When the Jobs Inspector Calls: an Article Review - Essay Example

Business Article Review In the New York Times article, “When the jobs inspector calls,” the issue of global corporations and whether they take advantage of their workers is looked at. The first example that the article mentions is Apple; the company continues to go from strength-to-strength despite persistent allegations that Apple mistreats some of its workers at its Chinese suppliers. The success that Apple has achieved could mean that they do not need to take any of the mistreatment allegations seriously, but all the evidence points to the opposite.

Labor unions in the United States are already unhappy with corporations shipping out jobs to third world countries, so some of the global brands do not need to give these unions anymore ammunition. Companies such as Nike understand this, and they have already taken step to address these issue years ago. It is vitally important for global corporations to establish a code of conduct with their suppliers, because without their help, the brand would not be what it is today. However, just because a code of conduct is established between a firm and its suppliers does not mean that working conditions will improve.

There needs to be provisions to enforce the code and meter out penalties whenever it is breached. Despite this, there has been huge progress over the last few years in terms of improving workers’ conditions in the supply chain. Government needs to take a more active role in forcing large multinationals to follow the code of conduct that they prescribe for their suppliers. This article shows how important the supply chain is in the overall production process. This is especially vital whenever a supplier is located overseas in a country where standards may not be upheld on a regular basis.

Employee rights need to be respected no matter where the worker is located. Because a third-world worker is involved in production for a large corporation, they should be considered to be an employee of that organization. Too often, foreign firms lay the blame at the local management and claim that they have no power of worker conditions in a third world country. This couldn’t be further from the truth because if they are a supply chain, then they are putting value into the product, and should be treated as such.

I think that many large corporations choose to outsource work to foreign third world countries is so they can take advantage of the loose labor laws in place. Of course, every global firm is solely interested in making a profit whenever they enter a new market, but the well-being of their workers should be equally as important. Trade unions are often not set up in third world countries, so workers do not get a chance to get their point of view across. While many people disagree with the idea of outsourcing work overseas, I believe that it will continue for the foreseeable future, so we should get used to it.

Instead of complaining, we need to focus more on putting benchmarks and standards in place so that workers’ rights can be protected.