Name: Ayush Aggarwal

Roll No. 2014141

Section C, PGP1

Q. Low cost, by producing in third world, is a case of modern slavery.' Do you agree with this
statement? Substantiate your answer with examples/illustrations
A. It all started with making life of people easier by inventing new technology and providing
easy solutions to customers be it automobiles, mobile phones, washing machines, calculators,
airplanes, and so on. Firms benefitted by producing them as they were desirable in the market.
Population increased, and so did the desires and needs. The desire was for owning luxury
products and the need was food-which forced unconditional labor for earnings. This was the
factor which big guns exploited without even thinking the negative cascading effect it had on
humanity. The aim shifted from making human life easy to pooling more and more money. The
rich became more rich and the poor, poorer. This can be well substantiate by the Gini Coefficient
which has shot up in the past decades - South Africa, being one of the major contributor to this
inequality with a Gini Coefficient of .7. Companies start competing with each other in a useless
race to become no. 1 not only for money, but for status also. When the human resources fell
short or less profitable, the companies started eyeing other countries for cheap labor, during
which course, they even didnt realize what atrocities the humans had to face for meeting the
targets.
We all desire an iPhone but we dont really care about the workforce behind it- whether it is
made by a child or a disabled person. No one bothers about the conditions in which they work
which consists of inhaling cancerous vapors for hours every week. And this is the reason the
company is so much profitable. Apple manufacture Foxconn is one of a hell on earth. Plant
conditions are so much harsh that anti suicide nets had to be installed beneath the windows after
17 people died due to the horrific schedule they had to go through all day. The living quarters
were like tiny dorms in a huge beehive type factory, each crammed with crappy bunk beds.
Exhausting hours, humiliating discipline, unreasonable workloads, and pressure to reduce
overtime resulting in lower paychecks are just some of the crappy conditions faced by thousands
of Foxconn employees on daily basis. The controversy, which began in 2006 is still happening
today. While Apple has made efforts to branch out and use some different manufacturers to
produce their products, unethical Foxconn is still their go-to company.
Next comes the behemoth company Walmart, accused time and again of being evil. Labor
Unions, community groups, religious organizations, environmental groups and Walmart
customers, all hate the way it does business. First there is the issue of predatory store placement.
When WalMart enters a new town, its almost guaranteed to eradicate all of the small businesses
in the surrounding areas. How can small shops compete against WalMarts absurdly wide
selection and ridiculously low prices? Lets not forget the public outcry and outrage

surrounding the poor treatment of WalMarts employees. Theyve been notorious for providing
wages so poor that full timers still have to reply on food stamps and welfare just to get by. And
working conditions, as described by many of these harrowing first-hand accounts here, paint a
disgusting image of non-investigated sexual harassment in the work place, denied sick leave, and
reduced working hours and a vehement opposition toward anyone who wanted to work in a
union. In response to the outcries of employee horror stories, megalomaniac WalMart simply
requested that employees send in happier stories instead. A pretty creepy and cold response from
a company responsible for the well-being of thousands of employees.
Famous brands like Nike, Coca Cola are also not far in this exploitation race. In some respect it
is a cycle of competition driving each other to such measures to keep up and to maximize profits.
Nike, for example use cheap labor in South East Asia, where they can get away from the tighter
enforcement and regulations of USA and Europe. In fact, they have been exposed for using child
labor, as well. Coca Cola for e.g., have been accused of intimidating workers around the world,
even hiring (often indirectly, through intermediaries) paramilitaries to intimidate.
The apparel industry has often been strongly criticized for the use of sweat shop-like
conditions in its East Asian factories. In May 1998, for example, a panel of experts on
international law condemned the violation of workers rights in the garments and sportswear
industries; twelve witnesses from ten developing countries had testified on actual working
conditions in the industry, pointing out seven leading transnationals: sportswear
manufacturers Nike and Addidas, clothing traders H&M, Levi Strauss, C&A and Walt Disney,
and the worlds biggest mail order company, Otto-Verstand.
Harsh labor conditions in the toy industry for people in third world countries such as Chinahave
also led to much criticism, showing hidden costs to popular toys such as those based on Harry
Potter, Star Wars, Pokemon, Barbie, etc.
It is interesting to note that while globalization has led to the opening up of borders for increased
trade the same is not true for people. Yet, people all over the world seem be losing their national
identity due to the current model of globalization. The introduction of flexibility, while good
for businesses, can hurt workers, as the International Labor Organization (ILO) has shown.
The famous McLibel action against McDonalds came about because of various abuses of its
power and threats of legal action for any criticism about them. While individuals have tried to
present some facts about various aspects of the way McDonalds do business, some media
companies have been prevented them doing so. These media corporations themselves are worried
about publishing and broadcasting certain information that could lead to threats of legal action
and other forms of corporate punishment even when the claims are fair and justified.
Hence, with globalization of capitalism, there is no stop to exploitation. People in the developing
countries are forced to modernize; they are economically forced to work in such factories, so
really they don't have options. Every exploitative relationship begins with initial inequality and
that is what capitalism is about, rich exploiting poor. All this can only be curbed by propagating
and self-following ethical practices and start asking questions about the source of production!