If one of your co-workers showed up to work one day, nervous and shaking, voicing their concerns about your workplace conditions possibly leading to grave bodily injury or perhaps worse, you would probably dismiss it as paranoia or exaggeration on their part. For many people overseas, however, these workplace nightmares are a stark reality. In Bangladesh, workplace nightmares happen too much. In 2013, a building containing several factories in Bangladesh collapsed, injuring 1,000 workers and killing 134, according to the New York Times. The building had safety code violations.

A quality inspector at a garment factory describes this haunting scenario. “I heard screams,” said Mahmudul Hasan. “My heart started pounding. I lay down near a pillar and started thinking that perhaps I was going to die.” No electronics, shoes, or clothing are worth the loss of life.

Apple is one of the most essential companies in the United States. There are more than 700 million iPhone users worldwide, according to Fortune. This includes myself; I own several Apple products. International Business Times states the company Catcher, in China, produces most of the cases for Apple products. According to China Labor Watch, Catcher’s workers are sometimes exposed to harmful chemical substances. As with any product, it’s difficult to tell where they make the ingredients and parts. Usually they’re made across the globe, not under watchdog groups’ guidance. Poverty, lack of guidelines and a preference of profit over ethics are the ingredients to a sweatshop-made product. Regardless of this information, I am not eager to throw away my iPhone. My concern is that American consumers, including myself, value convenience and luxury over humanity. Where does that take us? Americans tend to view themselves as the superior country in comparison to others, when really that is not the case. We are a large part of the reason these conditions continue to exist. By keeping my MacBook and iPhone, I am giving the message to Apple I care, but I don’t care that much.

    It‘s easy to think this problem is bigger than any of us. Apple is an internationally popular company, so would they care if I sent a strongly worded letter and incited a protest at Sonoma State? However, there is precedence. According to the Huffington Post, after Georgetown University students protested, Nike agreed to their terms. The group United Against Sweatshops had two dozen protests on college campuses. Nike agreed to have watchdog group, the Workers’ Rights Consortium, to inspect its factories.

My hope is to stop the awful working conditions in these factories. Realistically, are we ready to give up any electronics or clothes made from retailers, where the reason for cheap prices is a result of paying low wages workers in the garment factories? According to the Los Angeles Times, workers were enduring 10-hour days with low pay, sewing clothes for Forever 21, Ross, Dress for Less and T.J. Maxx. Since many aren’t ready to completely boycott everything they own such as technology, clothes and shoes, the best way is to write, tweet or protest to these companies that we know what’s going on and demand change. Strides could be made in providing better conditions and wages to these workers so they meet the minimum treatment we would give to our own workforce. Easing stress on factory workers allows them an easier path to fair wages and opportunities equal to the amount of work they provide for these companies.