"Globally, the race to the bottom is gathering momentum. U.S. corporations export jobs to Mexico to cash in on cheap labor. In no time at all, though, tens of thousands of Mexicans lose their jobs to Asians who will sweat for less."
By SHERWOOD ROSS
So who is surprised construction workers are treated worse than dogs in the United Arab Emirates?
Who is surprised to find migrant workers from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh building skyscrapers for just 10% of the average UAE wage of $2,106 per month?
Who is surprised to read a Human Rights Watch(HRW) report showing employers' illegally holding back wages for months, withholding passports as "security" so workers can't quit, and allowing recruiters charge shyster fees?
Who is surprised a 1980 UAE minimum wage law has never been enforced?
Who is surprised HRW found "there is no public record of a single case where it (the government) has penalized an employer with fines or imprisonment for failing to pay wages, or any other breaches of the labor law?"
Who is surprised the bodies of 880 construction workers from the Indian sub-continent nations cited above were shipped home in caskets in 2004 alone? (That's a death rate comparable to annual U.S. troop losses in Iraq.)
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"In economic life there is extreme inequality and exploitation. Although colonialism no longer exists openly in the political and economic sphere, still it persists indirectly, and this should not be tolerated... In this respect you should remember that in economic life, we will have to guarantee the minimum requirements of life to one and all... There cannot be any sort of adjustment as far as this point is concerned. The minimum purchasing requirement must be guaranteed to all. Today these fundamental essentialities are not being guaranteed. Rather, people are being guided by deceptive economic ideas like outdated Marxism, which has proven ineffective in practical life and has not been successfully implemented in any corner of the world. Why do people still believe in such a theory, which has never been proved successful? The time has come for people to make a proper assessment of whether they are being misguided or not." |
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"Human beings have still not been able to form a human society, and have still not learned to move with the spirit of a pilgrim. Although many small groups, motivated by self-interest, work together in particular situations, not even a small fraction of their work is done with a broader social motive. By strict definition, shall we have to declare that each small family unit is a society in itself? If going ahead in mutual adjustment only out of narrow self-interest or momentary self-seeking is called society, then in such a society, no provision can be made for the disabled, the diseased or the helpless, because in most cases nobody can benefit from them in any way... in that case there always remains the possibility of some people getting isolated from the collective. All human beings must attach themselves to others by the common bond of love and march forward hand in hand; then only will I proclaim it a society." |