Third-World Families at Work: Child Labor or Child Care?

“Third-World Families at Work: Child Labor or Child Care?”

By Martha Nichols

Problem

The ethical dilemma at hand is the company Timothy & Thomas is an American clothing company that is doing business globally and one of their contractors in Pakistan employs child labor to work on their products. The facts are that Pakistan is a third world country that has lots of poverty which leads to children going and working to help provide for their families. Other facts are Pakistan’s Parliament has approved the Employment of Children Act which sets the minimum age for employment in manufacturing to 14 which matches Timothy & Thomas guidelines. It also states children should not be working longer than 7 hours a day. The ethical dilemma that must be decided, is will the company Timothy & Thomas allow their Pakistan contractor to employ children under the age of 14 to produce their clothing.

Stakeholders

                This particular ethical dilemma will include multiple stakeholders who should be involved in the decision making process. The first needs to be Jonathan Stein the VP of international contracts for Timothy & Thomas. Stein’s viewpoint is his company has given him responsibility to make decisions that will determine the success of their company long term.  Another stakeholder that needs to be a decision maker is Yusuf Ahmed the Pakistan sourcing manager responsible for finding factories to make Timothy & Thomas clothing. Although Stein has the final say on the decision the company makes, Ahmed is familiar with the Pakistan culture and laws is a subject matter expert on sight. Ahmed would have a viewpoint more balanced on what is good for the company that he works for but also the country he lives in and is familiar with. Another Stakeholder would be Mr. Hanafi who is the factory owner in Pakistan. He should be involved in the decision making process because he is the one that pays the children to work in the factory. His viewpoint would be one of what is best for his employees and their families and also what would help him make sure his company stays running and making a profit. Lastly, I also think the young children and there families are major stakeholders. Their viewpoint would be what would help them survive and live a better life.

Some of the indirect stakeholders would be other employees in the Timothy & Thomas company. Are they aware of that the company they work for is having children labor to make their company clothing? Are their jobs at risk if their company gets caught and 60 minutes does a special on how their clothing is being made? Another indirect stakeholder are the customers of Timothy & Thomas. Are they aware that they are buying clothing that was made by children under the age of 14 in Pakistan? If they knew that information, would they choose to be a customer?