Tin mới
Cheap labor is thorny rose (02/11)
06/08/2010 - 66 Lượt xem
The burgeoning number of labor-intensive industries accompanying our country’s global integration all rely on the advantage of inexpensive labor.
Obviously, low-cost labor is a great attraction to foreign investors.
This, in turn, has contributed effectively to the country’s restructuring of its economic system, especially as the government tries to decrease the number of agricultural workers.
Big industrial investments create more jobs in Vietnam, which is good, because unemployment is still high here.
However, the competition for “cheap sweat” is risky.
First, “sweating” for low wages means that if a worker stops long enough to let the sweat dry, the money will be gone.
That is, with starvation wages, laborers have almost no chance to improve their living and invest in their children’s education.
As a result, they and their families are locked in a vicious cycle.
Second, while the common social income is increasing, simple laborers' salaries have hardly improved at all.
As commodity prices rise higher than laborers' salaries, many are in fact loosing ground in our “developing” economy.
This could be one of the many causes of the recent wave of worker strikes. Employers need to recognize this.
While walkouts are an important weapon for employees, they are only their last resort.
The government should help workers and labor unions improve their representation and their capacity to bargain and negotiate.
Harmonious labor relations should also be considered a strong competitive advantage.
Source: ThanhnienNews
