Can Labor Be Both Green and Fair?

The creation and development of green collar jobs is certainly a hot topic these days, from the U.S. to China and everywhere in between.  But can we "greenify" production while protecting the rights of those humans who are doing the producing?

Conrad MacKerron, the Director of the Corporate Social Responsibility Program at the As You Sow Foundation based in San Francisco, CA, asks that very important question.

The Toyota Prius has become one of the most visible symbols of environmental consciousness. But a recent report from the National Labor Committee alleged abusive working conditions in Japanese factories assembling the Prius. The report said a third of assembly line workers are poorly paid temps, and that its parts supply chain is "riddled with sweatshop abuse", including the trafficking of tens of thousands of foreign guest workers. Many of them are working 16-hour shifts. And two years ago, Bloomberg Markets linked Toyota, GM and Ford to slave labor conditions in making the pig iron for the steel that ends up in their vehicles.

To me, slave labor being used to make Priuses is the ultimate sad irony.  That purchasers of the Prius who are making a conscious effort to be greener could be inadvertently supporting slavery is ironic and sad.  And that a car which aims to protect the environment could ultimately harm the people who build it is also terrible.  But it's an important moment for us to remember that just because a product is "greener", doesn't mean the company making it always puts the employees' rights first.  "Green" and "fair" should never be strange bedfellows, but too often they are.

We cannot choose between green supply chains and fair supply chains, nor should we have to.  To continue to build a progressive vision of the future, we need both better environmental and better labor practices around the world, and especially in developing countries.  And no, it's not too expensive to do both.  I would love to see the green labor movement and the fair labor movement focus more energy on working together, and confirm that they need each other to be part of a bigger, better picture: a fairer, greener world.