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Democrazy posted:It's awesome to say that sweatshops are wrong and that workers shouldn't be forced to live in difficult conditions. What's a plausible policy towards actually getting rid of sweatshops and improving welfare for the Chinese worker? Ideally they'd be eliminated in the same manner they were in North America in the late 19th/early 20th century, through the power of organized labour against factory owners. I suppose westerners can help through providing assistance to Chinese labour and worker's rights organizations (I don't know any myself, but would be interested to learn of them). I think while its nice to also try to change consumption habits to avoid sweatshop produced products, capitalists in developing countries will usually be able to hide or manipulate the details of the production chain to their advantage.
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Feb 20, 2012 23:30
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MeramJert posted:Pass laws in the West requiring documentation proving some basic working standards are met by everyone in the supply chain, or you aren't legally allowed to sell your product in the EU/US/etc. There, now companies don't have anywhere else to run because it forces the issue away from (lack of) local labor regulations. Kind of like how REACH and ROHS in the EU work; you're not going to get very far by bullying China to increase & enforce its own standards, and even if you do companies will just move to the next place. While I agree with this logic and think it should be implemented anyway, in practice it is far easier for corporations working in developing countries to contract with local suppliers who'll lie about the details of production so as to live up to the regulatory requirement. If one of the suppliers is exposed as abusive, the corporation can simply claim ignorance and move on. Capitalism is an incredible system, and can adapt to barriers and constraints in a flexible and uncoordinated fashion in the pursuit of profit. Simple top-down approaches generally won't work against such adapatation, the only real solution is for workers to organize and demand concessions. I think also the criticism of sweatshops most people have made in this thread aren't so much that they aren't better than rural life (they are), its that they're unnecessary and workers could have even better conditions if factory owners weren't drawing off profit. This is why people suggest co-operatives and unions as solutions, and I'd be very interested to learn more about how progressives can help establish these kinds of organizations more quickly in the developing world. Are there any specific organizations that try to do this, in China specifically? Nocturtle fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Feb 21, 2012 |
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Feb 21, 2012 01:48
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Sorry double post
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Feb 21, 2012 02:05
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I don't think this excellent thread should become a theoretical discussion on whether sweatshop labour in general is absolutely necessary in developing countries. I do however disagree that labour organization is impossible in a developing economy, I would say its almost necessary as a means to increase domestic consumption which I believe is one of the things China specifically needs to ensure long term stability in its economy and political system. I have to admit I'm very ignorant about the state of the chinese labour movement and its relationship to the theoretically socialist government, and would appreciate more informed viewpoints. To what extent does the state nurture or repress labour movements, and is this attitude the same across all levels of government? Do international non-corporate organizations play any role at all?
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Feb 21, 2012 03:37
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