Labor Issues Around the World Term Paper

Many Chinese workers, including children, are forced to work in poor conditions (Ka Wai, 2004). Many workers are working in the town ship and village factories. According to a government report in 1984, the majority of township and village enterprises in China have at least one major problem that causes occupational disease. Many factory workers are working in dangerous conditions, in which poisonous chemicals, dust, and noise are predominant. As a result, many workers suffer from a variety of preventable health conditions.

Companies like Nike and Reebok often subcontract factories in poor countries because they do not have to deal with production. By distancing themselves through subcontracting, benefiting from low production costs without having to take responsibility, they make huge profits.

In Indonesia, United States sportswear company Nike is often at the center of labor concerns (CNN, 2001). Workers at nine Indonesian factories under contract by Nike say they have suffered or have witnessed sexual and verbal abuse. Laborers also reported that they were asked to work "illegal forms of overtime." Many were denied both sick leave and annual leave.

The Global Alliance, an international coalition dedicated to improving the lives of factory workers, interviewed more than 4,000 workers at the different Nike plants (CNN, 2001). The project was actually funded by Nike in an effort to try to improve working conditions at the contract factories. Since then, Nike has promised to rectify the problems by initiating independent investigations into the allegations of abuse and developing a channel that will allow workers to bring harassment issues directly to the management.

Poor conditions in the factory are more than the result of having a strict factory owner. It is actually the multinationals, not the subcontractors, that set the pace of production as well as the wages of the workers. If a subcontractor wants to keep his contract, he must accept the timeline set by Nike or Reebok and accept the price they are willing to pay per shoe. And when the multinationals pressure subcontrators, the subcontractors pressure the workers.

According to Ka Wai (2004): "The multinational corporations' executives, however, deny that such problems are happening with their business partners. For example, Reebok claims that they have set up the "Reebok Human Rights Production Standard" to monitor their business partners and will send delegation to investigate their suppliers' factories regularly. So there should be no safety problem and exploitations with their business partners."

Child labor laws around the world are often not enforced or include exemptions that allow for child labor to persist in some sectors, such as agriculture or domestic work (GEFONT Paper, 2001). Even in countries where strong child labor laws exist, labor departments and labor inspection offices are often inadequate, or courts may fail to enforce the laws. Similarly, many state governments provide few resources to enforcing child labor laws. Until these practices change, child labor will likely persist.

The national and local government must adopt measures and policies to officially recognize the existence of workers, especially women, in all sectors of business (Mercantile Communications, 2003). A variety of measures, such as extension of social security schemes; implementation of legislation and laws on fair wages and incomes, would be a great help.

References

2001). Hazardous forms of Child Labor in Nepal. GEFONT Paper presented in Preparatory Meeting on Developing Asian Network on Hazardous Child Labour

Manila 26-28, 2001. (Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.gefont.org/views/2001/child_labour.htm.(March 13, 2003). Informal sector marred by poor working condition. Mercantile Communications. Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/trn/2003/mar/mar13/local1.htm.

CNN.com. (February 22, 2001). Abuse rife at Nike's Indonesia plants. Retrieved from the Internet at http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/02/22/indonesia.slaveshop/.

Ellis, Becky. (2000). Globalisation, Sweatshops and Indonesian Women Workers. Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.angelfire.com/pr/red/feminism/globalisation_ss_indo_women.htm.

Ka Wai, Chan. (2004). Child Labor in China. Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.citinv.it/associazioni/CNMS/archivio/lavoro/childlab.html.

Yan. Lang. (2002). The Small Hands of Slavery. Retrieved from the Internet at http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC040879/.