Invisible Hands: Voices from the Global Economy

Compiled and edited by lawyer Goria, these oral accounts of labor abuses and the struggles of the working poor cover most corners of the globalized economy. Stories from workers and labor activists in far-flung locations, including Mexico, Zambia, Bangladesh, China, and South Korea, convey a sobering uniformity of harsh working conditions, low wages, coerced labor, and ruthless retribution against unions and advocates for workers’ rights. Readers hear from Bangladeshi garment workers who struggled to get monthly minimum wages raised from $15 in 1994 to $43 by 2010; Indian farmers trapped in a cycle of borrowing, debt, and bankruptcy; and the Chinese factory worker whose journey to the electronics manufacturing hub of Shenzhen started with excitement and ended with an accident that cost him a hand. A more hopeful strain about the resilience of labor emerges in some narratives: “Never think that you’re less than the boss,” counsels Ana Juarez, a Mexican garment worker and activist. As Kalpona Akter, a Bangladeshi labor rights advocate, says: “It was hard for me to tell my story for this book and to make my life so public” but... “if it lets another woman who has faced exploitation and repression feel that she is not alone, and even encourages her to speak up, then it is worth it.” (May)