karoshi, from working in a tribe
To me, what the sweatshop image conveys is very long hours of work, unfair compensation, a lack of control over one's work life and a feeling of tremendous insecurity. And I think that all of those characteristics are very powerfully true in a lot of people's lives.
There are 25 million of us who are putting in more than 10 hours each day at the office. And for many people that is the beginning and not the end of their workday. They're the ones who are working during their commutes, after they put their kids to bed at night, on weekends and while they're vacationing. They feel that their jobs can never be done. The workloads have gotten so enormous that they're inescapable.
