Negative Effects of Globalization

Negative effects of globalization

As it has been known, globalization has been taking over the world for a long time. Nowadays, this world live in a totally globalized world; the integration of national economies towards international markets has brought with it multiple benefits in the economic and social field. (Hernan, 2012) conceives globalization as a chain of benefits, due to globalization contributes to the reduction of costs in negotiations. In addition, he states that globalization contributes to the growth of labor offer in Latin American countries; mainly because when the different multinationals enter those countries, workforce is cheaper to hire than in any other developed country., which is a disadvantage for local people who accept jobs with very low payment rates and very long work shifts. Likewise, globalization has also led to the predominance of private interests in global markets, as well as the short-term benefit of transnational corporations, leaving aside the multiple negative effects that this has caused, not only since the priorities such as the reduction of lead in the air of La Oroya, did not turn out as expected, and this investment was not sufficient for the complete execution of the program. (Doe Run Peru , s.f.). At the time the US company only had a period of 10 years to comply with the environmental improvements, which had no results. Likewise, they began to face several legal proceedings, as citizens sued for the different effects on their health, caused by the lead that was emitted by the complex and the mine. (La verdad del caso Due Run Perú en La Oroya, 2012)

The aforementioned impact has had enormous affectations on people’s lives. For most of the population who live in La Oroya, working in the metallurgical complex represents their sole source of economic income, thus, they totally depend on the company. Some years ago, the Peruvian government proposed the liquidation of Doe Run Peru, which the majority of citizens opposed.

Another striking example of negative environmental impact by multinational companies is the case presented by the based-on-true-story film: Erin Brockovihc. The film tells the story of Erin, an employee of a law firm, who discovers a case in the state of Florida (United States) and decides to investigate in depth about it; finding that the company Pacific Gas & Electric was generating chrome waste, which is highly harmful, causing serious health consequences for the inhabitants who lived in that place. The most infamous of this case is that the company Pacific Gas & Electric stated that the operations were peaceful and that they did not injure the environment. This was what most angered Erin, leading her to make the decision to face the company in an arbitration court, in where finally and thanks to a former worker of the company, manage to win the case and become the largest compensation for damages