THE ECONOMIC PAMPHLETEER: Rethinking the Value of Work

• Main Author: John Ikerd
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thomas A. Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems 2016-10-01
• Series: Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
• Subjects: Labor; Economics; Human Rights
• Online Access: https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/441

First paragraphs: "How can it be that more than a century after muckrakers exposed the deplorable conditions of workers in the food system, that harassment of workers, rapes in the fields, squalid living conditions, pesticide showers, hazardous working conditions, and slave wages continue be the norm?" (Kolodinsky, 2014, p. 198). In reviewing the documentary film Food Chain, Jane Kolodinsky provides this fitting description of the inevitable consequences of the commodification of labor in an unrestrained market economy. The deplorable working conditions in the food industry have not been corrected because such conditions are inherent in the industrial system of food production. More effective labor unions and ethical choices by consumers might relieve some of the suffering—at least temporarily. However, the well-being of workers in the food industry and elsewhere will not be significantly improved until we rethink the value of work and restrain our economic system accordingly....