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 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

Mr. Hoar's resolution for an inquiry into the so-called sweating system of tenement labor.

From United States Government Publications, v. 8 Jan-Jun 1892 A Monthly Catalog by Compiled

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

A margin of unemployed labour means a bare subsistence wage for low-skilled labour, and it means this wage earned under industrial conditions, such as we find under the "sweating system."

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

All an infernal system of oppression, like the sweating system, asks, is to be let alone.

From White Slaves; or, the Oppression of the Worthy Poor by Banks, Louis Albert