Kurai Tsuki
21st March 2004, 02:32
(This was written as an essay for an English Composition class and later edited slightly for this my website and then later posted here)
The extent to which today’s American companies are concerned with the idea of advertising and forming a positive image for their brand has been such that most of them have little or no concern with the actual production process, and the conditions in which their products are made. This shift in priorities has made large companies like Nike, Gap and Intel willing to contract their production to Export Processing Zones, in which the labour force is subjected to long working hours, short and monitored breaks, and receive pay which does not even meet the minimum wage of their own country.
The reason why so much wrongdoing is allowed to take place within Export Processing Zones is that these EPZ’s are not technically the property of their host countries, and so the labour standards that might apply to the country would not apply within the EPZ’s. For example, the nation’s minimum wage is seen as a loose guideline rather than a requirement. The companies that contract their labour to these zones are also never made to answer for the conditions of the production; because they do not own the property in which their products are produced, they are simply not responsible for them.
The absence of a minimum wage and of basic labour ethics has gone into making Export Processing Zones very exploitive and abusive places. Supervisors are notoriously strict and abusive, and can sexually harass members of the largely female workforce without fear of consequences for their actions. During the time of work, anything that is not work related is discouraged. For example, a sign might be posted in the workplace of the buildings, “most talkative workers;” this is done in an attempt to embarrass employees into working more efficiently. Breaks from work are short and supervised, so much that some workers have taken to keeping plastic bags under their work spaces in which to urinate. Regarding the presence of the contracting companies within these EPZ’s, many different firms will contract their production to a single EPZ, a different building will be devoted to each company, but little indication is given to which company is having it’s products made inside the zone. As the writer Canadian Naomi Klein noted in her book, No Logo, an EPZ is, “the only place in the world where corporations keep a low profile.” Finished products are cast aside until they can be sent to the company that ordered them produced, often sitting in large piles that form hills. The host countries also give favors to the companies that contract labour to EPZ‘s. A tax-free period of a few years might be given so that that when the in the future the company will be will established in the area and begin paying taxes and generating income for the nation. But after the period of tax exemption ends, most companies will leave that particular nation and move their production to a similar country offering similar favors. Other favors offered by the country to the company include special living conditions for the international investors which are set up near the EPZ, like international schools; this is done so the representatives of the companies can have their families live in the area for an extended period.
How workers of Export Processing Zones come upon their jobs and what they must do to keep them is also very questionable. Recruiters are sent by the Zones into small towns in the host country to try to lure young people to work for them; much like military recruiters in the United States. Workers are hired on a monthly basis, and measures are taken to be sure that they do not have any attachments. In the Mexico, for example, women in the Zones must bring in sanitary pads monthly to prove that they are not pregnant.
But if the working conditions in the EPZ’s and the pay received by the employees is so notoriously unsatisfactory, then why would anyone want to work in them? Or better yet, what justification could a country possibly have for hosting one of these zones within its own borders. Nobody would have thought that when colonialism ended, these regions would simply be aiding the Western economy in a different way. The question of EPZ hosting is part of a much larger subject matter that would take an entirely different essay to discuss. But I still would like to note the effects of the WTO and IMF on that choice. The World Trade Organization claims to promote the free flow of goods and services between nations, in theory, but in practice it seems to make the flow of goods and services from the United States into Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia easy while America prevents the flow of products from these countries into it, and so money is being extracted but never injected into their economies. The International Monetary Fund exists to lend money to countries who need funding, but when a country takes a loan it usually has to make an agreement, like decreasing public spending. This takes away money that the government would have invested in its economy. The loss of income from the countries’ industries caused by lack of consumption by their own citizens, much less citizens abroad, and the decreased aid by the government for the economy creates a situation where there is little choice but to find new means of obtaining income and employment for the country’s people. But hosting an EPZ can make a country’s economy worse, because it would be lending it’s own people to the production of goods and services of another country, and so more money is withdrawn from the economy.
The Western firms are also generally free of having this production method exposed to the mainstream; the companies that contract their labour to EPZ’s are generally the same ones that sponsor the news. And even when exposure does occur, the firm’s customers usually aren’t bothered by the fact. Because of their ignorance to the effect of the IMF and WTO they might even think that these countries are being done a favor by having jobs provided to their people.
For the companies which contract their labour to these EPZ’s, the act is simply a way of adapting to the new economy, in which so much emphasis is placed on building a, “brand essence,” that they simply cannot be bothered to notice the conditions in which their goods are produced.
The extent to which today’s American companies are concerned with the idea of advertising and forming a positive image for their brand has been such that most of them have little or no concern with the actual production process, and the conditions in which their products are made. This shift in priorities has made large companies like Nike, Gap and Intel willing to contract their production to Export Processing Zones, in which the labour force is subjected to long working hours, short and monitored breaks, and receive pay which does not even meet the minimum wage of their own country.
The reason why so much wrongdoing is allowed to take place within Export Processing Zones is that these EPZ’s are not technically the property of their host countries, and so the labour standards that might apply to the country would not apply within the EPZ’s. For example, the nation’s minimum wage is seen as a loose guideline rather than a requirement. The companies that contract their labour to these zones are also never made to answer for the conditions of the production; because they do not own the property in which their products are produced, they are simply not responsible for them.
The absence of a minimum wage and of basic labour ethics has gone into making Export Processing Zones very exploitive and abusive places. Supervisors are notoriously strict and abusive, and can sexually harass members of the largely female workforce without fear of consequences for their actions. During the time of work, anything that is not work related is discouraged. For example, a sign might be posted in the workplace of the buildings, “most talkative workers;” this is done in an attempt to embarrass employees into working more efficiently. Breaks from work are short and supervised, so much that some workers have taken to keeping plastic bags under their work spaces in which to urinate. Regarding the presence of the contracting companies within these EPZ’s, many different firms will contract their production to a single EPZ, a different building will be devoted to each company, but little indication is given to which company is having it’s products made inside the zone. As the writer Canadian Naomi Klein noted in her book, No Logo, an EPZ is, “the only place in the world where corporations keep a low profile.” Finished products are cast aside until they can be sent to the company that ordered them produced, often sitting in large piles that form hills. The host countries also give favors to the companies that contract labour to EPZ‘s. A tax-free period of a few years might be given so that that when the in the future the company will be will established in the area and begin paying taxes and generating income for the nation. But after the period of tax exemption ends, most companies will leave that particular nation and move their production to a similar country offering similar favors. Other favors offered by the country to the company include special living conditions for the international investors which are set up near the EPZ, like international schools; this is done so the representatives of the companies can have their families live in the area for an extended period.
How workers of Export Processing Zones come upon their jobs and what they must do to keep them is also very questionable. Recruiters are sent by the Zones into small towns in the host country to try to lure young people to work for them; much like military recruiters in the United States. Workers are hired on a monthly basis, and measures are taken to be sure that they do not have any attachments. In the Mexico, for example, women in the Zones must bring in sanitary pads monthly to prove that they are not pregnant.
But if the working conditions in the EPZ’s and the pay received by the employees is so notoriously unsatisfactory, then why would anyone want to work in them? Or better yet, what justification could a country possibly have for hosting one of these zones within its own borders. Nobody would have thought that when colonialism ended, these regions would simply be aiding the Western economy in a different way. The question of EPZ hosting is part of a much larger subject matter that would take an entirely different essay to discuss. But I still would like to note the effects of the WTO and IMF on that choice. The World Trade Organization claims to promote the free flow of goods and services between nations, in theory, but in practice it seems to make the flow of goods and services from the United States into Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia easy while America prevents the flow of products from these countries into it, and so money is being extracted but never injected into their economies. The International Monetary Fund exists to lend money to countries who need funding, but when a country takes a loan it usually has to make an agreement, like decreasing public spending. This takes away money that the government would have invested in its economy. The loss of income from the countries’ industries caused by lack of consumption by their own citizens, much less citizens abroad, and the decreased aid by the government for the economy creates a situation where there is little choice but to find new means of obtaining income and employment for the country’s people. But hosting an EPZ can make a country’s economy worse, because it would be lending it’s own people to the production of goods and services of another country, and so more money is withdrawn from the economy.
The Western firms are also generally free of having this production method exposed to the mainstream; the companies that contract their labour to EPZ’s are generally the same ones that sponsor the news. And even when exposure does occur, the firm’s customers usually aren’t bothered by the fact. Because of their ignorance to the effect of the IMF and WTO they might even think that these countries are being done a favor by having jobs provided to their people.
For the companies which contract their labour to these EPZ’s, the act is simply a way of adapting to the new economy, in which so much emphasis is placed on building a, “brand essence,” that they simply cannot be bothered to notice the conditions in which their goods are produced.