Throughout our world cultures, religions, and lives differ amongst individuals. One of the main parts of life that is shared with all human beings is money. In our world money is needed to purchase our needs like food and shelter. An income from a job is an important aspect of human survival in today’s world. Survival of human beings seems to require an income and every individual has the right to work in safe, reasonable work environments.
In our world today individuals need to work and receive an income in order to survive in our economy. As human beings I find that individuals spend their lives dwelling on money and work. I can honestly say that I have not lived to learn or see enough to understand the depth and complications in human lives in different parts of the world. I am a Canadian citizen and Canada is an extremely economically stable country. My perspective on the importance of money is probably extremely different from those in other counties like third world countries. Personally, because an income is so necessary in our world, the dignity of work and rights of workers is particularly important to me. In the past few years I have worked numerous jobs including catering, babysitting, as a hostess and in retail. My experiences involving work have always been positive and I have never worried about my safety or rights as an employee. I remember telling my potential employer of my conflicts with dance which she happily agreed to work around. All the days I was unavailable because of extra curricular activities my employer gave me off work. In my work experiences employers have always tried to accommodate to my personal schedule to the best of their ability. I cannot even imagine or comprehend the fact that places in the world currently do not treat employees fairly and leave them in unsafe work places. When I look at my life I see freedom, happiness, equality, and respect all of which I take for granted. Not one individual no matter where they call home deserves to work in conditions of abuse, disrespect, or danger.
When I hear of unfair working conditions I automatically relate the conditions to slavery. Slavery is a major part of history in our world and is still a problem in certain parts of the world. One area of major slave trade was Africa involving the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Africa, Europe, Brazil, the Caribbean and North America were all involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Millions of individuals were forced to be slaves traveling to different countries, receiving numerous different kinds of abuse. Slaves also would struggle from malnutrition and diseases during their travels. Slaves in my opinion were treated as though they were not human and were violated of their human rights. In history human beings have made mistakes but have learned and corrected these mistakes. Slavery and unfair working conditions have not completely been corrected. Currently in China there is a Taiwanese-owned factory employing thousands of employees. This factory is run like a prison labor camp. In this factory they are paid minimum wage, work 72 hours a week and if the required hours of work are not fulfilled, overtime must be had with no pay. Women can be fired for pregnancy or for refusing to work overtime. This work environment is occurring today and I find this unbelievable. There is also said to be child labor in Pakistan in the making of Nike shoes. I own Nike shoes and it makes me feel sick to my stomach knowing the working conditions involved in the making of the shoes. Our world needs to put a stop to unfair working conditions and pursue in achieving rights for all employees.
I have talked to friends who stated that individuals couldn’t control how employers in other countries treat their employees. A friend once said that it was not our problem whether workers in other countries had rights and was unimportant. I completely disagree and actually countries like Canada are trying to help put a stop to unfair working conditions. Sanctions have been discussed in order to stop child labor in countries like Pakistan. Putting up sanctions would not allow countries to trade goods unless they agree to stop using child labor to make these goods. Canada and other countries putting up sanctions would force Pakistan to rethink their strategies and put an end to unfair labor. In the world there is also the Workers Compensation Act. This act is a form of insurance that provides money to those injured at work. This act to me shows that workers are important and deserve to be treated fairly. In Canada we also have laws and standards involving workplaces and employees. Employment standards include that minimum wage is the lowest wage that can be given, workers have to right to annual vacation with pay and other standards that insure the rights of workers. When worker rights are fulfilled I personally assume that the work being done will be of greater value. When individuals are not being forced unfairly to do a job the motivation to do a good job would decline. Making Employee standards and Acts leads to workers feeling important and respected, creating a positive and more effective workplace.
Work takes up a massive amount of time in the lives of individuals and the importance of dignity of work and worker rights needs to be considered and acknowledged now. The importance of worker rights does not only affect those workers treated unfairly but our world as a whole. I cringe at the fact that areas in the world are running workplaces like a prison labor camp. I find it extremely important for the world today to put a stop to all workplaces violating worker rights.
