Low Wages

So, this is another thing I've been thinking about for a while, and I was suddenly inspired to write about it today when some Catholic social worker dude came in to speak with us today about social justice and whatnot. Wages were one of the biggest issues addressed. The man was very cool and reasonable, and I found myself agreeing with a lot of the points. What saddened me is the complete lack of interest by everyone else! Do people not care that people are living in below poverty conditions just to make things for US? Pretty lame.

Okay. So, he used the example of Nike sweatshops in Indonesia. They receive enough money for people to barely pay rent and food for themselves. Now, someone could LIVE like that, but consider a few things:

1. What about other things? Soap, cooking utensils, etc costed more than meals. In order for someone to work in one of those shops and buy a SINGLE item, it might require them to give up a full meal. Or put off rent, and I can't imagine that would be a smart decision.

2. What about family? Many of these people live in families below the poverty line. Often times, they come to work at these shops because their families need money. AN ENTIRE FAMILY. Imagine how much you'd have to give up to provide for them as well, working in one of those wretched places?

And don't even get me started on working conditions. Many jobs are dangerous in the process of shoe/clothing production, and many a times people have lost parts of their fingers or received other injuries. And workers are living in hell there. They are cursed at, hit, and he even said that women might have to sell themselves to their male bosses... and they work there almost an entire DAY.

Now, say some of these people want to make a Union, to make clothing not in a sweatshop. Eventually, Mr. Boss is going to catch wind of this. So, he'll call you in, and warn you to stop this Union. After all, it's a threat to his business. He might not make as much money! The horror. So, say Mr. Employee wishes to continue with the Union. Mr. Boss will call in Mr. Employee, and present Misters Thug 1, Thug 2, and Thug 3. Say Mr. Employee is downright determined to make this Union! Well, Mr. Thug, Thug, and Thug will ambush the man and attack him, killing him if they see fit. It's happened before, back over there. He told us a few stories.

Wow. To think that all of this injustice could be solved if people weren't so money hungry. Why do we have a habit of wanting to make a lot of money, when a lot of it we don't need? Because WE CAN, simply put. Who gives a shit if people are breaking their backs over making sneakers for Nike? As long as we get our 100 million dollars, we could care less! So much of this could be solved. We can all live modest lifestyles and still live comfortably. Why do we need multi-million dollar beach houses with several pools and all the latest gadgets? My home, which is a pretty small-decent sized house, would be considered CRAP in relation to other people who go to my school. Possessions make the man, after all. Didn't you know? =/

Now, there's not a whole lot we can do. I mean, it's incredibly rare to find clothes that aren't made in sweatshops. I guess my message in this Blog is the same as most of my other ones: BE AWARE. It's just another one of those sad realities, but here's hoping that maybe if we all banded together on some of these issues, we can have some things be done in the future.

On a completely unrelated note that I also made in a Journal earlier: The man knows Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave! He's actually friends with him, I asked him after the presentation! You know RATM did a lot of charity work, and Audioslave does its fair share as well. He actually gave me a link to Mr. Morello's e-mail, but I'm not gonna use it. I feel bad for musicians! The constant harrassment by other fans... poor guys!