Are Corporations Exploiting Cheap Labor in China?
January 8th, 2007
Post Submitted By Chuck Rylant:
Today I noticed an anonymous comment on my blog that appeared to be a spam advertisement for a book entitled The World is Flat? (Spam advertising on a blog is creative advertising I must admit.) The book written by Aronica and Ramdoo criticizes Friedman’s bestseller The World is Flat. Friedman’s book title does not include the question mark.
The spam advertisement directs the reader to a thirteen minute video that criticizes Friedman’s book. Part of that criticism is that Friedman speaks positively about globalization while ignoring companies that “exploit cheap labor in China, India and beyond.” Those who have read, or will read, The World is Flat by Friedman will find the video clip particularly interesting.
This topic raises many questions, some of which have been debated already, but are worthy of discussion. Do you think that corporations are “exploiting” labor in China or do they provide improved working conditions and jobs for otherwise unemployed people? Another question I have considered is whether it is the responsibility of U.S. companies to monitor the working conditions of employees working in China? Many U.S. companies have received criticism because of the working conditions in companies that are Chinese owned, but sell products to the U.S. companies.
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, Shenzhen, Misc.
3 Comments Add your own
1. Ashley Smith | January 9th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
I think the term exploited is relative. It all depends on each individual’s personal beliefs and standards. I also know that many of the people who hold these factory jobs are happy to have them and do not believe that they are being exploited. The jobs provide more money and more opportunity than the family farm ever could. I believe that the term exploited should be defined by the beliefs,opinions, and standards of the people who are supposedly being exploited.
I also recently read The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy and the author points out that there actually are many good things that can come from the exploitation of labor. I think one of the most important is activism. What if women and children never had to work in the dangerous and sometimes fatal factories during the Industrial Revolution? Would we have child labor laws today? What would have happened with the liberation of women?
2. Bonnie Morse | January 10th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
I think the jobs corporations provide help lower income Chinese have a better future. While working conditions can be improved, the jobs provide Chinese workers opportunities they would not have had 30 years ago.
Your post makes me wonder what would happen if China made regulations that required better work standards. One of the reasons companies started outsourcing to China was because of the reduced production costs. If there are increased working standards, will manufacturing in China still be more profitable than producing the same good in America? More importantly, will businesses simply look for another country with low working standards that can be used to produce goods less expensively? If a company closed a Chinese factory because of too rigid work standards, more people could be hurt than helped. In the future I think it will be critical for companies to balance the need to compete globally with the public’s concern for employee’s rights. This may mean reducing profit margins to provide more sustainable and safe employee work conditions.
3. Steve Feng | February 12th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Finding a common ground is difficult. How do we start to assess the needs of the Chinese worker? In the United States, it is easier to define exploiting a worker, because our standards are high. Workers are being exploited in the United States. Some lawyers are working 200 hours in a week. Every human being makes sacrifices to obtain their desires. The lawyer is being exploited, but no one takes his/her complaints seriously when he/she drives in a 7 series BMW. It becomes hard to justify work place standards in China when many citizens are not drinking clean water, not eating three meals a day, breathing fresh air, and having a place to sleep in their daily life. . These individuals chose this job, because in their mind, the benefits outweigh the cost. And sometimes getting food on the table is more important than sitting on a hard chair. I understand if a company makes substantial amounts of profits they should increasing the working conditions. At this point, it is hard to draw that line.
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