Respond.

The world has greatly improved within the last century in regards to working conditions. Social media and freedom of speech has given the people the ability to shed light on the wrongdoings of businesses, forcing them to get their act together. This has been very good in America but in other countries this level of progress has not been made yet.The workers still struggle and often must deal with poor working conditions, and biased politics and laws.

What is sad is that often when companies do business internationally the thing that might give a country a competitive advantage as a choice are in fact these conditions that are harmful towards the workers (Guvenli & Sanyal, 2002). If some of these problems, such as dangerous or abusive working conditions, were happening domestically, then there are steps employees, or the company could take to correct it. Workers have rights and can demand that they be taken care of by their employer. If asking nicely doesn't work they can file a complaint and refuse to work under dangerous conditions. Businesses can get in serious trouble if they do not follow the law regarding their treatment of employees. As they should; businesses should do everyhting they can to protect their employees and make sure they are treated fairly. The people harmed should be compensated and those causing problems should be dealt with accordingly.

Dealing with this problem internationally might be a bit trickier. Businesses cannot pressure them to fix their working environment due to the fact the laws do not protect employees. I do think that these morals translate universally. People should always be treated with respect and have the ability to work in a safe environment. I am pleased to see businesses putting an effort to make sure that other international businesses that they work with withhold the same standards and morals that we do over here. It might mean it does not give the most financial benefits, but people are more important than money. I believe that businesses should maintain morals and refuse to do business with companies that mistreat their employees. Eventually, they will not be getting business and be forced to change. We still have a long way to go but I think we might get there someday.