We can demand graduated improvements in working conditions, but must be willing to pay a few pennies more for the same goods and services, if not we would be contributing to those conditions to maximize the returns on our Dollar.
Texas Faith : Should Americans boycott sweatshops in places like Bangladesh?
| Dallas Morning News | Published on May 23, 2013
That’s the question many people are facing after a horrific fire in a Bangladesh sweatshop recently killed more than 1,100 workers. But it isn’t always an easy one to answer.
As
New York Times columnist
Nicholas Kristof explains in this link, workers in some underdeveloped nations see a sweatshop as preferable to conditions they otherwise might work in. Here’s how Kristof put it in a 2009 column:
“I’m glad that many Americans are repulsed by the idea of importing products made by barely paid, barely legal workers in dangerous factories. Yet sweatshops are only a symptom of poverty, not a cause, and banning them closes off one route out of poverty. At a time of tremendous economic distress and protectionist pressures, there’s a special danger that tighter labor standards will be used as an excuse to curb trade.”
In essence, sweatshop employees may be making a rational decision to work in places most Americans would not set foot in. The demand for their goods leads to
jobs that pay better than in other parts of a developing nation’s economy. And in better conditions, as hard as that might be to imagine
On the other hand, our demand for their goods is why sweatshops exist. And while those facilities may be better than others in a country, they also can be exploitative and even deadly.
I am also including a link to an interview that ran in
The Dallas Morning News Points section.
The Q&A is with Texas Tech professor Benjamin Powell, author of the forthcoming Sweatshops: Improving Lives and Economic Growth. He explains why he thinks Americans should not boycott sweatshops.
What do you think?
MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas, and Speaker on interfaith matters, diversity and pluralism
There is always a balance we need to seek, between the disgusting working conditions of the sweatshops, and the jobs they provide to those who need to sustain the basics of their families.
As an individual born and raised in India, I have seen utter poverty. It was humiliating to see people beg for food, just food, not the steak, and receive the left-overs to sustain themselves and their children. For nearly forty years, I gave up eating cake, as it reminded me of a kid who stretched his hand for it when I was eating. The looks on his face made me sad, very sad – he probably never had a piece of cake. I gave him what I had in my hand and did not eat another piece for a long time. However, it was a joy to see him share that piece with his brothers scrambling for food in the pile of trash at the corner of the street.
When I went to see the Taj Mahal, I saw what Nick Kristof saw. It was deeply troubling to see the conditions of the sweatshops there, particularly the child labor and the inhuman conditions they worked under to make a buck, the buck that puts food on their plate for the whole day.
My late wife and I decided to visit a famous restaurant to eat one of the Indian delicacies that we wanted to eat all our lives.. But what we saw on the way in turned us off and we chose to go back without eating. We endlessly debated about supporting a place where they did not treat their employees well, particularly the children, and denying them a buck and their livelihood.
We were glad to be Americans to have been blessed with the opportunities, and also glad to have the mindset to feel guilty for the living conditions of those who provide our goods and services.
As Americans, we can positively encourage competition by giving business to those sweat shops who treat their employees better, and who do not employ child labor and or offer education opportunities for the same children.
We can demand graduated improvements in working conditions, but must be willing to pay a few pennies more for the same goods and services, if not we would be contributing to those conditions to maximize the returns on our Dollar.
………..
To see all the other responses, at Dallas Morning News at:http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/2013/05/texas-faith-should-americans-boycott-sweatshops-in-places-like-bangladesh.html/
….Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel,India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. He believes in Standing up for others and has done that throughout his life as an activist. Mike has a presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News; fortnightly at Huffington post; and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes all his work through many links.
