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

Regarded from the widest economic point of view, the existence of an excessive supply of labour seeking employments open to free competition must be regarded as the most important aspect of the "sweating system."

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

He worked actively against the sweating system, pleaded for European intervention in Macedonia, and was a keen supporter of the Licensing Bill of 1908.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 3 "Gordon, Lord George" to "Grasses" by Various

One of the speakers had alluded to the evil part in the sweating system which is played by the highly paid "speeders."

From Comrade Yetta by Edwards, 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)