On December of 2009 in the international rights forum there was an article on how men have been hit hard by the economic crisis in Hong Kong. This means that their wives or the women of Hong Kong have to go out and look for jobs. Women are treated worse than men and they work harder and they get paid less. There is about twice as many women than men in Hong Kong and they work under the harshest conditions they get paid way less than the men. They also get discriminated against in various ways. They get fired if they become pregnant and if they try to file a complaint against being fired the company usually beat their case because the women can’t provide proof of being mistreated. When a women becomes pregnant and is working in a factory and she does not want to quit they usually push her to quit by giving her more hours and making her work in an unsafe environment were its too hot or the achiness that person is using are old and are about to break down somewhere she is more likely to become injured that way she could see that she has to quit or endanger her Childs live.
The ethical issue is the following are these conditions that the women are in considered to being in slavery conditions? Are they just normal work conditions that are approved by their country or by The United States? The problem that the U.S. has no say on what goes on in Hong Kong they work on their own problems with their own government. The Hong Kong government does not see anything wrong with this picture the women are there and their working and they are making them money that’s all they see. When the truth is that they are working like slaves they work extended hours at a pay that is less then minimum wage. They work in unsafe enviorments and they could be killed with the fumes that the factories let out. So is this slave work yes it is. Aristotle says that a person” is naturally a slave and a master is naturally a master.” He also says that it is only right to have slaves under certain conditions. He regards slaves as “living tools that produce something for their masters”. These women who are working in Hong Kong are what Aristotle calls “living tools”. There are living slaves.
This problem is not just found in Hong Kong its found all over In China in Mexico there is women who also work in harsh conditions and do not get paid well . The women in Mexico have to go to Juarez and work in horrible conditions and get paid not as much as the men for doing twice the labor. They also have to worry about being killed or abused or even kidnapped on the way home from work. These aren’t good working or living conditions. This happens in all industries in corporations as well. Take a company like Wal-Mart for example they employ hundreds of thousands of workers. These workers are not working under the best conditions either. Their vendors have to meet the requirements for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart puts their own prices on the things they buy if the vendor cannot meet with the Wal-Mart requirement they lose that business and millions of dollars. Wal-Mart is not the only company that does this. Every company that have globalized has done or are doing this. Would you say these people are slaves off course they are.
Refernces-http://www.laborrights.org/rights-for-working-women/news/12231-For Article
Wal-Mart-The High cost of Low Price-Movie
Aristotle Book one Ch3
I agree that big companies take advantage of people, especially women. All they care about is to get the products out to sell to others to make a profit. They do not care about the workers and they see them as being disposable and replaceable.
ReplyDeleteI would say that Aristotle would see the workers as being the company’s neighbors. The workers are what make the company and who help the company to survive. They are the driving force of the company because they are the ones who make the products. Following with Aristotle’s view, the companies should treat their employees with respect and not take advantage of them and offer certain rights and benefits to them. However, these companies only see one thing; money, something that Aristotle would greatly disapprove of. They put money on a higher pedestal than they do actual human beings.
Like you said, every company that is globalized is doing this every day and until there is a firm hand to oppose this, they will continue to do it and put money on the forefront of their minds.
I would say that it appears that on some level the women are considered slaves by way of poor working conditions and long hours. According to Aristotle they may be considered "living tools" but that justifies the end result...the product which is the bottom line for most businesses and the employee seem to always lose in the end. Businesses will argue that the people need money to live, we provide the work and it's a win,win situatuation for everyone.
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