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.
Outsourcing is bad. If you think that a Nicaraguan worker getting paid a high wage to be a service worker in a Canadian restaurant chain is some kind of win for the Nicaraguan worker, you're thinking too short term. As :parenti: once said, there are no "poor" countries, only overly exploited ones - and an important element of that over exploitation is the system of dependance on wealthy countries that outsourcing is a part of. Workers in the third world need their own institutions, not to be chained to the institutions of imperialist powers. They need to grow their own food, not import it to make room for cash crops. They need infrastructure that supports their own development, not the exportation of their resources and labor.
If you rule out the destruction of global capitalist hegemony, the next best thing at the national level is economic protectionism. Which is why third world leaders who try to do protectionist economics tend to get assassinated.