And back in the world which most of humanity inhabits: the AP reports that a strike by 10,000 workers in Danang at a factory which makes toys for McDonalds Happy Meals ended last week, with an agreement to raise workers' pay, limit working days to 10 hours, and get supervisors to stop insulting employees and let them go to the bathroom.
Pay is supposed to rise from 15 cents an hour to 17.5 cents an hour.
A few lessons to take away:
- A lot of jobs are never coming back to the US of A. Anybody out there care to work for 17.5 cents an hour? Anyone OVER the age of 5, that is.
- The labor movement is alive and well and living in the 3rd World. UAW - are you listening? Recruit, recruit, recruit! Anybody want to give the IWW another shot?
- The reason these guys won their strike is that they were making stuff for McDonald's, which was afraid of bad publicity. The involvement of chains with major media recognition in Western markets has been a boon for third-world workers. Let's keep the pressure up, but also recognize that the big brand-name corporations are now the thing that forges bonds between Western consumers and third-world workers. Be pro-globalization, but also pro-connectedness.
That is my Happy Meal Message for today. And a shout out to the workers in Danang for taking one small step towards a better world for all of us.