Considering Liberty
Sweating for your Supper
Will Luther
Issue date: 1/31/08 Section: Opinion
In November, the National Labor Committee, a nongovernmental organization aimed at so-called workers' rights issues, released a report linking Christians to a Chinese sweatshop. According to their investigation, the Junxingye factory making crucifixes for the $4.63 billion Association for Christian Retail requires employees-mostly women and some as young as 15-to work 14+ hour days at a going rate of 26.5 cents an hour.
Workers are housed in primitive company dorms, receive meager meal rations and often go for months without a single day off. Additionally, constant contact with potentially toxic chemicals, paints and solvents results in skin and eye irritation for many workers. The NLC charges that such conditions are immoral. We have come to expect these standards from companies like Nike, but Christians?
While it is undeniable that working conditions in developing nations are much lower than those in America, we must also recognize that living conditions are significantly lower as well. It would be erroneous to judge working conditions in developing nations by the standard of living found among the developed. Yet this is precisely what many Americans do.
If these factories are so deplorable, why do so many individuals sign up to work? And why do they keep coming back, day after day? The answer is simple. They know that there is only one thing worse than having a factory job: not having a factory job. In developing nations, factory jobs usually pay higher wages and offer better working environments than alternative industries like agriculture.
The reality of life is that individuals often have to experience pain in order to survive. Don't get me wrong, I would love to live in a world without scarcity, but that is simply not the case. Fortunately, working increases productivity, as one becomes more efficient at tasks, and leads to higher wages in the future.
For many Americans, though, the solution is to stop buying goods made in sweatshops. Recall that this takes the choice to work under harsh conditions away from workers who, presumably, are willing to endure the pain. Without this choice, they are forced into their second best option.
Workers are housed in primitive company dorms, receive meager meal rations and often go for months without a single day off. Additionally, constant contact with potentially toxic chemicals, paints and solvents results in skin and eye irritation for many workers. The NLC charges that such conditions are immoral. We have come to expect these standards from companies like Nike, but Christians?
While it is undeniable that working conditions in developing nations are much lower than those in America, we must also recognize that living conditions are significantly lower as well. It would be erroneous to judge working conditions in developing nations by the standard of living found among the developed. Yet this is precisely what many Americans do.
If these factories are so deplorable, why do so many individuals sign up to work? And why do they keep coming back, day after day? The answer is simple. They know that there is only one thing worse than having a factory job: not having a factory job. In developing nations, factory jobs usually pay higher wages and offer better working environments than alternative industries like agriculture.
The reality of life is that individuals often have to experience pain in order to survive. Don't get me wrong, I would love to live in a world without scarcity, but that is simply not the case. Fortunately, working increases productivity, as one becomes more efficient at tasks, and leads to higher wages in the future.
For many Americans, though, the solution is to stop buying goods made in sweatshops. Recall that this takes the choice to work under harsh conditions away from workers who, presumably, are willing to endure the pain. Without this choice, they are forced into their second best option.
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