Exponent Letter
Sweatshop protesters should alter strategy
Publication Date: 10/25/07
To the sweatshop protesters: Have you considered the implications of your actions? Let’s say that your crusade actually works and Purdue pulls its contract from the sweatshops. Then what? What happens to the employees of that sweatshop? Most likely, they will be laid off. How will they support themselves or their families without an income? After all, a lousy income is better than no income at all. Without their sweatshop jobs, they might have to turn to prostitution, begging or crime to feed their families.
While I respect your stand for human rights, you have to understand that people in other countries do not have the same rights that we do. They don’t have the same labor laws, and they definitely don’t have the same welfare system. People out of work either find new jobs or starve on the streets, and if they were working in a sweatshop before, they will most likely not have the skill set for anything other than sweatshop work.
By protesting sweatshops, you’re hurting the very people you are trying to help.
Alex Barnett
Senior, College of Technology
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