sweating system

American  

noun

1. the practice of employing workers in sweatshops.

---

Etymology

Origin of sweating system

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

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

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)

It is not on record that any one ever found a good word to say for the "sweating system."

From Comrade Yetta by Edwards, Albert

In 1890 the report of the House of Lords Committee on the sweating system recommends in certain cases "well-considered combinations among the laborers."

From An Introduction to the Industrial and Social History of England by Cheyney, Edward Potts

The central labor body of Chicago, then called the Trades and Labor Assembly, had previously appointed a committee of investigation to inquire into the sweating system.

From Twenty Years at Hull House; with autobiographical notes by Addams, Jane