Yes, I agree. The rights of the worker are important.
But we’re back to square one – its up to the governments of these countries to protect its people, not Nike or Gap.
Governmental failure is the main reason for all the problems. Let me give you a real world example:
A copper mine is privatised in Zambia. It spent 20 years loosing money under Government ownership, because the state took cash out of the business and didn’t invest any back.
Anyway, said mine is now in private hands. The new owners mine the copper in the form of “crushed” ore, that is lots of small boulders. It needs to be concentrated (finely crushed) as the next step in the process. So the boulders are loaded into lorries and driven about 20 miles to a concentrator owned by another company. The mine does have a private railway line, but all the locos are broken (they were broken when the new company bought the mine and they haven’t fixed them yet). Every four or five miles on the road, though, there are armed police roadblocks. Around the time of the month the police get paid, the roadblocks expand in number. They stop the lorries and fabricate reasons for fines to be paid. The sort of “oh look, your rear offside indicator lamp is broken” accompanied by the sound of a boot smashing the lamp.
At least, that happened at first. Now, they just ask for cash outright.
So….privately owned, Western managed company ends up paying hundred of thousands of $’s a year in bribes to the police, otherwise they would suffer big production losses. A bright manager from the UK decides to buy the police a few portakabins, well outfitted, as a “gift”. They provide shelter from sun and rain and are well received. So the bribe payouts are less now; the police even wave through the white managers and their families, because they know what side their bread is buttered.
So…government can’t afford to pay policemen, so they get money in other ways. Same bankrupt government thinks nothing of ministers mysteriously having millions, or Presidents flying around on a Gulfstream V. Do you still blame the Western companies for all these problems?
Sign In
