Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Introduction

[Another page, another headline.] "Car plant expansion. 1·5 million rand plan." Ja. I'll tell you what that means . . . more machines, bigger buildings . . . never any expansion to the pay-packet. Makes me fed-up. I know what I'm talking about. I worked at Ford one time. We used to read in the newspaper . . . big headlines! . . . "So and so from America or London made a big speech: ' . . . going to see to it that the conditions of their non-white workers in Southern Africa were substantially improved.'" The talk ended in the bloody newspaper. Never in the pay-packet.¹

Words first spoken on a Cape Town stage in 1972 capture the negative sentiment expressed regarding the actions and, many times, inactions of multinational corporations (MNCs). From business decisions that range from unfair wage and labor practices to environmental carelessness and pollution, MNCs have been, and continue to be, the target of much criticism. More recently, the response of such corporations to the global AIDS crisis has been challenged by corporate watchdogs, consumer groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and global leadership alike. The attacks on the seeming inattention of MNCs to the emerging global AIDS epidemic are often voiced in the language of corporate social responsibility.² Critics also present the right to life³-the right to accessible and affordable medical treatment-as a global human rights concern, and in this regard, many fervently argue that MNCs owe an ethical duty to their own employees. [End Page 717]

An acknowledgement of a human rights crisis and a demand for corporate social responsibility are not, however, the only means through which to persuade MNCs to act. While philosophical discussion regarding one's underlying motivation to act is important, all sides can agree that the gravity of the AIDS epidemic and devastation resulting from the crisis limit the suitability of this forum for such discussion or debate.⁴ Simply stated, critics of MNCs must learn to speak the language of their audience. In the specific context of the global AIDS crisis and the potential role of MNCs in curbing the spread of, and harm caused by, the disease, the issue must be presented in terms that businesses will both understand and appreciate. Just as "[b]usiness people do not always speak the language often heard from health experts, NGOs or governments,"⁵ they do not always hear the language often spoken by their critics. Health-field experts speak of disease, treatments, and medicine; NGOs, corporate watchdogs, and consumer groups speak of human rights, including the right of access to medicine; governments speak of citizens and infrastructure. Corporations, however, speak predominantly in terms of costs, productivity, and profits. To motivate and activate the business sector's response to this global crisis, critics must replace any perception of lack of economic benefit on the part of MNCs with recognition of the internal incentive to act.⁶

MNCs have emerged as key participants in the global era-an era which has produced "a state of the world involving networks of interdependence at multi-continental distances."⁷ Acknowledging the crucial role that business may play as an intervenor in the global AIDS crisis, the United Nations called on corporations to "[s]trengthen the response to HIV/AIDS in the world of work by establishing and implementing prevention and care programmes in public, private [End Page 718] and informal work sectors, and take measures to provide a supportive workplace environment for people living with HIV/AIDS."⁸

By creating internal operations that extend "sideways transnationally across national borders,"⁹ MNCs can be affected in tremendous ways by harmful global conditions, such as the growing AIDS epidemic. Rather than advocating action by MNCs on the basis of corporate social responsibility, presenting the AIDS epidemic as a global workforce crisis provides critics with a meaningful framework through which to urge decisive and immediate effort. The increasing global infection rate among individuals of working age, in addition to the decline in health and well being of the countless people already infected, dramatically impacts both the global workforce on a...