COLUMN: No excuse for putting business above people
I realized some people don’t see things the way I do for the first time yesterday.
To be honest, I couldn’t be more heartbroken.
Every Monday and Wednesday I go to SOC: 101: Social Justice in a Global Society. The last two class periods we discussed our notes on the book "Threads" by Jane L. Collins.
"Threads" discusses the global apparel industry, shipping jobs overseas and the conditions workers face in factories.
It wasn’t news to me that the world is not perfect, but some of the figures really put it in perspective.
Billion-dollar corporations are hiring workers for as little as 50 cents per hour, not because they can’t afford to pay more, but to make the largest profit.
These businesses have workers on their feet for extremely long hours in poorly lit and poorly ventilated buildings, but they do not bother changing anything.
The list of travesties goes on, but I’m not here for a book report. The real shock came from some of my classmates' reactions.
The excuses and logic thrown around to justify the conditions baffled me.
Some students argued it was “just business.” Corporations are just trying to get ahead.
I see something truly wrong with that thinking. It’s not just business. It’s people’s lives. A company staying afloat is one thing, but making a couple hundred million more dollars at the expense of its employees is just wrong.
Another student argued we did not need to pay these workers as much because the standard of living is different.
"We live in houses while some of these workers remain in make-shift huts," she said. "They don't need as much to survive."
Well, maybe they wouldn’t still be in huts if they made enough to live in a modern home and still afford food. Most of them don’t have that choice because of their income.
The final argument to leave me dumbfounded was that we were doing them a favor by providing any jobs at all, despite terrible conditions and unfair pay.
Seriously? That’s like saying you are glad someone kicked you in the shins instead of punching you in the face. You should just be grateful? I don’t think so.
At the end of it all I am left wondering how we got here. How are we even able to come up with these justifications?
What happened to empathy, compassion and putting people first?
I’m not claiming my viewpoint is superior on all subjects and I’m always right. I’m not even saying I have answers to fix the problem at hand.
I’m just talking about caring for humanity and doing the right thing.
To me that should be very clear cut, no excuses.
