be unacceptably dangerous for employees.  They demand long hours for little pay...  Some workers are imprisoned on the factory grounds and not free to leave to see their families.  They may have dangerous working conditions and even employ child labor."  They all have aggressive managers who bully workers into doing their bidding.
     Wikipedia has a good list of abusive workplace behaviours.  I'll copy them here for you to see, if your company engages in the same tactics;

1. Disrespecting and devaluing the individual, often through disrespectful and devaluing language or verbal abuse
2. Overwork and devaluation of personal life (particularly salaried workers who are not compensated)
3. Harassment through micromanagement of tasks and time
4. Over evaluation and manipulating information (for example concentration on negative characteristics and failures, setting up subordinate for failure).
5. Managing by threat and intimidation
6. Stealing credit and taking unfair advantage
7. Preventing access to opportunities
8. Downgrading an employee's capabilities to justify downsizing
9. Impulsive destructive behaviour
10. Having your opinions and views ignored
11. Withholding information which affects your performance
12. Being exposed to an unmanageable workload
13. Being given tasks with unreasonable or impossible targets or deadlines
14. Being ordered to do work below competence
15. Being ignored or facing hostility when you approach
16. Being humiliated or ridiculed in connection with your work
17. Excessive monitoring of your work (see micromanagement)
18. Spreading gossip
19. Having insulting or offensive remarks made about your person (i.e. habits and background), your attitudes or your private life 
20. Having key areas of responsibility removed or replaced with more trivial or unpleasant tasks 

If your company or manager uses these tactics to motivate you, they may be guilty of bullying and violating established laws.  The last paragraph on Wikipedia says this about the legality, " Although most U.S. states operate primarily under the doctrine of at-will employment (which, in theory, allows an employer to fire an employee for any reason or no reason at all), American workers have gained significant legal leverage through discrimination and harassment laws, workplace safety laws, union-protection laws. etc., such that it is illegal under federal and most states' laws to fire employees for many reasons. For example, these employment laws typically forbid retaliation for good faith complaints or the exercise of legal rights such as the right to organize a union. Discrimination and harassment laws enable employees to sue for creating a "hostile work environment," which can include bullying, but the bullying/hostility usually is tied in some way to a characteristic protected under the discrimination/harassment law, such as race, sex, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, etc"

     As for the Dallas Cowboy's merchandise, I wouldn't buy any until they stop using sweatshop labor.  The same would go for Ohio State merchandise if they have signed a contract with the same company.  American businessmen need to understand how greed hurts people!  People are made in the image of God!  Not only that, I believe He may question your choice of poor employee treatment for gain.  I believe the King James called it "filthy lucre".

Being greedy, indecent, or immoral is just another way of worshiping idols. You can be sure that people who behave in this way will never be part of the kingdom that belongs to Christ and to God. Ephesians 5:5