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 half dozen factories were only the centre of a widespread sweating system.

From Comrade Yetta by Edwards, Albert

Thus one of the most glaring evils of the sweating system is seen to form a distinct economic advantage in the workshop, as compared with the large factory.

From Problems of Poverty by Hobson, J. A. (John Atkinson)

Take the sweating system of the East End of London, in which, bad conditions of labour always going together, we find starvation wages combined with long hours and unwholesome work-rooms.

From Contemporary Socialism by Rae, John

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)

The attempt to secure by legislation or by combination an eight hours day, or its equivalent, might seem to affect the "sweating system" most directly, as a restriction on excessive hours of labour.

From Problems of Poverty by Hobson, J. A. (John Atkinson)