From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec
From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec
3 POVERTY AND WEALTH THE CHANGING WORLD OF WORKcountries, setting national and provincial governments to bid againsteach other, so reducing the gains from investment for them all.Cheap labour may produce a short-term boost to a company’sprofits, but it is a poor development strategy. Since jobs are the keysource of income for poor people, low wages drive up inequality andundermine social cohesion; underpaid workers consume less, and soreduce the domestic market for goods and services that is vital formany firms. Impoverished families are unable to spend as much onhealth and education, undermining the prospects and productivity offuture generations. In addition, an economy whose competitive edgederives from low wages is always vulnerable to competition from evenlower-wage rivals entering the same markets.In sectors such as food, clothing, and electronics, global supplychains are driving the push for flexible labour practices. Retail giantshave responded to cut-throat competition by pushing risks and costsdown the supply chain, as shown in Figure 3.3, and evading theircorporate social responsibility.Oxfam’s study of 11 garment factories in Tangiers found evidenceof the pressure on suppliers. Together the factories employ more than6,500 women, producing shirts, trousers, dresses, skirts, and children’sclothing for several of the largest Spanish retailers. All the factoriesreported falling prices, on average around 30 per cent over three years.‘Prices fall every year … a pair of trousers worth €3.30 ($3.90) threeyears ago is now worth €2 ($2.40),’ said one factory manager. ‘Theyalways want higher-quality garments, the price goes down due tocompetition, and you’re in no position to argue.’ In the previous threeyears, lead times had fallen from 14 days to five or seven days, someof the shortest in the industry. 117At the sharp end of this frantic drive for cost-cutting are the weakestactors in the supply chain – casual workers. Employees interviewed inBangladesh’s proliferating garment factories work a seven-day week,often putting in 15 hours a day or more. In a busy month, workerscarry on through the night before snatching a couple of hours’ sleepon the factory floor. If a worker puts in over 100 hours overtime amonth on top of her normal 63-hour week, she gets a bonus, whichbrings her monthly earnings to barely $60. 118157
FROM POVERTY TO POWERA similar situation applies on export farms. According to oneSouth African apple farmer, ‘We employ people as we need them, butyou need to break their expectation of having a permanent position,so you hire for two to three weeks and then you let them off for a fewweeks, and then you hire them again.’ 119TRADE UNIONS CHALLENGEDIn the filthy casualty ward of a Bangladeshi hospital, two doctors arebent over a prone figure in the light of a single bulb. The woman on thebed is Minara, a sewing machine operator at one of Bangladesh’s 2,700garment factories, whose workers have just joined a Bangladeshigarment workers’ union. She was rushed to hospital an hour ago withdeep cuts to her neck, face, and hands after a razor attack by twomastaans, thugs hired by the factory owner. Her sister is semi-hysterical,weeping that Minara will now be scarred, and will be thrown out byher husband. 120Once the standard recourse for workers in their struggle to claimtheir rights, trade unions have suffered serious setbacks since the 1980s.Approximately 90 per cent of the world labour force is unorganised,and union membership is declining in direct proportion to thegrowth of the informal economy. 121 Unions have struggled to reachout to people working within homes, or unprotected by contracts.Workers in the informal economy are not united by the same type ofjob, or even the same employer. They are determined to hang on toeven meagre jobs, and may not share common interests with formallyemployed workers.Even in the formal economy, the task of trade unions has beenmade a good deal harder by changes to labour legislation in recentdecades, including the ban on union organisation in many exportprocessingzones. Worker organisations continue to face repressionand violence; union leaders around the world confront harassment,rape, and death. Two countries in every five have serious or severerestrictions on the core right to freedom of association. 122Within trade unions, the view among many male workers thatwomen are temporary, secondary, or less valuable workers, ‘helpingout’ their male partners, has hampered the ability of unions to158
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FROM POVERTY TO POWERA similar situation applies on export farms. According <strong>to</strong> oneSouth African apple farmer, ‘We employ people as we need them, butyou need <strong>to</strong> break their expectation of having a permanent position,so you hire for two <strong>to</strong> three weeks and then you let them off for a fewweeks, and then you hire them again.’ 119TRADE UNIONS CHALLENGEDIn the filthy casualty ward of a Bangladeshi hospital, two doc<strong>to</strong>rs arebent over a prone figure in the light of a single bulb. The woman on thebed is Minara, a sewing machine opera<strong>to</strong>r at one of Bangladesh’s 2,700garment fac<strong>to</strong>ries, whose workers have just joined a Bangladeshigarment workers’ union. She was rushed <strong>to</strong> hospital an hour ago withdeep cuts <strong>to</strong> her neck, face, and hands after a razor attack by twomastaans, thugs hired by the fac<strong>to</strong>ry owner. Her sister is semi-hysterical,weeping that Minara will now be scarred, and will be thrown out byher husband. 120Once the standard recourse for workers in their struggle <strong>to</strong> claimtheir rights, trade unions have suffered serious setbacks since the 1980s.Approximately 90 per cent of the world labour force is unorganised,and union membership is declining in direct proportion <strong>to</strong> thegrowth of the informal economy. 121 Unions have struggled <strong>to</strong> reachout <strong>to</strong> people working within homes, or unprotected by contracts.Workers in the informal economy are not united by the same type ofjob, or even the same employer. They are determined <strong>to</strong> hang on <strong>to</strong>even meagre jobs, and may not share common interests with formallyemployed workers.Even in the formal economy, the task of trade unions has beenmade a good deal harder by changes <strong>to</strong> labour legislation in recentdecades, including the ban on union organisation in many exportprocessingzones. Worker organisations continue <strong>to</strong> face repressionand violence; union leaders around the world confront harassment,rape, and death. Two countries in every five have serious or severerestrictions on the core right <strong>to</strong> freedom of association. 122Within trade unions, the view among many male workers thatwomen are temporary, secondary, or less valuable workers, ‘helpingout’ their male partners, has hampered the ability of unions <strong>to</strong>158