Adler reveals that poverty is systemic: a sign of a corrupt system. Mollie James' and Balbina Duque's only chance of extricating themselves from poverty is to inject more political power and energy back into the formation of labor unions. The power of the people to overcome and overthrow corrupt regimes has been proven time and again throughout human history; the struggle is not an easy one but there is no way that Duque or any of her colleagues around the world are going to achieve any upward social mobility within the current system. Besides just the suppression of labor unions and the collusion between the PRI and big business, other examples of how systematic and systemic the problem is include the glaring idiocy of the bailouts. The Clinton administration arranged a record-breaking fifty billion dollars to the very people who were creating the problems that James and Duque faced. As wealthy investors enjoyed the fruits of what Adler calls a "bitter bailout," the workers who provide the sustenance for companies watch their lives be destroyed (p. 294).
As long as free trade is touted as a panacea for the failing economy, situations like that of James and Duque are bound to persist. As long as the media is complicit in presenting free trade agreements as being beneficial for everyone, stories like that of James and Duque are going to continue. Stories like those of Duque can be seen all around the world, as large companies located in the United States and Western Europe exploit cheap labor from beyond their political boundaries. Free trade agreements allow businesses to ignore issues like social justice and accountability to environmental ethics and ethical standards.
The international economic relationship between countries like the United States and Mexico should become healthier...
Businesses should be allowed to flourish but within the boundaries of ethical duty and moral responsibility. Governments are elected by the people; and it is the government that ultimately has the power to remedy the situation. However, government officials that are corrupt will continue to pander to big businesses rather than focus on the needs of the people.
The situation is therefore grim. NAFTA and other free trade agreements are enabling many individuals to prosper. That prosperity is enjoyed by but a few and is widening an already dangerously large income gap. As an income gap grows, the working class citizens of the United States and Mexico will be poised for political revolt. If it comes to it, workers like Duque do have a responsibility to use nonviolent political protest to achieve social, political, and economic goals. Organized labor has always entailed personal sacrifice and hard work.
However, the real work must be done at the upper levels of business and government: where the real heart of power lies. Individual CEOs, managers, and politicians need to say no to policies and programs that exploit workers at home and abroad. Workers like Duque deserve a working wage that empowers them and enables them to participate fully in the global economy -- not as cheap laborers but as creative entrepreneurs.
NAFTA denies individuals like Duque the opportunity to become entrepreneurs by making the economy more friendly to already behemoth corporations than to small business. Small businesses have much more potential to empower workers and their communities by refusing to pander to the lowest common denominator in the human psyche.
References
Adler, W.M. (2000). Mollie's Job. New York: Touchstone.
