This article focusses on the inhuman labor conditions in the nike factories. The trend setting brand is recognised world wide and is one of the most successful companies for athletic wear. In order to produce so many products to fulfil the demand they have various factories located world wide, mostly in China, Indonesia and Vietnam since there is such cheap labor. Since the workers there are in urgent need of work they will submit to terrible working conditions, like being exposed to chemicals, sexual, physical and verbal abuse from superiors, unhealthy and unsafe working conditions. Since they are so needy of the little income they get from this job, they cannot speak up for themselves and their rights and tolerate the abuse. Children have also been seen working in these factories, therefor it is considered child labor. nike has set high standards for itself since it is a leading company and is supposed to set high standards, so this behaviour is very disappointing.
I can relate this article to both topics seen in class so far, the invisible hand and the industry revolution. These two are sort of connected since they both form part of the concept of an economy. The nike sweatshop crisis relates to the industrial revolution since the workers are working for a low wage and are making products in mass quantities, it also shows how the workers are mostly low class that have no employment and are needy of that income. Child labor was also a hey role in the industrial revolution, and it can still be seen now a days since this revolution is basically the reason that we are so modernised now a days.
It relates to the invisible hand basically in the sense of supply and demand. Since there is high demand for the Nike products the company is forced to create a large supply. The company benefits from the cheapest labour possible, and the quality in nike products is generally good, at least in my experience. So when the company was paying the workers less then the minimum wage and gaining a huge profit out of the finished product the invisible hand punished the company, through manifestations and the media people began to boycott Nike and its sweatshop products, therefore Nike saw itself forced to change the working conditions in those factories. When nike increased the wages and started to improve the working conditions the clients stopped to boycott Nike and it returned to its normality, obviously with the constant observations of the authorities. In conclusion we can say that the industrial revolution is still partly present now a days, and the invisible hand is constantly monitoring the companies to make sure that all of the people benefit from the free economy.
Nicole,
ReplyDeleteThis is a thoughtful response. Unfortunately there are many companies that do these types of things and treat their workers poorly. Seeing that the Invisible Hand is really consumer demand, it seems as though people could punish Nike and other companies for mistreating workers. This would required some organization so what steps must be done to get the Invisible Hand to punish these companies?