ABSTRACT
Accompanying the trend towards the market economy is the fellow traveller, globalisation. Globalisation brought with it the concept, among others, that if the developing world has poor working conditions as well as low pay then, to compete on the price of goods and services, the developed nations must also reduce working conditions and pay. That is, the workers living in the developed countries should give up their hard-won better working conditions and reduce their conditions, including safety, to the lowest common denominator. Perhaps this is the meaning of the euphemism ‘the level playing field’; it would certainly seem easier to bring good working conditions down rather than raise poor working conditions up. Lowering working conditions in the developed countries ignores ethics and compassion and the potential to improve working conditions in the developing countries.
