Assembly Line Workers

Life on the Global Assembly Line by Babara Ehrenreich and Annette Fuentes addresses globalization, multinational corporations, international division of labor, gender concerning jobs, poor working conditions in factories, and U.S. government involvement in exploitative conditions for Third World women workers. Most exported industries are towards Third World countries. These exported industries are unsafe and in poor conditions. Production of products are broken down where fragments are sent to different parts of the world to be completed. In the Third World countries, females are responsible for working in factories and having to deal with poor working conditions and low income. As it states in the essay, “This is the world’s new industrial

For example it states, “In the U.S. an assembly line worker is likely to earn, depending on her length of employment, between $3.10 and $5.00 an hour. In many Third World countries, a woman doing the same work will earn $3.00 to $5.00 a day.” In Third World countries they are not paid enough because they’re looked upon as cheap labor. Also, because one may be foreign they are taken advantage of because they’re not American and doesn’t know any better. The one who is in charge of these industries can treat women workers how they want because either way, their complaints doesn’t matter to anyone. Today in the U.S., if you’re just arriving from your home country to America, you will be treated differently as a customer or a worker. Customers are charged extra and workers are told to work overtime with no pay. Workers like this are pushed around but desperately need the

Why should women be treated differently, be taken advantage of, and have to deal with harsh conditions just because they won’t threaten or sabotage equipment like how men do? Females especially in Third World countries should be taken care of and treated generously because their making products for other corporations and like today, are helping businesses rise. What gives multinational cooperations the right to treat women workers so poorly? For example it states, “The work that multinational cooperations export to the Third World is not only the most tedious, but often the most hazardous part of the production process. The countries they go for, for the most part, those that will guarantee no interference from health and safety inspectors, trade unions, or even freelance reformers.” Women are working in conditions that are deadly. They can only go to such an extent where they can afford to make a living. A woman shouldn’t be attacked, killed, punished, or fired for filing a complaint when they are working in dangerous conditions risking their health. Instead this problem should be addressed and they should be paid fully due to their hours instead of below minimum wage. Females fought for betteor working conditions and minimum wage for a reason. Today it has improved and discrimination against women has