This year in Greenville, Mich., Electrolux announced it was moving its factory, which employs 2,700 people, to Mexico. In Mexico, they could pay workers a 10th of the wages they paid Michiganians.
This is not a new phenomenon. It's pure capitalism - produce the largest amount of goods for the lowest prices. While capitalism is great, it's hard for Americans to turn a blind eye to the lost American manufacturing jobs and the human-rights violations that big business enjoys in developing countries.
Wal-Mart is another example of a corporation plagued with human-rights issues this year. With sales of more than $245 billion a year, the largest retailer in the United States should be responsible their suppliers' factories in China, which, if located in the United States, clearly would be in violation of human rights.
More than 80 percent of the 6,000 Wal-Mart suppliers are located in China. In a nation with millions of surplus workers, a sign on the factory wall reads: "If you don't work hard today, tomorrow you'll have to try hard to look for a job."
This transfer of factory jobs to China is particularly troubling when looking at the U.S. unemployment rate, which continues to stay uncomfortably high. But even more troubling is that corporations are leaving the United States in order to get away from those pesky labor laws that give workers breaks, minimum wage and workers' compensation.
To curb unfair business practices, American labor laws should dictate the actions of corporations that choose to manufacture overseas. If Wal-Mart had to adhere to U.S. labor laws in China, it might not be able to get away with paying workers only $120 a month and subjecting them to unsafe conditions.
This could help the United States retain blue-collar jobs and promote the global human rights that seem to have fallen by the wayside.
Free-market capitalism lends itself to corporations leaving for cheap labor overseas - it's simply part of American business. On the same token, corporations must keep their heads in the game and realize subjecting their workers to conditions below those in the United States is unacceptable.
