Discussion Post
Watch the YouTube video "Global Assembly Line" and answer:
What are the factors that contribute to the choice location of assembly plants (production location choices)? Use examples from the documentary in your response.
Global Assembly Line
Made in 1986, this documentary looks at the emergence of a the New International Division of Labor (NIDL). Features of NIDL: (i) hypermobility of capital (multinational companies are easily able to shift jobs and investment from country to country which undermines the power of organized labor everywhere), (ii) an endless supply of cheap, disposable Third World workers, (iii) the feminization of the labor force, (iv) the bifurcation of labor (low wage, low skill work relocated to Third World, high wage, high skill work stays in the US). Advances in communications and transport technologies allowing coordination of production over international spaces. The NIDL sees certain shifts occurring -- the creation of offshore production sites (export processing zones) and the deindustrialization of the US economy. Related issues include labor exploitation, growth of labor solidarities, and point to the need for an internationalization of labor struggles that matches the internationalization of capital.
The response must include a reference list. Using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, double-space, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.