[China] Explotation of Chinese workers by American Corporation

How pathetic they are: Nike, McDonald's, M&M/MARS, etc. and now Apple.

Read this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...rticle_id=402408&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=

Miserable greedy mercenaries. Karma will get you all.

:woo:

 

Seems like the subcontractor was to blame for that one. Then again Apple could just be covering their own tracks...

I know when I make my millions and need cheaper production and wage costs I'm going to personally make sure everyone is respected in terms of wages and working enviroments.

Which is clearly going to happen

 

yeah... as if any of you are going to stop buying your creature comforts because it was made by 7 year old Haji who lives in a mud hole in Bangladesh. Or his counterpart in any other thirdworld country.

Of course you won't.

Take a close look at your underwear and socks... chances are they were not made in the US. Or any other western country for that matter. Chances are they were made in China or Cambodia or Bangladesh.

That's why you can buy them as cheaply as you can.

 

This whole Global Economy BS is affecting everyone single one of us. First our own workers losing jobs because manufacturers decided to move production to India, Fiji or China. Secondly, there is hardly any quality control on the products made in those countries as the manufacturer only cares about profit $.

Secondly all those "cheapies" we buy will only last less than a year, hence pushing the consumer to buy more. Thus it creates an endless cycle. Using my own words: A bad karmic cycle.

Things today are not like in the past. Those mercenaries use marketing and advertising techniques that entice consumers to buy more and more due to increased competition. Increased competition only brings more bad karma.

Solution?

Don't bad stuff you don't need and meditate more, and therefore you become more spiritual and less materialistic.

 

True... but it's inevitable.

But what to do? It's a companies right to source workers from where they want to. From places that are financially most advantageous for that company. As long as they're not on the list of countries with US sanctions against them... who's to say they can't do it?

Not true. I've been to many a factory in China/SE Asia and much of the trade between China/SE Asia and the US is based on satisfying ISO quality standards.

What's more is that for as bad as some of the conditions sound... for many of the laborers it by far beats working in prostitution - a common job for many women from the poor agricultural areas of China/SE Asia.

For instance... in China... 4,000 RMB per month (if that!) is far more than they'd be making working their subsistance level farm back in the Henan province. Sad but true. Sad but true.

In many respects this is true. Someone would rather buy three t-shirts of low grade cotton/stitch/quality than one t-shirt of qaulity cotton with qaulity thread manufactured by a company that holds to a higher standard of manufacture. But even in those cases... those t-shirts are NOT being made in the west.

Yes everyone is being beat over the head with adverstising... so much so that most don't even notice it anymore. But that's the whole point of advertising really isn't it. Advertising is not education... adverstising is not there to let you know the possible flaws in a product... advertising... is there to give you the hard sell on the product. Same as it's always been.

Agreed. But I don't see this as being a viable solution for the vast majority of people. Much of human nature is based on the 'me'. Humans by and large are selfish and for sooooo many this means... out of sight... out of mind.

 

I just try to spend my money on brands I feel reflect my ethics and values. Its not easy and it is sometimes a little more costly but its worth it! I just compile a list of companies that I do and don't buy from and I apply this even when I'm buying gifts for people as well as telling my friends and family what I know. Every bit helps.

 

All the morals and that aside, did anyone else read the link to the article from Google bosses saying that the internet won't replace television? Does anyone else know hundreds of people who get their news, entertainment, music and part of their social life from the computer and don't watch TV?

 

Keep it up. As STJ said, human nature is based on "ME". Well, as an individual, my morals and sense of identity prevent me from letting things be "out of mind". I'm sure that what I do doesn't make a difference, and I'm not as optimistic as to believe that some sort of social revolution based on treating people fairly is going to occur. But I am selfish enough to be true to myself, and the motivation behind it is just as strong as any altruistic philosophy.

 

I read an article over the weekend that said 90% of the items Wal Mart sells are from China. Include them on your list also.

Heres a thought though. If Haji in bangladesh is making your shirt for 20 cents an hour, and thats the going rate over there, why should we complain? He's putting food (albeit crummy food) on the family table....

 

Yeah but as rediculous a concept as it may be.. (and I'm not justifying this, just pointing it out) .. 20 cents to us may seem **** poor... not enough to buy a pack of gum or something out the quarter machine to quiet our fussing kid... 20 cents in their market might be worth a bit more than we make it out to be.. I still feel they should make a bit more however, but thats not how the world works...

 

Yea I understand. I was just throwing something out there. Kind of a supply and demand thing I imagine.

 

I prefer to ignore it, because thats really my only choice.

If theyre willing to work all day for a carrot, then someone is going to put them to work all day for a carrot.

If I was in charge of getting something manufactured, I also would go to the cheapest and most reliable labour source and if that happened to be very poor Chinese then that is who I would hire.

 

As apathetic as that sounds I can understand why you might think this. On one hand it's a fair bit of work to decide which companies you buy from. Do they match up to your ethical expectations? On the other hand this reminds me of a prime example of the culture of 'me me me'.

Hmmm... willing is not the same thing as having not much other realistic choice. The real problem is in the choice to remain a subsistance level farmer and well below the poverty level - or to strive to get enough money to send back home to keep the loansharks at bay.

But you're not a manufacturer. So as a consumer do you feel you have any responsibility for how the companies you support with your consumer dollars treat their hired labor?

 

You make Baby Buddha cry.

 

Food? Really? Maybe that was the % of "manufactured" stuff.....I'll dig into it further.

 

I suppose, but if I don't buy a pair of Nike shoes someone else will. You can only help someone if they want help, and the Chinese workers are willing to take what they can get.

Then it seems like they are willing to take a job working in a sweatshop, it's not Nike or Walmarts job to supply the CHinese population with job options. They simply let them know that they are hiring and then it is up to the people.

No, because their hired labour are willing workers.

If I choose to work 7 hours a day, 7 days a week in return for a can of beans then that is my choice.

I don't place the responsibility on any companies or consumers, I place it on the employees and their governments.

 

The first part is a bit of a cop-out really. Apply that same train of thought to many other scenarios to see how apathetic it is.

Because Chinese workers are between a rock and a hard place doesn't translate into that they want to work in sweatshop conditions. Young children in Bangladesh don't want to work in sweatshops for 18 hours a day... of course they don't they want to be going to school and playing outside like normal children everywhere... but due to the socio-economic factors they are forced to work instead of play or go to school.

Only it's a bit more than just the black and white simplicity that you state. What your essentially saying is that big corporations have no responsibility for their actions. They just put up the 'workers wanted' signs and the working environment and rights of the workers be damned.

Only it doesn't work like this. Look at the US - by law they are required to conform to certain standards to be able stay in business. Many US companies are getting around these sorts laws and restrictions because the Chinese government itself is slow to act with such laws. That doesn't make it right.

Again following the simplistic logic your using - we can easily see that companies are under no onus to be responsible in the countries in which they hire labor. And because (again by your logic) we see that at the end of the day someone else would have bought that pair of Nike/Adidas/whatever... that it doesn't really matter what Mega Corp. A,B or C does... as long as we get our good cheaply.

Again.. good to see you are raising the double-standard.

Again it's a convenient attitude that shows little understanding of how manufacturing and responsible trade between countries works.

By following this bizarre logic we can also assume that it'd be ok to by from what country run by whatever dictators with people working in whatever miserable conditions as long as we get our good cheaply.

Your train of thought fails to take into account social responsibility of the mega corporations in the countries in which they operate. It also fails to take into account that people vote in many ways with their consumer dollars.

Your train of logic applied to many other situations in the manufacturing and the industrial world is pretty much a casebook of why workers rights are important to understand. It's also a classic showcase of why it pays to have a better understanding of the implicit repsonsibility that mega corps should operate under when going into other countries.

You sound like a Union Carbide champion. Oh but wait... they did nothing wrong in India... as the Indians were willing workers.

Copout.

 

Leeless - thanks! However I believe in the idea of 'critical mass'. If I make an ethical choice there is always a flow on effect, however small. I also educate my family and friends where I can and they put their money where their morals are. They then tell their friends and so on. I believe in people power.

Apotheosis - most multinationals don't want to pay minimum wages (as set by unions) in the parent country so close down their factories (people lose jobs) and set up in a developing country where people are desperate to work and make a better life. I don't deny that some end up earning more than they would in a local job but the conditions, work hours, child labour, fines applied by overseers, lack of investment by these companies in actually improving the lives of these workers is appalling. Travel, see the world, read more widely, open your eyes and don't close them again.

 

That is the problem with our <edited> world. Most of people think like that. Samsaric cycle??

I guess they have no other choice, but why those Corporations don't treat those Human Beings (with the same rights as you and I) slightly better, hey?

Glad to hear you aren't in charge of something like that.

>>>>>>

BTW, have you seen a documentary produced by the BBC and the way Nike treat the workers in South-East Asia (Vietnam and Indonesia came to my mind). Basically employing child labour (illegal in Western countries) and cramming them up like factory-bred chickens. The funny thing is that Nike always denied that even the day they put that film out...

Very sad that this kind of working conditions still exist in the XXI century.


<<<Some food for brain>>>:


http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Boycotts/NikeFacts_GX.html (Nike Real facts)
http://www.cic.org.hk/research.htm#j (How Hasbro, Mattel, McDonald's and Disney manufacture their toys? (pdf file available. Just scroll down that site)
http://www.reginaames.com/sample (Nike's Court Case in California, 2001)
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/09/01/malays9337.htm (general document about abuse suffered by Asian Migrant females)
http://www.newint.org/issue263/nimble.htm (more about abuse suffered by Asian female workers)


What about "child sex exploitation" in South-East Asia? Well that should belong to another topic.





You have evolved from worm to man, but much within you is still worm. Once you were apes, yet even now man is more of an ape than any of the apes. (Thus Spoke Zarathustra)