As we have talked about in class many times before, capitalists in a capitalist country try their hardest to squeeze what they can out of their workers as they are the ones who turn supplies into goods.Their exploitation is one of the single worst aspects of capitalism and in Romania some foreign workers finally took a stand. In the Phillipines, 95 textile workers had a contractual agreement to “a basic wage of 400 US Dollars, 100 percent bonus for over-time and free accommodation and food” to work in Romania. Because of this agreement, these same workers took out loans back in Manila to pay for the travel fees and the agency who found them the job in the amount of 2500 USD. Once they arrived in Romania however, Mondostar, the company that had hired them forced the workers to “sign a second contract…to undermine the previous contractual agreement, to squeeze out a maximum labour performance and to lower their own expenses”. The new agreement called for a 60 hour work week paying 235 US dollars a month, and 165 of which would be deducted for food and accommodation. This is the absurdity of capitalist principles, as making a profit and cutting expenditures was far more important for Mondostar than keeping their business integrity and ethics. However, the workers plight was not over as they could only stay in Romania if they kept their job at Mondostar, and now they had incurred massive debts back home in the Phillipines because they had taken out the loans. Their complaints at the Phillipine embassy caused Mondostar to not be able to hire any more foreign workers and 78 of the workers eventually quit 5 months after their hiring. It’s crazy to think about capitalism screwing so many people, but it does on a day-to-day basis. I think maybe with correct legislation and workers rights, capitalism would still tend to do the same because the overall goal is to maximize profit at any cost. But in Romania? A third world country can never have that type of protection for their workers, and that is why capitalism hurts so many people. When you lessen trade barriers and open up economies and make everything a competition, ethics and integrity are thrown out the window.
http://sites.google.com/site/radicalperspectivesonthecrisis/struggles/wildcatreportoncrisisromania
