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IN ORDER TO ENTERTAIN "THE KING" THOU SHALT ARGUE WITH THINE COMRADES OVER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION, ADVANCE 12 SPACES AND TAKE THE SWORD:
Do tarrifs & trade restrictions based on low wages, no ability to unionize, sweatshops, etc.
A. hurt poor workers in undeveloped countries by "taking away jobs that are better than nothing"
or
B. help poor workers in developing countries by improving working conditions
or do they do both? If so, which happens more and which is worse/better? If you can provide links to relevant articles and essays then YOU WIN THE GAME AND ADVANCE 3000 EXPERIENCE POINTS TO LEVEL 12, with maximum 30,000 health and three new magic wands.
I'm a big fan of fair trade and always try to shop as ethically as possible. I do not see why my comfort and my choices as a consumer mean some people ( including kids) have to be exploited, working in unsafe conditions which reduce their lifespan. I as a consumer want the producers of my goods to be paid a fair living wage. Paying producers and workers more does not mean we will all have to suffer, it means multinationals will make less profits , yes but that's no bad thing as they would still make quite an obscene one, and we consumers can absorb a few more cents or even dollars for each pair of trainers.
It makes me sick that we close our eyes to the suffering of others. The free market is only free for the super rich. For the poor it is anything but and it must stop.
Exploitation is immoral and unethical and just plain wrong. People on the other side of the world have the right to work normal decent hours, in safe conditions, and be paid fairly for their hard labour. Pure and simple. There is no reason why we can't absorb the costs.
If people really opened their eyes they would see such horrors in the manufacturing world they would be appalled. I would like to believe that most of us would find it intolerable to buy certain products knowing how they had been produced. The buck stops here with the consumer . We have the ultimate power. Corporations have to listen to us and I am glad that the fair trade market is increasing rapidly due to consumer pressures. Much, much more is needed but it's a start.
I have nothing against people making profits, it is what business is about but obscene profit at the expense of the most vulnerable is nothing short of evil.
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