A corporation is a group of people for making profit to engage in the production, distribution, services and other economic activities to meet the need for society and people. We cannot call a corporation as a pure profit business organization because it is also “a legal person” who is not a real person, but it enjoys what people have rights and obligations. A corporation has the responsibilities to build a better social environment and create wealth for people, so the corporation not only constitutes an important part of the society but also makes a significant contribution to social development and progress. However, the development of enterprise recklessly drives to achieve maximum available profit while it neglects public interest. The video of “The Corporation” shows white bubble on the river around the chemical factories, transformed creatures, and deformed children. I can see our future life what look like if the business continues to develop according to its maximum profit principle. Thus, I agree with the video shows that some multination corporation are harmful to worker’s right with using cheap labor, child labor, and providing awful working condition in developing countries.
Some corporation uses cheap labor in developing countries to manufacture their products, which is unfair for employees. The wages and benefits they received are unequal to the unit of sale price and volume of production. Morn gives some facts as follows:
In 2000, the piece rate plus benefits of jeans produced in Nicaragua was $0.66 compared to the U.S. retail sales price of $21.99; in 2000, the unit labor cost, inclusive of benefits, for a ladies’ jacket made in Hong Kong was $0.84 compared to the U.S. retail price of $99; in 2001, the unit wage was $0.40 for a sport shoe produced in Indonesia that sold for $100 in the United States; and, in 2001, Nike reported that the labor cost Nike shoes was $2.43 compared to retail price of $65 (as cited in Brown, Deardorff, & Stern, 2003, pp. 285-286).
From these facts, it can be seen that the wage of one product only accounts for three percent of the sale price, or even four thousandths of the sale price. Elson and Pearson (1981) argue that world market factories are cheaper to hire young female workers than male workers and they have “higher productivity” (p. 92). In addition, most factories in developing countries pay wages to workers far from enough to cover a family’s fundamental life and future plan. Brown et al. (2003) say that the average wage of employees of multinational companies and subcontracting companies in developing countries is lower than the average wage of employees in developed countries, which cannot supply their basic family’s daily life (p. 284). For example, many “maquila workers in El Salvador” earn the minimum wage of 1260 colones per month, which is hardly enough to satisfy the demands of essential food of a family (Brown et al., 2003, p. 284). According to the formula calculated by National Labor Committee, there is a monthly wage: 4556 colones. 87.5 percent of wages to meet the fundamental need of a family that have 4.3 individuals at the same time the remaining 12.5 percent of them to be pre-stored (Brown et al., 2003, pp. 284-285) for future medical treatment, education, and retirement. From the view of law, Diviney et al. emphasize that transnational companies build their manufacturing factories in developing countries, except to shrink the cost of labor, which facilitate them to escape the supervision of “human rights violations” (as cited in Azizul Islam & Jain, 2013, p. 103). Anon et al. also note that although Australia government and companies pass the “fair wages law”, “Australian garment and retail companies” will not comply with the law in subcontracting companies in developing countries (as cited in Azizul Islam & Jain, 2013, p. 111). Therefore, transnational corporation, through illegal acts to achieve minimum labor cost in developing countries, cannot let employees live a better life even if they work very hard.
Multinational companies employ child labor in developing countries, which has adverse impacts on children’s health. As Machado, Milcent, and Huguenin (2013) claim, “Child labor could also negatively affect children’s current or long-term health situation. …, since he [or] she feels more tired than other children who are not working”(p. 47). Children work when their bodies grow, which results in “malnutrition” (Machado et al., 2013, p. 49). Because working hard requires a lot of “physical activity”, this does not match with the nutrition required at this age (Machado et al., 2013, p. 50). Most children who work in factories have low wages and need to support extended families, so they do not have money to eat enough nutrients to supply their physical development. Moreover, the research of Duyar and Ozener shows that long working hours result in underweight and low height compare to children who do not work at the same age (as cited in Caglayan et al., 2010, p. 11). The subcontracting factory of Wal-Mart in Bangladesh forces child workers sewing “12 to 14 hours a day”, and even sometimes they are required “19-to-20-hour shifts” at “all-night” in weekdays. Besides that, most children are usually “slapped and beaten” (“Children Found Sewing Clothing For Wal-Mart, Hanes & Other U.S. & European Companies,” n.d.). Caglayan et al. (2010) report that long time working leads to “insomnia” that “increases the risk of accidents at work and psychological problems”(p. 11). According to Caglayan et al. (2010), 27.3 percent of the child laborers have 133 work accidents. 28.1 percent of boys and 21.4 percent of girls have at least one accident. What is worse, there are 29 percent of accidents that result in their disability and one child suffers “permanent disability” (p. 10). These injuries are seriously impact on the children’s daily life and future. In addition to physical injury, child labor has disadvantageous effect on mental health of children. Children work in factories all day, so they cannot chat with their friends, enjoy the fun they should have at this age, and explore the world, so their spirit will be depressed every day (Caglayan et al., 2010, p. 11). Caglayan et al. (2010) illustrate, “the metal health of children is also affected by limited social interaction, long working hours, heavy responsibilities and lack of social support” (p.11). In brief, multination company employs child laborers, which seriously obstruct children’s bodies and mental development.
Multinational companies employ child labor in developing countries which has negative effects on children’s education development. The data of Vietnam living Standard Surveys shows child labor has an adverse influence on children’s enrollment rate, grade level, and educational performance (as cited in Le & Homel, 2015, p. 2). With the growth of children who are between the ages of six to fifteen years old, more and more children go to work rather than going to school. Especially when they are thirteen years old, more than half of the children choose to go to work (Le & Homel, 2015, pp. 3-4). In addition to poverty, the biggest reason for children going to work is that long working hours cannot make children focus on their study performances (Le & Homel, 2015, pp. 3-4). As Charles Kernaghan, who is director of the National Labor Committee, notes, “children belong in school, not locked in sweatshops. [Like Wal-Mart, Hanes] must provide [child labor] with stipends to replace their wages and cover all necessary expenses to send them back to school”(“Children Found Sewing Clothing For Wal-Mart, Hanes & Other U.S. & European Companies,” n.d.). To sum up, some companies illegally employ child labor in poor developing countries, which becomes a barrier for them getting an education.
The terrible workplace threatens worker’s safety in subcontracting companies in developing countries. A factory is located in Guangzhou where workers often stand for long periods (at least 12 hours) in a very noisy, no air-conditioner environment (Barboza, 2008). The awful working conditions lead to allergies and affect their health. “The groups say some Chinese companies routinely… expose their workers to dangerous machinery and harmful chemicals, like lead, cadmium, and mercury”(Barboza, 2008). “Xu Wenquan’ hands were covered with blisters” because the machines were so hot that he was burned (Barboza, 2008); furthermore, most employees suffer rashes on their skin due to exposure to the “gold powders” (Barboza, 2008). For example, Foxconn factories manufacture many famous brands’ products, including Apple, Dell, Sony, and so on. It is famous for their harsh management. There are several Foxconn’s suicides that occurred in 2010; the reasons probably are the high-pressure work environment and strict rules (Prakash Sethi, 2012). Nevertheless, after the Chinese media reported this serious problem, Apple just took prevention measures, like installing nets at factory building, rather than solving the underlying problem: concerning about the employees’ work environment and their health (Young, 2011). To summarize, the awful working environment will cause employees poor health, injury, and even death.
In conclusion, many multinational companies, through using cheap labor, child labor, and building terrible working environment, lessen the costs of labor to achieve maximum profit. At the same time they neglect the existence of the labor law. Employing cheap labor is unfair to the employees, hiring child labor affects children’s intelligence and physical development, and providing awful working environments endanger worker’s safety. Developing countries need to develop their economy while the lack of better legislative and police measures to protect employee’s rights, which creates perfect places for multination businesses to exploit laborers. However, as Amnesty International and Australian Human Rights Commission reports, every corporation has responsibility to safeguard “the economic, social and culture rights of their employees. Failure to protect these rights must be considered a violation of human rights” (as cited in Azizul Islam & Jain, 2013, p. 102). Therefore, developing countries should build strict restrictions for subcontracting factories and multinational businesses to govern their behavior and protect domestic people’s rights in the long term.

References
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