Globalization

Why Not Globalization?

Readers Digest- February 2006 Edition

This article sheds off globalization in a positive light, largely in reference to antiglobalization stances that point out the harsh working conditions and the brunt of third world countries poorer people being taken advantage of. The company and country it is in relation to as far as globalizing is Nike expanding to Vietnam. Many times reading about globalization you hear positives for companies such as more employees, less workload, and cheaper wages. Then you hear the negatives such as bad working conditions, horrendous pay, and underage workers who instead of getting a education are working for low pay. This article gives you the workers perspective and after reading it you come to one conclusion, and that's that maybe its not as bad as people make it out to be. Globalization is helping the world in every aspect, even the workers, and this article proves that.

Most people that are related to the antiglobalization campaign largely point to Nike products as merchandise that shouldn't be bought and possibly boycotted against because of the idea that some poor, young children are making it in a random third world country, and getting less then minimum wage. The fact that Nike is globalizing is true, but these other facts aren't. At the time this article was written, Nike had six times as much workers in Vietnam then it did in the U.S.. This is all for the obvious reasons such as less salaries for employees which in turn leads to a greater workload being done because of the high number of workers. The point of this article was to have an investigation to analyze the effects of multinational countries on poor countries.

It is pointed out that some aspects are true. The work is strenuous and the conditions do look harsh when you compare to them to what we have here in the U.S.. However, these aren't what workers are comparing it to since they have never worked here. They are comparing it to their past jobs on farms with long hours and even worse pay. The average pay now working at a Nike company is $72 a month, which most people in America wouldn't even consider working. However, if you look closer, this is three times as much as the minimum wage at local enterprises, for all the people saying that they are working for below minimum wages.

However, the wages are not what one woman who the magazine interviews is happy the most about. Even though she says that the wages she makes now are five times as much as she made before and now more then her husband