1 - Workers in the Global Economy

Summary

Multinational companies have turned back the clock, transferring production to countries with labor conditions that resemble those in the early period of America’s own industrialization. (Collinsworth et al. 1994, p. 9)

In every region of the world, workers often are treated poorly: Some are denied the rights to unionize and strike by their governments, while others are blacklisted from employment if they assert their legally mandated right to organize. Still others work very long hours with no overtime pay, with exposure to noxious chemicals or to sexual harassment by management. For instance, in its 2007 annual survey of trade union rights, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) documents the deaths of 144 trade unionists; nearly 5,000 arrests for union-related activities; and over 8,000 dismissals from employment for reasons related to unionization. These violations of collective labor rights are concentrated in some countries; for instance, Colombia leads the world in trade unionist disappearances and deaths. At the same time, though, the ITUC documents denials of collective labor rights in 138 nations, including both developed and developing countries, and in sectors ranging from bananas and coffee to electronics and pharmaceuticals.

Violations of individual labor rights – working hours, overtime pay, health, and safety – are similarly widespread. A decade ago, reports of abuses in many of Nike’s supplier factories received widespread public attention; these included the underpayment of wages by subcontractors in Indonesia, the use of child labor in the production of soccer balls in Pakistan, and exposure of workers in China and Vietnam to a variety of dangerous chemicals (Locke 2001). Activists routinely document the abuse of agricultural sector workers, such as the widespread use (and abuse) of child workers in Ecuador’s banana sector (Human Rights Watch 2002). Additionally, the expansion of China’s exports has been accompanied by a growth in reports of abuses in Chinese factories, in sectors ranging from apparel to toys to electronics.