Working Conditions in Sweatshops

In “Defending Sweatshops”, Jagdish Bhagwati claims that critics of sweatshops are mistaken in their condemnation of the sweatshops’ poor working conditions and low wages. Bhagwati writes that sweatshops have poor working conditions because poor countries cannot afford the same protections as wealthier countries, so NGOs should focus more on addressing the living condition in the country overall, instead of the corporations. However, the conditions in the impoverished country outside of the sweatshops do not have an effect on the morality of those sweatshops. If insufficient conditions in the country are ubiquitous, this does not mean that any similar conditions created by international corporations are not also insufficient. NGOs are justified in their criticism of corporations using sweatshops because they are not improving conditions, they are merely taking advantage of them .Bhagwati also claims that if sweatshops were closed, these children would be forced into even worse working conditions such as prostitution. This resembles an ad consequentiam fallacy, as it suggests sweatshops are necessary because if they did not exist, conditions would deteriorate. Whether or not conditions would be worse is not related to the question of whether sweatshops can be considered morally right or wrong. It is entirely conceivable that both can be considered moral wrongs simultaneously.