Labor

A century ago, industrialists like Andrew Carnegie believed that Darwin’s theories justified an economy of vicious competition and inequality. They left us with an ideological legacy that says the corporate economy, in which wealth concentrates in the hands of a few, produces the best for humanity.

More than 300 garment factories are currently shut down in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as hundreds of thousands people — mostly women — take the the streets in the third day of sweeping protests for wage increases in the notoriously exploitative industry.

Recently fast-food workers have forced the issue of their low-paying jobs into the public spotlight with what has been called the largest strike by fast-food workers in US history. In the process of making demands for livable wages, fast-food strikers are challenging customers to consider the lives of the human beings behind the counters.

As Walmart shareholders continue to gorge on the mega-retailer’s stock, up 12 percent from the beginning of this year, the empire is experiencing a summer of discontent as a growing number of low-wage Walmart workers continue to fight a labor war that’s winning small yet significant victories.

In discussions among foreigners about working conditions and wages in the assembly industry, we often hear, "But Haitians need jobs. Wouldn't things be worse without them?" The question creates a false choice between no job and a grinding, exploitative job.

The most painful part of this tragedy is that it was completely preventable, but perhaps neither the government, nor Walmart and many others find the issue urgent enough for decisive action to spare poor people a horrible death.