LABOR RIGHTS IN THE NEW GLOBAL MARKETPLACE

“Globalization is a process through which finance, investment, production, and marketing are increasingly dominated by agents whose vision and actions are not confined by national borders or national interests.”  While trade is becoming more “free,” labor unions are still restricted from organizing in most countries. 

In its 1944 Declaration of Philadelphia, the International Labor Organization (ILO) stated that, “poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere.”  This statement was intended to show that poverty does not occur by accident, but rather is “structurally related to the economic and social systems function.”  Structural changes are reflected in the migrations of people from rural to urban areas in third world countries that are pressured to open their markets to western companies, in unemployment and underemployment, and informal sector labor absorption.  Changes in the world economy as companies seek to reduce their costs in the face of global competition, also often means a decline in the number of high wage jobs and employment security.

One of the most conspicuous patterns caused by globalization is the threat to worker rights and growing incidences of poverty.  Today, addressing poverty is a one-world problem.  This poses a particular challenge to those seeking to confront the process of globalization and its impact on the labor rights of women and life opportunities for all people.

Worldwide, women account for 36% of the paid labor force.  Female-headed households with children to support are disproportionately represented among the poor and in the informal sector.

Women are increasingly tied together as producers and consumers of products and services in an interwoven process called the “global assembly line.”  And, structural adjustment programs – economic policies that international financial institutions such as the World Bank force on developing countries, as a condition for new loans and better terms for repaying debt – force women and girls to increase their paid and unpaid work to help families survive.

In the United States and throughout the world, there are legions of subcontracted and informal workers whose lack of technical skills makes them vulnerable to poor health and permanent poverty.  There are more than 9 million full-time employees in the United States whose earnings are below the poverty level.  In addition, the average weekly pay for a Mexican working in a plant on the U.S.- Mexican boarder known as the Maquiladora, is $55.77. Yet, since 1980, corporate profits in general have increased by 270%.

In New York State, hourly wages for high school graduates fell by 16.5 percent for men between 1979 and 1995 and fell by 1.5 percent for women.  In 1995, many workers in New York and in other states across the country did not earn enough to lift a family of four out of poverty.  One-third of New York’s total workforce in 1994 earned less than $8.00 per hour, a wage that will not lift a family of four out of poverty.

Over the last 50 years, global per capita income has tripled, but income disparities have more than doubled.  The number of people living in poverty now exceeds 1.2 billion, or 1 in every 5 persons on earth, including 600 million children.  And, of the 250 million working children, 50 to 60 million work in hazardous conditions. 

Many labor unions have urged the World Trade Organization (WTO) governments to make binding labor rights part of their agreement which governs global trade.  This agreement adopted in 1994, controls trade in goods and services among 130 nation states and 30 “observers.”  This was the reason the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the United Steelworkers of America joined with consumer, environmental, religious, farm, food security, human rights advocates, and United Methodist Women to call for core labor and human rights standards during the 1999 WTO Ministerial Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

The AFL-CIO and United Methodist Women joined the JUBILEE 2000, April 9^th “DROP THE DEBT” rally, and the unions were present in Washington for the April 16^th Seattle East March to challenge the human costs of globalization.

TAKE ACTION FOR LABOR RIGHTS

Bread and Roses: Justice for Low Wage Workers

Bread and Roses, a film based on the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Justice for Janitors campaign, has recently opened in American movie theaters.  The film explores the struggles by janitors in Los Angeles to gain dignity on the job and wages to support their families. The movie, which depicts the hard-fought efforts by workers to get a voice on the job, includes footage from the 1990 police attack on demonstrators that left 60 janitors and their supporters injured.  Bread and Roses also spotlights the need for justice in the U. S. immigration system.  It has been documented that many immigrant workers do not receive fair pay or benefits and have to work under poor conditions.

ACTION: Organize a group and go see the movie Bread and Roses. Monitor legislation dealing with livable wages. Useful websites: http://www.breadandtheroses.org,  http://www.justiceforjanitors.org, http://www.aflcio.org, http://www.thomas.loc.gov

CHILD LABOR – The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that at least 250 million children worldwide between the ages of 5 and 14 work.  Half of them work fulltime and at least one-third of them perform dangerous work.  In other child labor news, the Nike Corporation just won’t do it!  According to the AFL-CIO, Nike has not lived up to its promises three years ago to improve working conditions at its shoemaking factories around the world.  A report by the human rights group, Global Exchange, indicates Nike workers are forced to work excessive hours in high-pressure work environments, receive low-pay wages, and are subject to harassment, dismissal, and violent intimidation if they try to form unions.

ACTION: Urge Nike officials to keep their promises. Go to: http://www.globalexchange.org/economy/corporations