Unit 10, exercise 15b multinational: [£mUlti}néSWnWl] noun (also multinational company, multinational corporation) an enterprise operating in several countries that is managed from one (home) country. Any company or group that derives a quarter of its revenue from operations outside of its home country is considered a multinational corporation. There are four categories of multinational corporations: (1) a multinational, decentralised corporation with strong home country presence, (2) a global, centralised corporation that acquires cost advantage through centralised production wherever cheaper resources are available, (3) an international company that builds on the parent corporation’s technology or research&development, or (4) a transnational enterprise that combines those three approaches Unit 10, exercise 17a The worst forms of child labour In Western Africa, cocoa is a commodity crop grown primarily for export; 60% of the Ivory Coast’s export revenue comes from its cocoa. As the chocolate industry has grown over the years, so has the demand for cheap cocoa. On average, cocoa farmers earn less than $2 per day, an income below the poverty line. As a result, they often resort to the use of child labour to keep their prices competitive. The farms of Western Africa supply cocoa to international giants such as Hershey’s, Mars, and Nestlé – revealing the industry’s direct connection to the worst forms of child labour. The children of Western Africa are surrounded by intense poverty, and most begin working at a young age to help support their families. Some children end up on the cocoa farms because they need work and traffickers tell them that the job pays well. Other children are ‘sold’ to traffickers or farm owners by their own relatives, who are unaware of the dangerous work environment and the lack of any provisions for an education. A child’s workday typically begins at six in the morning and ends in the evening. Some of the children use chainsaws to clear the forests. Other children climb the cocoa trees to cut bean pods using a machete. In addition to the hazards of using machetes, children are also exposed to agricultural chemicals on cocoa farms in Western Africa. Tropical regions such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast consistently deal with prolific insect populations and choose to spray the pods with large amounts of industrial chemicals. In Ghana, children as young as 10 spray the pods with these toxins without wearing protective clothing. The farm owners using child labour usually provide the children with the cheapest food available, such as corn paste and bananas. In some cases, the children sleep on wooden planks in small windowless buildings with no access to clean water or sanitary bathrooms. On cocoa farms, 10% of child labourers in Ghana and 40% in the Ivory Coast do not attend school, which violates the International Labour Organization’s Child Labour Standards. Depriving these children of an education has many short-term and long-term effects. Without an education, the children of the cocoa farms have little hope of ever breaking the cycle of poverty. Student A 1 Why do farmers in Western Africa rely on child labour? 2 How do the children end up working on cocoa farms? 3 What are the short-term dangers for the young farm workers? What about long-term? 4 Have you ever bought products from the multinationals named in the text? How do you feel about it? 5 Do you know of any initiatives trying to end child labour? How do you think they should get involved? 218 A Activities Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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