Re: global pay equity and development

Fri, 10 Jul 1998 15:26:46 EST5EDT
Terry Boswell (TBOS@social-sci.ss.emory.edu)

WSN

I share Kohler's call for global pay equity. I have raised this
issue recently in talking with others in developmental studies who
offered two criticisms. I do not fully agree with their critique, but
I am interested in hearing responses and counter-arguments from
others. I think we need to answer the following criticisms before the
push for world pay equity would be taken seriously.

1. The cost of living varies so much across countries, and
currencies fluctuate so frequently, that any single global wage
standard, much less an equity standard, would be difficult, if not
impossible, to measure and enforce. My response is to support
minimum standards appropriate to each country, but this runs into the
problem of getting individual states, many of which are corrupt and
undemocratic, to enforce a global standard.

2. A worse problem is that applying global standards, even minimum
wages, raises the cost of doing business in poor countries and makes
it harder for them to develop. For example, the NYT ran articles on
former sweatshop workers in Indonesia who now pick garbage or work
as prostitutes. They long for their sweatshops. I think it was Rosa
Luxemburg who said that the only thing worse than being exploited
under capitalism is not being exploited. My response is that they
would be better off in the long run by ending the cycle of attracting
investment by offering cheaper wages than competitors. The problem
is thus one of making the TNCs pay for a stepwise transition, which
admittedly, would not be easy.

I am not satisfied with my responses and hope others have additional
replies. Raising global labor standards is, I am convinced, the most
important task for transnational progressive movements.

TB

Date sent: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 10:47:50 -0400
Send reply to: gernot.kohler@sheridanc.on.ca
From: Gernot Kohler <gernot.kohler@sheridanc.on.ca>
To: WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
Subject: global pay equity

....if something similar has been stated somewhere else already, please
forward a reference...

Wallerstein has called for "renegotiation of historically grown wage
bargains" in the world-system (Wallerstein 1978). The undervaluation of
labour of low- and middle-income countries has been criticized by Emmanuel
(1962, 1969/72) and others. From a perspective of global Keynesianism, low
incomes of anyone in the world are bad for global demand.

MOTION (to the global labour movement):
"The global labour movement will place the demand for 'global pay equity'
on its list of demands in its demand-setting process" [ if it has one]

EXPLANATION: The women's movement has done a splendid job developing the
theory, practice and politics of pay equity. An important principle has
been developed which is already being used in praxis, e.g., in Canada, namely:

PRINCIPLE: "equal pay for work of equal value"
(meaning: If persons A and B perform work of the same value, both must be
remunerated at the same rate. The fact that one is a man and the other a
woman is irrelevant.)

This principle can and must be globalized and extended worldwide to any
category of person. Thus, if a Mexican performs work of the same value as a
Canadian , he/she must be paid the same. The fact that we and "the system"
are used to discriminatory global wage differentials is deplorable and,
with respect to the principle, irrelevant. In its globalized form, the
principle could be stated thus:

GLOBAL PAY EQUITY: "equal pay for work of equal value, globally"

The demand for global pay equity would generate for the global labour
movement added movement and solidarity.

Regards,
Gernot Kohler
School of Computing and Information Management
Sheridan College
Oakville, Ont., Canada
e-mail: gernot.kohler@sheridanc.on.ca

"Imagination is more important than knowledge" Albert Einstein
Terry Boswell
Department of Sociology
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322