Barbie Sweatshops

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Barbie Sweatshops (2005)

I think that multinational corporations like Mattel subcontract other companies to manufacture products for them in Third World nations because it means cheap labor. Since Third World nations are developing, they have people who need money. These people will work long hours in order to take care of themselves and their families, and the multinational corporations know that. Because they're in such great need for money, the corporations get away with paying them low amounts since it means more profit for them.

Workers' rights and protections are so weak in developing nations like Thailand because of the government. In Thailand, for example, although people are suffering from horrible health problems and terrible working conditions, the government doesn't want to act upon it because they're afraid they'd drive the multinational corporations away. The article states that "As a result , the country's gross domestic product would decline. Since the Thai economy and GDP benefited from these companies, unemployment would rise dramatically and there would be a massive relocation of jobs if the corporations were required to comply with government regulations that protected workers rights." The developing country needs a good economy so badly that its government doesn't care about how it happens; even if its own people are getting hurt in the process.

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