It seems like there's a contradiction between protecting labour in one's own country and having solidarity between the working class.

This was inspired by this fast food chain outsourcing their cashiers to be Zoomed in digitally from Nicaragua for $3.75/hr CDN.

Canadian labour is against this, but $3.75 is an incredible wage in Nicaragua and surely this is a net benefit for labour?

I know there are often environmental issues with internationally shipping outsourced goods, and exploitation opportunities to put global south workers in dangerous positions or to pay them even less (taking into account PPP) because of lax labour laws in said country, but for now I'd like to set those aside. They are important, but even if they can be resolved there is still a central contradiction I think.

Also obviously a major problem is that all this does is increase usurped surplus value by the capitalist class, these gains are not distributed among the population of workers who are now unemployed.

But sometimes we have to take positions on things being better or worse assuming capitalism will remain in place. Assuming global capitalism is held constant, is it a net good if a Canadian worker loses a job that doesn't pay a living wage so a Nicaraguan worker can do the job and make a decent living?

I'm sure there's a lot written about this dichotomy of labour support and internationalism, I just don't know where to start thinking about this.

  • drinkinglakewater [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    This is a bit of a weird ask because you're identifying the main reason outsourcing exists in the first place (labor costs/rights), but asking us to not talk about it. If all things were equal, capital wouldn't outsource in the first place. The job has been exported virtually, it will stay virtual until it becomes too difficult to maintain or until domestic labor is more cost effective (i.e. cheaper for capital) and moving a job back to Canada doesn't eliminate the exploitative conditions in the global south. In the liberal moralism sense, it's "good" that Nicaraguans have access to a new (relatively) decently paying job, but it doesn't solve any systemic problems.

    tldr; it's imperialism it's always imperialism