"Free Trade" and Sweatshops A decade ago, most people only knew
about sweatshops through what they had read in history books.
Today, people read about sweatshops in their daily newspapers.
The sweatshop, once thought to be a relic of another time, has
returned with a vengeance. The resurgence of the sweatshop can
be directly linked to the expansion of corporate globalization.
The sweatshop is both metaphor for and proof of the lawlessness
and inequities of the new global economy. Every new sweatshop
exposé raises new doubts about who corporate globalization is
really benefiting. The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
will drastically accelerate corporate globalization in the
Americas, giving more power to multinational corporations at the
expense of ordinary citizens. This will likely spread sweatshop-
style production to more countries. As dog-eat-dog competition
among countries increases, workers will likely see their
already-low wages drop even further and their already-assaulted
rights face even more t