Globalization
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Sweating out the Picketers
The term “sweatshop” brings to mind images of young women and children toiling in hot, stuffy, poorly lit rooms sowing garments for only a hand full of change. This scenario is seen everywhere in most developing countries. Working in such conditions is a common occurrence for the people who live in third world countries. In recent globalization trends, many American corporations are setting up shop and manufacturing American products in third world nations. In these countries the majority of the population lives in poverty and the only resource available is the abundance of cheap labor. Many human right advocates are now exposing to the international community the working condition in such factories called sweatshops. There workers are underpaid and overworked. The general public in turn has boycotted the sale of such products manufactured in such intolerable work environment. Investors, like American corporations, are taking the blame for endorsing sweatshops and exploiting desperate people for the pursuit of profit. American corporations are not exploiting workers in third world countries but providing work for a struggling society and therefore their products and factories should not be boycotted.
Many advocates of human rights organizations stress the importance of labor standards. Emphasized in the article, “Sweatshops and Globalization”, the typical working schedule in a factory based in China is, working six to seven days a week with 11-12 hour shifts (Balko, para. 2). These conditions are unheard of in the United States where labor laws are in position to protect the workforce. Jobs like these are a dream come true for people in Cambodia. According to Nhep Chanda, a 17 year old Cambodian, she spends her days picking through trash for food, plastic bags, and metals cans in hazard environments (“Inviting All Democrats”, para. 5). Many of the sweatshops provide better job opportunities when compared with the ones currently available in developing countries. By human rights advocates boycotting corporations using sweatshops they are taking away paying jobs with the best working conditions where the alternatives are begging, prostitution, and primitive agriculture (Balko, Sweatshops and globalization, para.18). Illustrated in “Sweatshops, Boycotts and the Road to Poverty”, a survey done by the United Nations organization (UNICEFF) reports, “international boycott of the Nepalese carpet industry in the mid-1990s caused several plants to shut down; thousands of Nepalese girls later entered the sex trade” (Balko, 2003, para 11). Radley Balko states that, “Removing the best series of bad options, they say, does nothing to better the plight of the worlds poor.” (“Sweatshops and Globalization”, para. 18).
Another issue accompanied with low labor standards is low wages. Advocates point out is salary paid to the employees in the sweatshops is extremely low in comparison to the minimum wage in America. Shown in the article, “Sweatshops and Globalization”, the typical wages paid to the workers in these factories are 16 cents an hour which average to about 2 dollars a day (Balko, para.2). This type of income is unacceptable in advanced countries such as the United States and most of the European countries. Two dollars a day in not nearly enough to sustain an individual let alone a typical family of four. But these figures are acceptable when compared to cost of living analysis for third world countries. According to the World Bank the average cost of income for 2004 in south Asia was roughly $510 (Regional fact sheet, 2005, par. 1). Broken down this leads to an average of $42.5 a month, $10.63 a week and $1.52 a day earned. This income is enough to feed and clothe a person that is accordance to their economic standings in developing areas. These sweatshops are providing people with income that is in correlation with the cost of living with third world countries.
Consequently, the income reflects also the level of skills and intelligence necessary to accomplish these jobs. In a high skilled job individuals are paid more because their knowledge is valuable. But in this kind of employment not much education or special skills are needed. According to the article, “The Sweatshop Scam: So-called sweatshops are economic opportunities for the third world poor so why are American progressive opposed to them?”, the author comments that the majority of the population in these developing countries have no formal education and have little knowledge in specialized skills (Tracinski, 2003, para 9). This is partially due to the fact recently these countries were primitively agricultural based. A higher level of education is not a necessary
when dealing with farm work.
As a result from globalization and the push for free trade between all the nations a new phenomenon is occurring in developing countries to compensate for their disadvantage in the marketplace. According to Alan Tonelson, author of The Race to the Bottom, a phenomenon called the “race to the bottom” is on the rise which hinders the maturation of the labor laws (Balko, “Sweatshop and Globalization”, para.6-10). Third world countries strive to appeal to foreign investors and corporations by lowing labor standards and wages (Balko, “Sweatshops and Globalization”, para. 7). Tonelson states that during the 1999 World Trade Organization most third world members were against the placement of labor rights and environment protection (Balko, “Sweatshops and Globalization”, para. 10).
Critics, therefore, argue that the presence of sweatshops keeps the developing countries from growing and prospering to become a stable economy. Journalist Tomas Larrson points out that low labor standards and wages is stunting