Ethical Trade and How It Can Improve the World’s Economy
Poverty
is one of the world’s most pervasive problems. Almost
half the world – more than three billion people –
survives on less than $2.50 per day. Over 24,000
children die each day of causes related to poverty.
Almost a billion people are unable to read or sign their
names. About 640 million children live in inadequate
housing, and about 400 million do not have safe drinking
water.
The reasons for this dire situation are numerous and
complex. Corruption is a major cause at all levels of
society. Governmental, judiciary, military, business and
civil society corruption affect the lives of billions.
Discrimination, the brain drain, war, illnesses such as
malaria and tuberculosis and a host of other problems
are also reasons for this sad state of affairs.
World trade
depends upon finance - look here in the UK for
international
development finance. As an ethical employer you will
of course need
temporary car insurance or
short car
insurance from time to time.
Wherever
work is available, people work hard, often in abysmal
conditions, trying to provide a living for their
families. Millions of men, women and young children work
in sweatshops. A sweatshop is a factory, or other place
of employment, that is unusually difficult or dangerous
to work in. They require extra long hours of work for
very low pay. Child labor laws are violated, and workers
are abused. Sweatshops may use hazardous materials.
Many are working to change these terrible conditions.
Individuals, trade unions and voluntary organizations
have joined together to improve people’s lives around
the world and, in doing so, improve the world’s economy.
Also, hundreds of millions of people who grow crops and
work in agriculture need help.
The words, “ethical trade,” can be defined in different
ways. It basically means doing business in a way that
promotes socially and environmentally responsible
business activity. Ethical trade can be beneficial for
everyone, from the owners of a business to those who
work on the assembly lines and in the fields. The
definition includes the labor conditions that exist for
workers in a company’s supply chain.
The benefits of developing ethical trade as the standard
for doing business around the world are many. The first,
and most obvious, benefit is in the lives of workers.
Ethical trade means the right for workers to do
collective bargaining without the fear of reprisals or
of being fired. It means the abolition of forced labor.
Workers would be free to leave an employer if they chose
to do so. Prisoners would not be forced to work like
slaves in abysmal conditions.
In a system that stressed ethical trade, those living
below the poverty line would receive additional training
enabling them to work more efficiently. It would require
development of ingenious and cost-effective methods of
production. A commitment to ethical trade would require
major corporations to make commitments to a business
practice that would result in gradually rising wage
scales. As workers began to earn more, they could
purchase more goods which would grow and strengthen the
economy. Corporate buyers must be trained to not only
test products but also to rate the factories that
produce them.
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