Cheap Labor Abroad: Good or Bad for Humans in General and What Can We Do?
Just over a year ago, Rana Plaza factory building in Bangladesh collapsed, killing 1137 garment workers, many of whom were working on contract for U.S. clothing manufacturers. The Pittsburgh-based Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights reports that of the thirty-two U.S., Canadian and European manufacturers linked to Rana Plaza, only eighteen have contributed to the Rana Plaza Trust Fund established to assist the families of those killed or injured in the collapse. According to the Institute, Walmart and The Children’s Place have contributed, and the Gap has offered financial support even though its manufacturing was not linked to Rana Plaza. In contrast, U.S.-based companies J.C. Penney, Cato Fashions and the Ascena Retail Group have failed to make any financial contribution.
Reflecting on sweatshop conditions exemplified by Rana Plaza, co-editor Sital Kalantry submits today’s blog, authored by clinic student Paige Scheckla, suggesting both corporate and individual actions in the U.S. that can contribute to better working conditions worldwide.
Paige Scheckla writes:
American economists hail factories abroad as successes for both economic development and the promotion of human rights. They claim that citizens of less-developed countries (LDCs) who work in factories fare much better than their non-factory working counterparts, who make less money, face worse employment conditions, and have fewer opportunities. However, recent incidents in Bangladesh and Pakistan reveal just how grim conditions often are for factory workers in LDCs. These incidents have provoked international backlash against the corporate entities that manufacture clothes and other products in the factories. In this blog post, I outline a number of ways western corporations can modify their international factories and change their practices to comply with international employment law established by the International Labor Organization (ILO). In addition, I delineate several ways in which the world can facilitate further expansion of employment options for citizens of LDCs.
Earlier this year, Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, declared it necessary to address corporate abuses of employment law by ending the UK’s “chronic dependency on low-skill, low wage labor” from abroad. This statement comes amid an international controversy over “sweatshops,” or factories in LDCs that aim to produce cheap goods by paying low wages to workers and otherwise avoiding pro-employee regulations. For example, in April 2013, Rana Plaza, an eight story garment factory in Bangladesh, collapsed and killed more than 1,000 people. The top four floors of the factory were built without a permit. Many workers had noticed the building’s structural defects and cracks, but were forced to come to work anyway. The factory produced clothing for several major international stores, including Mango, Benetton, The Children’s Place, and Walmart. Just a few months earlier, almost 300 workers at a textile factory in Karachi, Pakistan faced the same fate when a fire broke out and the doors and exits of the factory were locked or barred. That same day, another fire killed 25 people in a shoemaking factory in Lahore, Pakistan when a fire blocked the sole exit of the factory.
All three incidents raise serious questions about the lack of worker safety regulations in LDCs. The conditions of the factories involved were in direct violation of the ILO’s Labour Inspection Convention. In addition, these and many others continue to allow very young children to work many hours a day and to deny workers the right to collective bargaining, in contravention of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention of 1949 and the Minimum Age Convention of 1973.
While it may seem almost impossible for everyday citizens to prevent employment rights violations, especially since employment regulation is so embedded in the fabric of the nation-state, there are some ways in which individuals can help promote the human rights of workers in LDCs. For example, one can boycott stores which utilize “sweatshop” labor and elect to shop instead at second-hand stores or buy from budget-friendly companies that use sweatshop-free labor. One can also advocate for LDCs to enact and enforce greater employment regulation in line with ILO conventions. However, these methods have a minimal effect on the actual activities of international corporations that use sweatshop labor. To accomplish real change, individuals, governments, and international organizations need to work together to further expand employment options for LDC citizens. Individuals and companies alike can easily invest in micro-loans through companies like Kiva in order to help the world’s poor become entrepreneurs and provide for themselves through their individual skills and innovations. Similarly, governments and international organizations can increase their funding for education in LDCs in order to provide people with the knowledge they need to start their own companies or obtain high-skilled jobs. Lastly, international immigration policy reform can have a positive effect on job opportunities for citizens of LDCs. If it becomes easier for people to immigrate to richer countries that more closely abide by ILO conventions, governments in LDCs might be incentivized to enact and enforce policies that protect the human rights of workers.
Human rights violations in the employment sphere are directly tied to the realization of human rights in areas like education and economics. It will take an immense amount of work on behalf of the world’s citizenry, nation-states, and international organizations like the ILO to fully address these violations. However, incidents in Pakistan and Bangladesh prove how necessary it is that we take these steps immediately. Through a mixture of investment, policy reform, and demonstration, it is eventually possible to create a sweatshop-free world and to improve the human rights of all workers.