My heart tells me it's too bad that some people's work conditions are poor relative to mine.
My brain tells me that since 99.99% of them aren't in fact forced to work where they work but actually chose that over other, even harsher options, and that since "not doing business with companies or countries that treat their workers poorly" means the "sweatshops" shut down and the people you feel sorry for making 25 cents a day have to go back to making 10 cents a day in the fields, and that since in every historical example each generation's working conditions improve, doing nothing is better than doing anything that has been suggested.
Thoughts?
2007-03-27 10:35:31 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
What is this "we can't compete" stuff? We're talking about sorting, sewing, assembly - - given that in this country you're given free education through 12th grade, if a barefoot peasant in Vietnam can do your job is it really the government's fault that you're not succeeding?
2007-03-27 10:52:33 · update #1
We have the working conditions we have because the workforce is more educated, more skilled.
This is why white collar workplaces give vacation time and weekends off even though there's no law requiring that.
OMG how stupid can some people be?
2007-03-27 12:05:37 · update #2
Cheap labor outsourcing good for the country!
2007-03-27 10:39:21 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
That statement dishonors our history; people fought, struggled, and died so that we in America could have a decent life. I'm not talking about a war. I'm talking about people who changed their miserable existence into something worth living through changes in the laws and protections for workers. It is never alright for people to be treated like animals so somebody can get rich a bit faster.
Are you saying we should give up those benefits that we gained? Then we will be just as poor as the places that are now doing the work that Americans used to do.
No free trade agreement should be entered into without stipulations concerning the worker's pay, working conditions, and the environment. Otherwise, we have cursed our country and others as well. That is literally spitting on the world as far as I'm concerned.
2007-03-27 11:24:50 · answer #2 · answered by BekindtoAnimals22 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My thoughts are that in the US, it is an OSHA violation. But that the countries we are trading with have no such qualms against violating their labor laws.
And this fact disturbs me (not so much for the humanitarian issues, I'm ashamed to admit) because we cannot compete, and we are hurting our own nation.
We need to keep these labor laws in mind when we are talking about environmental treaties with these same nations, btw.
And I also agree that those poor little children are feeding their families.
2007-03-27 10:45:11 · answer #3 · answered by Shrink 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Those sweatshops and the conditions under which those people work are what makes the workers risk their lives and head for the U.S.
2007-03-27 11:40:27 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sweat shops are virtually non existant in todays economy.
Today the worker has more legal options than ever before.
2007-03-27 10:42:28 · answer #5 · answered by infobrokernate 6 · 0⤊ 4⤋