sweating system

American  

noun

1. the practice of employing workers in sweatshops.

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Etymology

Origin of sweating system

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

The more thorough my examination into the facts of the case, the more I am convinced that the sweating system is demoralizing the entire clothing trade, as it will every trade it touches.

From White Slaves; or, the Oppression of the Worthy Poor by Banks, Louis Albert

An English writer gives this definition of the sweating system: "One whereby the middleman tries to get the largest profit, with the least labor and outlay, out of the maximum labor of his workers."

From White Slaves; or, the Oppression of the Worthy Poor by Banks, Louis Albert

Only a short time since a popular economic writer denounced a Boston clergyman for unveiling the horrors of the sweating system in the modern Athens.

From The Arena Volume 4, No. 23, October, 1891 by Flower, B. O. (Benjamin Orange)

All an infernal system of oppression, like the sweating system, asks, is to be let alone.

From White Slaves; or, the Oppression of the Worthy Poor by Banks, Louis Albert

It covers the whole question of the employment of boys, women, old men, and half-supported persons, and includes the "sweating" system.

From Twentieth Century Socialism What It Is Not; What It Is: How It May Come by Kelly, Edmond