Should not pre-empt for welfare

 Benefits for the United States should not meddle
Xuezhao Feng
Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University School of Law
treatment, made a series of regulations, ranging from child labor, health and safety, discrimination, punishment, working hours and remuneration standards and so on.
Recently, a dear friend from the United States in the country to promote this standard, in the speech mentioned in the After his speech, to ask my opinion.
on for benefits, I have two fundamental points. First, the level of welfare of workers, and ultimately depends on the level of productivity and labor supply and demand, rely on good intentions and shouting slogan does not help; Second, for welfare workers to employers, workers themselves should live within its means, not by outsiders meddle.
British utopian socialist Owen (Robert Owen ,1771-1858), was for humanitarian reasons demands, the founder had a how remote. Nevertheless, there are tens of thousands of guests along the rugged mountain path, a constant stream of visitors. from the 1815-1825 decade, the , including the Russian Czar Nicholas, British Prince John, Duke Maximilian of Austria, there are countless parish delegations, writers, reformers and enlightened businessmen.
what attracted so many guests? is a plant of the scene: no littering, no alcohol, no corporal punishment. even more visitors to surprise, this plant is not here to work, child labor mm over 11 years of age are all !
Unfortunately, Owen struggling for over ten years, the factory was closed down. One reason is the factory of the welfare model is impractical. knows the story of friends can not help but sigh: When practical benefits in today to see years, is far from failing.
no one will deny that, just two centuries, the concept of social welfare standards, has undergone enormous changes;'d also would argue that this change is by enthusiastic people to promote the cause, or social progress brought about naturally.
answer is clearly the latter. then the plight of sweatshops is extremely low level of productivity caused; and general social progress today, it is higher productivity levels brought. is not difficult to evidence to the contrary, if Owen's back, then today all relevant regulations and the concept of the welfare of workers, no matter how Tan.
to understand the world, we must sweep aside the motivation for the capitalists, philanthropists, or conscience, have neither affect labor supply and demand can not affect the level of labor turnover traded; and whether it is the condemnation of the capitalists, or in praise of the philanthropist, is just the process of social reality voice-over only.
many negative attitude on the SA8000, is that it's standard across the board. you know, terms of sale of labor, and other terms of sale, like any commodity, have to be adapted to local conditions, with the times. Some job is to work overtime, and some that do not welcome women, and some have to find a young, dry, and some have limited staff to resign.
with a uniform standard to like a watch with a stop to the pair as though it is sometimes really accurate, but it usually is slower than fast. This watch is not what is superfluous?
why are there people like to vigorously promote SA8000 certification standards? suspect one of the high labor costs in developed regions of manufacturers, the name of the humanitarian banner deliberately, to make less developed regions with low labor costs, improve cost firms, thus weakening their competitiveness.
China certainly better than the Vietnamese economy as a whole is good, but said the treatment of Chinese workers was significantly lower than the Vietnamese, who would like to see what specific than the. Even if this is true, it would not completely adequate labor supply from the perspectives get into words reasonable explanation.'d speaker said that of labor between workers and employers trading relationship, always equal, did not say that one must be able to bully the other. The friend who promote the SA8000, implication is clear: China's labor force raise your cost of it, someone else will defeated by you.
any time, any place, the sale of labor, employers and employees are voluntary transactions. Chinese workers should always fight for their own benefits, like a fruit hawker gotta bargain. but to what for degree, depends both on the level of productivity, but also depends on the labor supply and demand to be within their means. mechanically external standards, if not ulterior motives, at least not necessary.