Global business

Martin Shupack

In Indonesia, where many of these shoes are made, each pair costs only $5.60 to produce. The girls and women who sew them earn about 15 cents an hour and often work 13-hour days in health-endangering conditions. They commonly endure sexual harassment and other abuse by management.

These conditions are replicated in factories throughout the global "South" that are producing brand-name consumer goods for the North American market. More profits for corporate shareholders, higher executive salaries and occasional bargains for our family come about in part because of this poor treatment of workers desperate for employment.

Can anything be done, given multinational corporations' incredible power? Promoting codes of conduct for these businesses is one visionary response. Spurred by grassroots advocacy efforts, several major retailers have already adopted such codes. Enforcement procedures, however, are as yet undeveloped, and independent monitoring is needed. North American government legislation may also help.

But what about my own responsibility? Maybe I could show my kids pictures of children who make shoes, working long hours for pennies instead of attending school. We could then discuss the possible implications for us. At the very least, we could shift more of our buying to retailers who adhere to codes of conduct. We could buy more from alternative trade groups, such as Ten Thousand Villages, committed to paying producers a just wage and fostering healthful working conditions.

"Look!" says the Apostle James. "The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty" (James 5:4). If God is concerned about fair wages and decent working conditions, shouldn't we be?

Martin Shupack works in the Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office.

Return to the M.B.Herald Vol. 36, No. 1 Home Page