> To some critics, Mondragon’s overseas workers, who are not owners—it outsources to low-cost locations, operating a hundred and thirty-two production plants in thirty-two countries—are a sacrifice to the dragon of capitalism.
Ah of course, I knew there was a catch. Capitalism consumes all morals!
Hiring low wage workers in foreign countries is not automatically immoral under utilitarianism if the only alternative is to not hire them, in which case they will be forced to find an even worse job that objectively reduces their utility. The hypothetical alternative of Mondragon hiring foreign workers at higher wages may actually be practically impossible under our current capitalist system, given the kind of dilemma like incentives at play when separate businesses are competing to provide fungible goods to consumers who are making purchasing decisions based on which offering has the lowest price. What is immoral is the system that makes this the case: closed borders, lack of regulations protecting foreign workers in endogenous bargaining disputes, and so on.
I also dislike how this topic is weaponized by nativists, and sometimes by self-proclaimed leftists, in order to push for policies -- banning foreign labor (leftists) or closing borders and isolationism (nativists), typically -- that clearly make the lives of people in poor countries worse and not better.
Of course, I agree with your description. It’s not logical to stop hiring foreigners, or expecting Western wages - I just feel like a cooperative could come up with a better compromise.
Ah of course, I knew there was a catch. Capitalism consumes all morals!