Employmentweb_low

EMplOyMENt, wOrk, aNd hEalth iNEQualitiES - A GLOBAL PERSPECTIvE
prologue
Global inequalities in employment and work constitute some of
the most serious issues of our time. the growth of
unemployment, the spread of precarious arrangements, slavery
or indented servitude, and the other hazardous employmentand
work-related inequalities broadly and precisely portrayed in
this book are powerfully associated with serious injuries and
illnesses affecting global workers, their families, and their
communities. the tragedy of the 150,000 suicides among indian
farmers, one of the more than one hundred case studies
included in this book, is a powerful reminder of the fact that
globalisation, gender inequities, food sovereignty, and
population health are tied together.
Health inequalities are a most compelling global social
justice problem and provide one of the best available sources of
evidence for describing and explaining how wellbeing and justice
are unequally distributed globally. employment-related health
inequities also point to where we should centre our egalitarian
efforts if we want to reach a more just and democratic world.
the history of employment relations relates to the unequal
power and perennial conflict between labour and capital, which
is now exemplified by the struggle between powerful
corporations in wealthy countries and the rural poor in poor
countries, thanks to globalisation. thousands of millions of
people have only their labour power to sell, and thus work (or do
not) at the behest of those who own the material conditions of
labour. today, in an increasingly globalised capitalist economic
system, a small number of corporations, international
organisations, and their associated governments (mostly in rich
countries) have the power to make decisions which affect the
daily lives of millions of workers living on the edge of survival.
they determine which kind of labour standards, which
occupational health and safety regulations, and whether or not
union protections are or can be put in place. they take decisions,
such as those regarding access to seeds, or water and land,
decisively, affecting the health and quality of life of the majority
of the world's population.
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