When people think of sweatshops, the image that comes to mind are dark, cramped and dirty places out of a Dickens novel. Sweatshops aren't supposed to exist in this globalised world, and certainly not in “the lucky country”, where there's supposedly equality for all and you get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.
The reality is that there are sweatshops operating in Australia, and hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to work in conditions that are not only illegal, but inhumane. Twelve-hour shifts, sexual harassment, wages of $1.70 an hour (there have been cases of workers in the US receiving 6 cents an hour!) and unhygienic working conditions are what a lot of outworkers face.
Sweatshops exist in a range of guises. Hundreds of dark and cramped single rooms where a single worker works for 15 hours a day do exist, but sweatshops can also involve dozens or even hundreds of workers. The conditions remain the same. Generally, a sweatshop can be distinguished by what the business does or doesn't do. If it doesn't comply with national minimum wages or it doesn't provide benefits like sick leave or maternity leave for its workers, but it does have compulsory overtime and uses child labour, you've found a sweatshop.
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