Sweatshops are not the problem. People get used to squalid conditions and dangerous practices.
The problem is the people who run the sweatshops know how to take advantage of desperate people, with limited educations and few options. These situations normally do not improve over time, but rather deteriorate.
Without establishing certain limitations and minimums, the owners will not impose them upon themselves. They have no incentive to establish good community relations, unless they actually care about the opinion of the community. And in my experience, most do not.
So, if you want to remain on the payroll, you'll do what they say, for the pay they offer, and for the hours they dictate. The employees themselves ultimately dictate what they'll tolerate. The employer can easily observe it, by the simple fact if his place is running, or standing idle, unstaffed.
And I can tell you one thing, for certain. In very rural areas where opportunity is limited, or in urban areas where the labor pool is notably larger than job availability, those places will NOT be standing idle.
Now... you may be, at this point in your life, in an advantageous situation. You may have the skills to shop around, or the bankroll to relocate. But there are plenty of others who do not have those resources. And in time, depending on the winds of fate (or however you'd like to phrase it) your situation may change. So be careful what you condone, because you may one day receive it in spades.