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The Way We Treat Workers Won't Work

Updated On: Apr 17, 2014

April 17, 2014 | WORKERS' RIGHTS | Societies have come up with justifications for peonage, slavery and child labor, all of which seem unjustifiable to most people today. Those conditions still exist, of course, but sometimes people like us, who benefit from cheap labor, choose not to look too closely at the origin of our clothing or gadgets, in order not to feel complicit. Modern Americans generally don't think it's right to mistreat people, to strip them of their humanity. We're become more socially advanced, but so have the ways people and institutions have of devaluing people to the advantage of others. That's what's going on in our economy today. Full editorial opinion at seattletimes.com.