"Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter." (James 5:1-5)
I've often read this passage and thought, “Those rich people, I loathe them, I hate them.” The other day when I sat down to read this passage when it hit me. I am rich. I am an oppressor. I am a slave driver. I buy clothing, food, and other things from places and I have not even thought about where they come from.
I don't think many people in Canada and the US realize this, but we are the rich. We are the ones that this piece of the Bible is talking about. We are the rich ones who should be weary. We are the ones who keep back the wages of the laborers and should be worried. We are the ones who live in luxury and self-indulgence.
Those living at the poverty line in Canada, which is somewhere around $10,000 a year are still within the top 15% of the richest people in the world.
We hold back the rightful wages of workers when we support or shop at stores or restaurants that treat their workers poorly. The laborers that make the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the computers we use, and the food we eat, they are working for us. They are workers under our employ. If we buy clothes made in factories that pay fair wages and create good work opportunities, we are their employers. If we buy clothes made in sweatshops by children who are paid very little, we are their employers. If we buy clothes that are made by slaves, we are the slave drivers.
In Canada and the United States, we live in luxury. Most of us have three guaranteed meals per day. Most of us have a bed to sleep in and a roof over our head. We have computers and free access to the Internet. Many of us have cars to drive and travel. Many of us even take regular vacations and trips. This is luxury.
No smart company would hire employees without an interview or without a resume. They won't just hire anyone, they want to know if they are good workers or if they will be reliable. In the same way we should investigate where our products are coming from. If we are hiring these workers by purchasing their products and employing them in a fairly direct way, we should think about the situations they are living and working in. Are we providing them with a job that pays fair wages? Do they have access to some sort of health care plan? (We in Canada don't worry about this one as much, but imagine the part time workers in the United States who can't afford health insurance when it isn't provided by their employers.) Is this really the best working environment for them? Is this their only choice in terms of employment? Can we make their living and working environments any better? Where is my money going? What percentage is actually getting to the workers?
This is something that God has really been speaking to me about lately. How can we say we love God and love people but treat them this way? I am putting people in compromising situations by buying products from places that don't treat their workers fairly. I am that unfair boss that I always complained about when I worked for that large department store chain. I am the manager that is refusing to give a raise to my single mother employee. I am a rich oppressor. I am a slave driver.
